Inflatable Boat Material

[kancho]

I was thinking of making a small inflatable dinghy... Probably cheaper to buy one already made but I like DIY..

I contacted a manufacturer saying I need marine grade PVC fabric.. Can anyone give me ideas where to get this? I seen some PVC rolls selling for about 12/yd for 40oz but I don't think they are marine grade.

One salesman told me even the 40oz pvc will leak slowly.

[TeddyDiver]

Converting to RIB In that thread were a link or two..

[kancho]

Yeah it has link to tube manufacturers,, I did find some but is the going rate for marine pvc 120/meter(us price)? Slightly cheaper in UK i think.

[TeddyDiver]

Fabric prices in UK http://www.henshaw.co.uk/default.cfm/loadindex.155

[alan white]

Originally Posted by kancho

I was thinking of making a small inflatable dinghy... Probably cheaper to buy one already made but I like DIY..

I contacted a manufacturer saying I need marine grade PVC fabric.. Can anyone give me ideas where to get this? I seen some PVC rolls selling for about 12/yd for 40oz but I don't think they are marine grade.

One salesman told me even the 40oz pvc will leak slowly.

Try vinyl or Hypolon. I have a whole lot of vinyl parts (oarlocks, lift straps, D rings, etc.. I would sell these cheap.

[wjquigs]

Look for Vinyl Coated Polyester (VCP)--it's used for truck tarps, billboards, etc. as well as some folding kayaks and pool toys. You can glue it with a special cement. Check Tom Yost's folding kayak builder's manual (www.yostwerks.com), suppliers page, for sources. I got some from http://www.mauritzononline.com/
Hypalon is actually a coating like paint. It's typically used on a base fabric like nylon or polyester. You can either buy the fabric pre-coated or you can build your boat and coat it with Hypalon. But it's expensive enough that your materials costs will probably be more than just buying the equivalent boat factory-made.