Repairing Damaged Plastic Decoys
Over the course of a season many people end up damaging the plastic decoys in their spread. I have had this problem too. Damages range from minor damage such as small cuts to major damage such as being run over and/or crushed. In either case they cannot be used in the water again.
In the past, at best these decoys would be used as field decoys and at worst they would end up in the garbage. When I had some of this same type of damage occur this season I knew I could fix them like I had before. However, I thought others might be interested in being able to do it too so I did these webpages to give everyone the basic information they need to be able to repair them too.
So follow along as I repair 2 decoys on the pages that follow. Before actually getting into the repairs, there are a couple of items that apply to both types of repairs that I will cover here.
Supplies
This is everything I used to do both repairs (a squeeze tube of latex acrylic caulk is not shown). These are not the only supplies that can be used, but were the ones I had on hand. I am sure there are other tools and supplies that could be substituted for the ones I used. Don't go out and buy anything until you have reviewed the procedures and are certain the tools and supplies you have won't work.
Determining the volume of a decoy
Whether the damage is major or minor, I use expanding polyurethane foam to fill the body cavity. The foam expands 10 times in volume as it cures so the volume of the decoy needs to be known before the repair can begin. There are 2 ways I know of to get the volume of the decoy. The first is to cut a small hole in the decoy, fill it with water and then pour the water out into a measuring cup to determine the volume. This will work just fine but you now will have to wait for the interior of the decoy the dry before the repair can be done.
I prefer to use another method to find the volume if at all possible. This method uses 2 containers, one filled to the top with water and sitting inside of an empty container. Using an indentical intact decoy push it into the water until it is completely submerged. This will force water into the empty container. If you measure the water in the second container, you will know the volume of the decoy by how much water was displaced. Here is a set of pictures showing how I determined the volume of a Flambeau teal decoy from the beginning set up, submerging the decoy and the measurement of the displacement.
Although it cannot be seen well in the end photo, but the displaced water measure out to be 2.75 cups. To be safe I would round that up to 3 cups. I know there is 8 oz in a cup so 3 cups equals 24 oz of water. If the foam I am going to use expands 10 times in volume, I need 2.4 oz of prepared liquid or 1.25 oz each of the Part A and Part B of the foam. These measurements will be needed during the repair process.
The Repairs
I did 2 different types of repairs on the following web pages. The first one was what I called a minor repair where a I repaired a small hole in a decoy, probably from being shot. This procedure can be used to repair any time of small hole of cut nearly anywhere on the decoy. Click Here to see the minor repair page.
The second repair was a major repair. I had a decoy that had been hit by the prop of the boat and had a large hole and crack in the bottom. This page shows how, step by step, I repaired this decoy. Doing major repair is a more detailed process and unique to each kind of problem so I cannot show one way to do all types of major repairs. As long as there are not extremely large pieces of plastic missing from the decoy or the head is missing, I don't see any reason why most major repairs cannot be done. Large cracks, splits, larger holes, broken keels should all be able to be repaired using foam and liquid plastic. Click Here to see how I did a major repair.
Thanks for stopping by.....
I hope you have learned something and maybe gained the confidence to try your own repairs. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at mucks_ducks@yahoo.com and I will get back to you as quickly as possible.
Brian Muck
Over the course of a season many people end up damaging the plastic decoys in their spread. I have had this problem too. Damages range from minor damage such as small cuts to major damage such as being run over and/or crushed. In either case they cannot be used in the water again.
In the past, at best these decoys would be used as field decoys and at worst they would end up in the garbage. When I had some of this same type of damage occur this season I knew I could fix them like I had before. However, I thought others might be interested in being able to do it too so I did these webpages to give everyone the basic information they need to be able to repair them too.
So follow along as I repair 2 decoys on the pages that follow. Before actually getting into the repairs, there are a couple of items that apply to both types of repairs that I will cover here.
Supplies
This is everything I used to do both repairs (a squeeze tube of latex acrylic caulk is not shown). These are not the only supplies that can be used, but were the ones I had on hand. I am sure there are other tools and supplies that could be substituted for the ones I used. Don't go out and buy anything until you have reviewed the procedures and are certain the tools and supplies you have won't work.
Determining the volume of a decoy
Whether the damage is major or minor, I use expanding polyurethane foam to fill the body cavity. The foam expands 10 times in volume as it cures so the volume of the decoy needs to be known before the repair can begin. There are 2 ways I know of to get the volume of the decoy. The first is to cut a small hole in the decoy, fill it with water and then pour the water out into a measuring cup to determine the volume. This will work just fine but you now will have to wait for the interior of the decoy the dry before the repair can be done.
I prefer to use another method to find the volume if at all possible. This method uses 2 containers, one filled to the top with water and sitting inside of an empty container. Using an indentical intact decoy push it into the water until it is completely submerged. This will force water into the empty container. If you measure the water in the second container, you will know the volume of the decoy by how much water was displaced. Here is a set of pictures showing how I determined the volume of a Flambeau teal decoy from the beginning set up, submerging the decoy and the measurement of the displacement.
Although it cannot be seen well in the end photo, but the displaced water measure out to be 2.75 cups. To be safe I would round that up to 3 cups. I know there is 8 oz in a cup so 3 cups equals 24 oz of water. If the foam I am going to use expands 10 times in volume, I need 2.4 oz of prepared liquid or 1.25 oz each of the Part A and Part B of the foam. These measurements will be needed during the repair process.
The Repairs
I did 2 different types of repairs on the following web pages. The first one was what I called a minor repair where a I repaired a small hole in a decoy, probably from being shot. This procedure can be used to repair any time of small hole of cut nearly anywhere on the decoy. Click Here to see the minor repair page.
The second repair was a major repair. I had a decoy that had been hit by the prop of the boat and had a large hole and crack in the bottom. This page shows how, step by step, I repaired this decoy. Doing major repair is a more detailed process and unique to each kind of problem so I cannot show one way to do all types of major repairs. As long as there are not extremely large pieces of plastic missing from the decoy or the head is missing, I don't see any reason why most major repairs cannot be done. Large cracks, splits, larger holes, broken keels should all be able to be repaired using foam and liquid plastic. Click Here to see how I did a major repair.
Thanks for stopping by.....
I hope you have learned something and maybe gained the confidence to try your own repairs. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at mucks_ducks@yahoo.com and I will get back to you as quickly as possible.
Brian Muck