New guy here from Wing Inflatables

[Nico]

Hey guys, just wanted to say that the forum looks great and its nice to see people excited about Inflatables. I work at Wing Inflatables in California as a tube designer, so any questions or suggestions you might have don't hesitate to ask.

Wing Inflatables, inc.
Fabricators of polyurethane replacement tubes, sponsons and foam collars for rigid inflatable boats.
www.wing.com

[Tim J]

Hi! I just sent an inquiry to you guys about new tubes for my small rib...hopefully you can help

Tim

[capntroy]

It's great to see you guys here, I've purchased a dozen Wing tubes ranging from 10' to 36' and I wouldn't own anything else!

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by Nico

Hey guys, just wanted to say that the forum looks great and its nice to see people excited about Inflatables. I work at Wing Inflatables in California as a tube designer, so any questions or suggestions you might have don't hesitate to ask.

Wing Inflatables, inc.
Fabricators of polyurethane replacement tubes, sponsons and foam collars for rigid inflatable boats.
www.wing.com

Hey, nice to meet you (electronically, of course, but still...)

I was just talking to the dive shop owner, and we got to talking about tubes on my RIB. I said if I needed to have them done, I'd think about going to you guys at Wing. He just got a confused look on his face.

In any case, it probably won't be anytime soon, but nice to know you guys are not just doing military contracts.

jky

[ribfan]

Glad to see you aboard. I've always thought Wing makes a great set of tubes. Is Wing going to become a bit more active in the consumer rib market, or stay mostly in the commercial market?

Bill

[Nico]

Hey, great to hear from you guys. Our main revenue comes from the commercial RIB market, but that's not to say that we don't do custom orders. We really cant compete with the Chinese competition as far as the consumer market goes. Our urethane fabric is much more expensive than the hypalon and pvc counterparts. Plus the whole labor thing..

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by Nico

Hey, great to hear from you guys. Our main revenue comes from the commercial RIB market, but that's not to say that we don't do custom orders. We really cant compete with the Chinese competition as far as the consumer market goes. Our urethane fabric is much more expensive than the hypalon and pvc counterparts. Plus the whole labor thing..

Why do you use it then, when Hypalon is superior?

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Why do you use it then, when Hypalon is superior?

Not everyone agrees that Hypalon is superior to PU. Valiant and XS both claim PU is better (stronger, harder wearing etc). However I'm surprised its more expensive as Barnet Marine seem to offer to do retubes in PU for the same ball park (maybe slightly less?) than Tidel/Henshaw in Hypalon.

[capntroy]

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Why do you use it then, when Hypalon is superior?

Not quite sure what you're basing that statement on, but Hypalon is in no way superior to polyurethane.

[Nos4r2]

Originally Posted by capntroy

Not quite sure what you're basing that statement on, but Hypalon is in no way superior to polyurethane.

Show me a set of serviceable 30 year old PU tubes then