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Repairing an Air MattressWhether you are camping or at home, have a bottle of Mister Glue handy for a thousand different repairs.First thing you need to do in repairing an air mattress is to find the hole. If it seems to be a pinhole then before getting the surface wet, put some air in it and then gently press and listen to see if you can hear the air leaving. If it is not easily found dry then use some water on the surface - run a hose over it. If you can, add a bit of dish soap to the water. This will create a bubbling effect where the air mattress leak is and help you hear or see it. Once you find the leak you need to let it dry enough to glue it. Mark it with a marker or something and let it dry. You need a patch of the same or similar material to that of the mattress. The thing here is that you want them to be at least the same thickness if it is a larger patch so they flex the same way. For mattress repair you definitely want a glue that will remain flexible. This is not true with super glue and Krazy Glue. An industrial glue like Mister Glue has had the solvents distilled out so that it won't dry brittle. Once the surface is reasonably dry apply Mister Glue to one side. Probably the best side is the patch itself as you can control better where the glue is going, etc. Make sure that you have a solid 'circle' of glue so there will not be any place for the air to leak out. You probably want some of it close to the edge so the edges are glued down and won't peel. (This can be fixed afterward if necessary.) Press the two pieces together. Firmly. The tighter the two pieces are together the better the bond. Give it a couple of seconds and leave it to cure. If there are some edges that are not fully closed then you can put a small drop there and it will wick in. Again press the surfaces together firmly. I usually just leave any that squeezes out - it dries up pretty quickly and will not damage your air mattress. One thing that you do want to be a little careful of when patching an air mattress: when you put the patch with the glue on over the place where the hole is you should try and place it so that no glue goes through the hole. You very likely do not want the inner walls to stick together. Full cure time is several hours but with rubber or vinyl that patch will not come off after a few minutes. (You only need to hold the two pieces together for a few seconds.) The same application can be used for any rubber and all vinyl, so you can repair rubber and vinyl mattresses, water beds, and hypalon, rubber and vinyl boats. |
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