Refurbishing an old Rib

Thanks for the tip Brendan, I will check with them. My rib is a sea doo made in Canada by Bombardier, is this what you are looking at? If so the tubes are hypalon and the seams are glued. My understanding is, as CDK says, that the hypalon boats are glued and the pvc boats are welded. As I said, I have scrubbed the tubes and inspected every square inch and they are in great shape except for the few patches. The only thing is that it appears that the seams are simple laps so that there are an exposed edge inside the tube and an exposed edge on the outside, on the outside seams there are, of course, reinforcing fibers from the cut edges exposed and this is why I plan on applying a coat of the liquid rubber they sell to all the seams to lock those fibers in and prevent them from continuing to fray. The product is meant to be used to coat the entire tube set but only if they are worn and exposing the fibers, which is not the case with mine. I don't want to coat the entire tubes because the rubber thickness when applied is supposedly as thick as the fabric so, in my case it would just be adding a lot of weight for no real gain. But I do plan on applying the paint which contains some rubber which will make it look like new and provide an extra layer of protection. As I said, I have the entire tube set off the boat so I think we will spray the paint. I had originally planned on using a sealer on the inside but the people who make the stuff talked me out of it when I called them to ask about how it would affect the valves. My old style Halkey Roberts valves are no longer available so I sure don't want to screw them up. I think that sealing the inside as well as the outside seams would pretty much prevent all leaks. I really need to keep on top of the tube maintainance as to have a new set custom made would be about 3k and I only paid $1500 for the boat and trailer.

Steve.

 

I just checked out the Universal hovercraft site, unfortunately the skirt material they sell is pvc so that's not going to work for me, sure would like the Hoverwing wig craft though. For those with PVC boats though you can buy that material very easily as it is used for a lot of products. I used to buy it from a local canvas shop that makes awnings, truck tarps etc out of it in various different fabric weights. I used to make up 10" diameter tubes out of 18oz pvc for pressing snowboards and we used to run 100psi in those presses, had a few explosions though when a shard of cured epoxy would puncture it so we went to putting it in a ballistic nylon bag, the fabric had no problem with the pressure and it was like a metal pipe. We glued up the tubes with HH66 glue.

Steve.

 

Ok, I found Hypalon fabric on ebay for a great price, 60" wide x 1 yard for $15, unfortunately not in the light grey but since I will be painting the entire thing anyway it should cover the light brown just fine (i hope) supposedly first quality surplus from a military contractor. I will check with some local roofers before i order though as Gonzo suggested.

Steve.

 

Holy crap, I just realized at that price it would be less than $200 for enough to make a complete tube set if a guy wanted to try his hand at making his own. No, not me but food for thought.

Steve.

 

Sorry steve. I thought it was universal that sold hypalon. I must my sites mixed up. I definitely seen it advertised last week. I will see if I can find who it was. Thanks for the info to . I will ring the seller and find out if its welded or glued.

 

I just found a u s site called inflateableboatparts .com they have all the colors of hypalon .looks like a good site.

 

this is the site.

 

Yes I have been on that site and they do have hypalon but did you see the price? absolutely insane, $30.95/ft 2, over 10 x the price of what i found on ebay. Is the rib you are looking at a Sea Doo Explorer like mine? if so be aware that the valves are obsolete, the current ones do not apparently screw in.

Steve.

 

yes , I thought the price was steep but ok for a small repair section. there is no name on the one I am looking at. I have been trying to get in touch with the owner but no luck so far. its on ebay aus. type in rib or jetboat.

 

Google "Sea Doo Explorer" and see if it looks like that, I know they had them down under as ive seen one for sale on Trade Me. Mine is 90hp and is quite fast and very maneuverable as long as you are powered up, no control at all if you want to coast in to a dock. Ive only used it a few times before having to put it into storage for the winter.

Steve.

 

I got hold of the owner. it is a force four built in new zealand

 

Cool, im sure its a lot newer than mine, what are the details? power, size etc.

Steve.