ABS repair

[David Geiss]

Good Day all, I have a 4" ABS pipe length as a mast tube on a smal tri....long and short of it is that it fractured (long story and it makes me look like a bone head). The break was clean and I am able to get it back in place no problem. I plan to use Plexus or similar two part methylacrylate adhesive on the break line itself and then spiral wrap the whole assembly with biaxial tape.

So here is the question...I am getting various suggestions, polyester resin, epoxy resin and, yesterday, a composite spar maker suggested wetting out strips of the biaxial tape with the Plexus MA adhesive. That had never occurred to me.

Has anyone tried such an approach and does it make sense?
The length of the break spans about 8' up and down this length og ABS tube and since it's tough access I would have to wet out the tape on the work bench and then use one hand to spiral wrap the affected area.

Thanks in advance.

David, not always the bonehead thankfully......

[JimConlin]

The nice thing about the Plexus products is that they're intended as industrial products and the manufacturer publishes real specs on the product. I'd look at the ITW Plexus web sites for the properties of their products. I'd be concerned about whether the product viscosity is too high to wet out glass.

West System G/Flex is another possibility. They publish real data, too.

[David Geiss]

Thanks JIm.....placed call to ITW tech support before posting...have not heard back.
Had not thought of the G/Flex.
Hope you tri treating you well and that everything else good! Appreciate your post.
David

[JimConlin]

West System tech support is very good. 866-937-8797

My boat is getting some deferred maintenance and I'm catching up with other complications, so I'm still not sailing.

[seo]

You don't say where in length of the mast it is, and if the mast is unstayed. A collar made out of something strong might restore its strength, but would almost certainly change its bending characteristics. putting a hard spot in any curve that you bent the mast to.
With aluminum masts in rigs with shrouds and stays, it's not uncommon to see plugs used to join or repair a mast extrusion. With the tube held straight in column, there's no problem with hard spots in a curve, because the mast doesn't curve.
I suppose it would be possible to either sleeve, plug, or both, a broken unstayed mast, and if the sleeve was tapered out just right it might give you a pretty fair curve. But I wonder how much a new piece of pipe would cost...

[JimD]

Any abs glue from the plumbing aisle will glue abs. But abs can be softened and even deformed by direct sunlight. That's why its never used for outdoor above ground applications. Pvc doesn't have that problem so I wonder why you are not using pvc.

[David Geiss]

I was not entirely clear on the OP....mea culpa.
It's an unstayed pre-preg carbon fiber mast.
The ABS length is the tube, or partner, into which the mast fits.
I did not build the vessel and doubt I would have used ABS.

The mast tube...er receptacle, is enclosed in a sealed compartment fore, between deck and hull.
There's a decent access hatch just a few inches fore of the ABS pipe.

Seems as if bi-axial tape saturated with G-Flex is the way to go once I have adhered to the two sections to one another with MA adhesive.
Thanks for the valuable input!

David

[David Geiss]

Repair completed! The G-Flex was used with strips of carbon fibre tubular fabric (laid flat of course).
ABS Prep was 80 grit and then wiped with alcohol. I would have flame treated but I would have been able to do that to the length I could remove from the boat and not that part still bonded into the boat. FIgured I would keep the prep consistent.
Before spiral wrapping, I used Plexus MA 300 to bond the the broken ABS section into place.
Thanks for the valuable input!
David