See also:
Inflatable kayak glues and repairs
Repairing a Gumotex Seawave
MYO alternative to D-rings
You can get ready made Chinese PVC D-rings dirt cheap on eBay but genuine rubber hypalon D-rings (not plastic PVC claiming to work on hypalon) cost a lot for what they are. Once you factor in the price of two-part glue, it adds up, especially if you have a few to fit.
It’s fairly easy to make your own D-rings for your IK to attach gear, thigh straps, footrest mounts and so on.


You can buy metal D-rings by the sack-load online, as well as round PVC or Hypalon patches. (‘Hypalon’ is pretty much the same synthetic rubber as Gumotex Nitrilon and Grabner Nordel EDPM). Or buy an off-cut (above right) for much less and cut your own. A D-ring doesn’t have to be round but it’s better if corners are rounded. You will notice how unusually hard it is to cut this stuff with scissors or a blade. The fibre core is tough: needed for zero-elasticity in an IK.
Pictures below show how to make your own D-rings.
Go to this page for how to apply any patch, step-by-step.






Sticking to the Rules
I needed to fit some tube-top D-rings to properly support a second backrest in my Sunny 2020. I found a stray, opened tin of Bostik 2402 two-part in my kit bag, but with an expiry date of 2009. Back then I only owned this original Sunny and looking it up, 2402 turned out to be for rubber boats. Perhaps I bought it more recently but didn’t notice the expiry date. In the tin the glue was still liquid and unseparated, but the little bottle of Bostik D-10 hardener had long since evaporated. Digging around, I also found an opened bottle of PolyMarine hardener. Comparing chemicals showed they both contained Diphenylmethanediisocyanate, one of the few words that’s too long for a Scrabble board.
I mixed the wrong-brand hardener with the 11-year old glue 25: 1 and the bond looked as good as anything.


Dear Scott, thank you for this (and a ton of other) great info!
Just one question here: after reading the text couple of times, I am still not sure do I understand correctly that it is possible to use PVC D-rings on Nitrilon?
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Well I did glue PVC to a Nitrilon Gumotex using Aquaseal.
See ‘one part glues’ on this page: https://inflatablekayaksandpackrafts.com/2013/09/15/ik-and-packraft-glue-and-repairs/
But of course same-to-same is best plus good preparation and glue – also on the linked page.
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