Patching a Punctured Aerobed

Aerobed is a great invention. It is one of those "great to have" gizmo in the closet. If you have family members/guests coming over for the night, all you need to do is to take the Aerobed out from the closet, plug it into the power outlet, flick a switch ...lo and behold in less than 5 minutes you have an extra bed. It is not as comfortable as a spring bed (although some people might argue that), but it is definitely much more comfortable than sleeping on a sleeping bag, or a couch (in some cases).

Air Leak

One of the worse things that can happen to an Aerobed is a puncture hole. Even the smallest hole can render the Aerobed useless. This actually happened to my Aerobed. Every time I inflate the Aerobed, within a few hours it would sagged so badly that I can not use it comfortably.

Fixing the Leak

Normally, Aerobed comes with a repair kit. But it seemed that I have misplaced mine. So I ended up using:

• Kwik Tek Vinyl Repair Kit (the kit contains a tube of glue like substance and several vinyl patches)
• Eclectic Shoe Goo Clear

As for patching the small hole that was on the Aerobed, I follow the following steps:

• Clean the area around the small hole on the Aerobed
• Apply generous amount of the glue from the Kwik Tek Vinyl Repair Kit to one of the vinyl patch. Then cover the small hole with the vinyl patch.
• Put some weight on the patch and let it sit for about 24 hours. I used the weight of several books. (Notes: After 24 hours, I tried to inflate the Aerobed, however, I still notice some air leak around the edges of the vinyl patch).
• So, I applied generous amount of Eclectic Shoe Goo around the edges of the vinyl patch, and let it sit for another 24 hours.

After I allow the Eclectic Shoe Goo to dry, I inflated the Aerobed and use it for several days. I must say that so far things are looking good. I did not notice any air leak coming from the area of the hole. Also for those several days, the Aerobed stayed inflated and firm.

Some Notes:

• I must say, if the hole on the Aerobed is really small, I think we can fix the Aerobed by just applying a generous portion of Shoe Goo.
• The glue from the Kwik Tek Vinyl Repair Kit and the Shoe Goo have a strong odor, so you might want to use them in well ventilated room.