How to Fix a Broken Portable Basketball Hoop Base?

Now a day a portable basketball hoop is very popular. It is a good investment that should be enjoyed for years. A portable basketball hoop base usually filled with water or sand. There is a chance of damage as a portable system is always outside. Sometimes, it won’t long last as you expect. Some problems can occur exposed to the elements. The base may crack or break. Rapture or crack in a plastic bottom is a common problem. This type of damage is not so hard to repair. You can fix a broken portable basketball hoop base in several easy ways.

Portable basketball hoops are so popular because of the height adjustment mechanism and simple transferability. If you have a portable basketball hoop, then you must want that this will last for a long time. If you can take proper care of it, then no doubt that you can use your portable basketball hoop for a long time. In general portable basketball hoops filled with sand or water. Since you use your hoop system outside, so there is always a possibility of getting damaged.  The outside environment may cause some problems to the hoops, like it may break or crack. So far, the most common issues of the hoop system are crack in the plastic bottom part. So it means the hoop you have is not going to last long as you expected, right? Yeah! You can buy a new one after it gets damaged, but the good thing is there are many ways to fix or repair the base of portable basketball hoops, and it’s not so difficult. Do you want to know how? OK, so without any further delay, let’s go through the processes of how you can fix any portable hoop base.

They are as follows:

• The simplest way to set a portable hoop base is to use concrete. It is a permanent and cheaper solution. You can fill or patch the bottom from the inside with cement. It is a good patching material. It does not tend to leak. You won’t have to worry about freezing.
• By using caulk, you can fix a broken or cracked base. Locate the rupture first. Press smoothly with the entire base. Look to see a break when pressure used. Try to find out all the leaks. Now, drain the base. Turn the base sideways and let the sand or water run out. Let it do until it is a level below the cracked surface. Wipe the bottom using a small amount of rubbing alcohol. Make sure the surface is free of any debris or sand particles. Let the rupture dry thoroughly. Now, fill the crack with caulk. Press and knead the base firmly into the crevice. Use enough caulk to cover the edges. Press the caulk even and straighten the edges. After an hour smoothly sand the caulk. You can use paint color to hide the fixed spot.
• You can also fix a broken hoop base by using adhesive or resin. No strong adhesive can be a stable patch over a crack. The best result will be achieved by sanding the base to create a texture. Now you have to flame the base in the crack spot to repair. Heating consists of passing a torch or open flame back and forth over the base surface. Try to Keeping the heat moving at all times before the polyethylene shows any sign of melting. After heating the surface, you can continue the repair shortly. It will give you the best results.

Use concrete

This is an easy way to fix a basketball hoop base. If you have a broken base of the portable basketball hoop, then you can patch or fill the base of the hoop with the concrete from the inside, and the process is so simple. I should say this is a budget friendly, permanent, and easy solution to your issue. Concrete is a hard material, and there is hardly any chance to leak.  You don’t need to worry about freezing. Without adding any water, you can even put the concrete mix into the base, and then you can pour the water.

Use caulk

To repair the cracked base, you can use the fiberglass reinforced caulk, and remember, you can apply this only if you have a 44 inch or smaller size backboard. Let’s check out the process one by one.

• First of all, your job is to find where the leaking is. When you find it, and then press gently to the base by using your hand. The goal to press is to check out if there is any more
• When you can track all the leaks, the next step is to drain the basketball system. Remove the water or sand from the base by turning it around.
• Make sure there will not be any kind of wreckage or sand particles inside the base. And for that you need to clean the rapture and to clean it you can use a cloth and a small amount of rubbing alcohol. Again you need to make sure there wouldn’t be any moisture on its surface. Take some time to make the surface dry.

• Now it’s time to fill up the crack or leakage with caulk. Compress the base decisively into the gap. Keep in mind that you need to cover all the edges, so you need to collect a sufficient amount of caulk. Then press the caulk even and level the sides.
• After one hour, sand the caulk smoothly with a soft hand.
• You can use color paints to hide the repaired spot.

Use heat to patch up

People say it is the hardest option to fix the hoop base, but it is the most effective method and best option to set your hoop. If you want to apply this method, then follow the below-mentioned processes.

Firstly you will need to flame the patch by continuously moving heat gun over it. You can’t allow the heat gun to stay for a long time; if you do, then it will get burned. After holding the heat gun over the patch for a few seconds, you need to check it immediately. When you see the sign of melting, then into the holes blowout the fluid, so that the patch can add to the damaged spot.

Now put on hand gloves and kindle the heat gun. Now get your patch at the side with pliers. Then melt the patch and hang it downwards. Sweep the torch all over the whole so that the plastic will turn into a different color. When the iron gets warm, then strike it. Remember, both the base and patch must remain hot while you do the process. So do it fast. Now wearing a hand glove clasp the patch and press it to the hoop.

Use adhesive

To repair a broken or damaged hoop base, you can use adhesive. Resin or adhesive has fantastic attachment competences. But the sad part is that you can’t use any strong adhesive with fiberglass cloth to build a compact patch over a crack.

If you have cracked hoop unused for a long time, you probably think about buying a new one. So why don’t you try using adhesive to make it playable again? Let me explain to you the process here. First of all, create texture by filling the base surface with sands. Then flame the base in a damaged spot to repair it. Now come to the heating process. Pass the torch back and forth on the base surface. Keep heating until the polythene starts to melt. When you finish the heating process, you can continue repairing it for a short time, and you can get the ideal result by this.

Put a layer of adhesive on the base over the damaged part. Then cut a piece of fiberglass and join it with the glue. Next, roll a layer of resin on the patch cloth to lay the second patch over the first one. Until you can see the base is stiff between unrepaired and repaired area, continue adding more layers.

Now on the exterior part, drip the patch on top of the damaged surface directly and ¼ beyond each edge of the area. You need to repeat the process on the opposite side and sand those cracked spots until you see they look good on the base. These patch layers will help to encounter sandbars or other interferences on the water.