Hi. I'm building riverboards which are basically like bodyboards for whitewater, but thicker for more buoyancy and with handles mounted on top so that you don't have to hold on to the underside of the board when going over shallow areas.

With some past prototypes, I used screws through the board with nylon straps as handles, but I'd like to get away from that as I've experienced screws ripping through even with adequate sized washers and even once had an entire small rectangle of the plastic bottom of the board rip through.
Since XLPE foam in 2lb density is a very spongy material, my idea is to insert vinyl handles into short " bells " of PVC pipe on each end. The PVC ends have an outer diameter of 1 1/4" and holes drilled into the foam are 1" diameter. Glue would be applied to both surfaces and the bells forced into the holes which should keep enough tension on the bells while an adhesive cures. Of course, all surfaces are roughly sanded and I would even apply a little bit of gap filler foam into the bottom of the handles to create a flat surface at the bottom for more surface contact. Here's a photo of the handles before being put on.

I know I'm working with some traditionally difficult to bond materials. Does anyone have experience with bonding vinyl tubing to PVC ( I can reinforce this bond with heavy duty drywall screws through the PVC and vinyl as well ) and PVC to cross-linked polyethylene?
Comments rated to be "almost" Good Answers: