Mend-It Experiments

[Avalonjohn44]

I got my order of Mend-it in the mail yesterday, and last night i played with it for about two hours.

I like it.  But I don't love it.  It is a better a better product than superglue.   It is easier and far less dangerous than using a cigarette  lighter.  But the cost is much higher than either of the other two solutions.

I tried it on several different brands of soft plastic.  I used Gander Mountain brand plastics, Zoom, Yum, Berkley, and Sluggos.  

So far it works best, for me, on the Zoom baits and the Lunker City sluggos.  I cut 5  different colored trick worms in half and mended them together in differing color combinations.  All mends took with no problem.  I then let them cure for about 10 minutes and tested how they held.  I expected they would break at the cut.  Three did, two did not.  Either way though, they held the zooms together very well.

I then did the same with Yum dingers.  Each bond held well.  But each one of these re-broke at the bond spot.  This could be problematic since usually I tear these in the middle where the wacky rig hook goes.  But I'll retest at the lake.

Berkley (camo finesse worm) and Gander (their version of a sweet beaver) were hit and miss.  I had trouble making some of the bonds hold together.  I tried to think if I was doing something differently, but couldn't think of anything I did different with the Zooms.  The bonds that did take were as strong as the Yums were.  These two baits were frustrating to work with.

Lastly I took some old 3.5 inch sluggos and glued them together the same way I did the trick worms.  Same results as the Zooms too.  

Tonight I am going to get brave and test it out on my Lake Fork Live Magic Shads, some Senkos, and Sweet Beavers I'll post results

[Muddy]

Don't confuse it with KY in the dark

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Don't confuse it with KY in the dark

There are worse things to be stuck to.  

[Avalonjohn44]

Don't confuse it with KY in the dark

There are worse things to be stuck to.  

LOL That would be like putting on Icy Hot down there... It  doesn't stick to skin though so it should be alright.

Also, it seems to work well on heavy salt baits too.  Haven't tried the senkos, but the Beavers glue up really nicely...

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

When you are sticking two loose parts together are you only putting the mend it only one surface? It works better that way.Put on one side and hold for at least 10 secs.

Some plastics it works better on than others.As far as senkos go,no,it doesn't work quite as good for two reasons 1)all the salt 2) these baits get soggier the longer they are fished. If you want to save money on senkos I found it is better to take the bait off after a fish or snag and just use a new one and put the other to the side and just fix a bunch at once.Easier to fix the yamamoto baits before they get to badly damaged.Also when fixing senkos put a little more on the outside after the first fixing dries a little.This will take some of the "sog" out of that area and completely reform the plastic.

There are certain baits or colors I can't get unless I order them, and seeing as how I am always broke the mend it has saved my arse on a whole lot of different baits that are absolute musts to have and not run out of.

Like I said it takes a little practice to use.It is not magic, but you will get better at using it.I thought it was a little wierd and hard to use at first....

Good luck I positively love the stuff.

[Avalonjohn44]

I've done it both ways, and it definitely works better with just applying the glue on one side.

The senkos are going together really easily for me.  As easy as the zoom... Beavers and flirts by Reaction Innovations really glue easily too....

I'm gonna try the lake fork shads later on... I also want to try it on the 3x plastic just to see what it does.

[fivesixone]

Thanks for the review man! I've been wondering about this stuff.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

3x plastic ;D Thats IS scary. Better off have a hazmat team on standby

[Mattlures]

Ten minutes is usualy enough time to get a usable bond. However it will get much better permanent bond if you let it cure for several hours, like overnight. The reason your getting a better bond with only applying to one side is there is lee Mend-it so the solvents have evaporated and it hace cured. It just takes longer when you apply to both sides but it will be a better bond. i have found that it works on all brands of plastisol. 3x is a completly different material. If you guys have any questions about Mend-it just ask me. I have been using it for about 5 years.