Aerotec - transom tried to fall off!

[rik_elliott]

As did I - it was incredible how sudden the failure was

[office888]

I've got a Futura MK2 that I'm going to reglue.

Would rib.net be interested in seeing the factory procedure for regluing?

The Zodiac Classic and Futura, as well as the Commando / Aerotec are really fun boats. It always saddens me when they go to the dumpster because shops treat glue as a mystical substance that takes forever to apply.

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by office888

I've got a Futura MK2 that I'm going to reglue.

Would rib.net be interested in seeing the factory procedure for regluing?

The Zodiac Classic and Futura, as well as the Commando / Aerotec are really fun boats. It always saddens me when they go to the dumpster because shops treat glue as a mystical substance that takes forever to apply.

Yes please

[rik_elliott]

Definitely, it would be very interesting to see the process

[jeffstevens763@g]

without dought a lot of interest

[Yabadabadoo]

Would very much like to see this

[FoxZulu]

I would like to see this too please. I have a small re-glueing job to do on our Bombard this weekend.

[simonafloat]

There is a good youtube video of an amateur reglue of a mkII. They have in my opinion done a stronger job than the original zodiac factory. I would be very interested to see your proceedure too.

One thing I wonder is how critical the temperature and humidity is when gluing. I.e. would an unheated garage be ok? Or do I need to convert my lounge to a glue shop

[office888]

Originally Posted by simonafloat

There is a good youtube video of an amateur reglue of a mkII. They have in my opinion done a stronger job than the original zodiac factory. I would be very interested to see your proceedure too.

One thing I wonder is how critical the temperature and humidity is when gluing. I.e. would an unheated garage be ok? Or do I need to convert my lounge to a glue shop

I know the video you're talking about.

The mechanical fastenings would not increase the strength. The ungluing would still happen... It would just help prevent the transom from falling off completely. It'd still be a huge water leak though, and the transom would probably rip away from the tube.

PVC has a longevity, so does the glue. When plastic ages, it releases oils which slowly destroy the glue. The MEK wiping step removes the excess oils.

High temperatures and high humidity overreact the glue... It can glaze over, which traps solvents. Then, when you lay the piece up, the glazing pops and the solvents are released. The solvents turn the glue back to goo, and the piece loses strength... This may cause a cohesive or adhesive failure.

Knowing when to lay your part up is the most important part of gluing, next to prep. Reactivation with solvent can help remove glazing and rewet glue that is overly dry, but due to its random nature, you can end up with uneven strength in the workpiece.

The easiest way to glue is to maintain around 23c with about 45% RH. This makes the curing and working time around 10 min consistently.

[T4Syncro]

Office888 I'd be very interested in seeing the repair process as I'm seriously tempted to get this to try and fix. It seems a shame to let it go and is literally 5 minutes from me.

Inflatable Zodiac 3.8m | eBay

[Bigplumbs]

Looking at the original pic that looks quite an easy job to fix

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by rik_elliott

Hi all

Long time no post!

We took the aerotec out yesterday, great day. Lovely flat water with barely a ripple. The boat was well loaded with 4 of us on board, but was only pootling about up a river so no wave jumping or even particularly any throttle on the engine.

I noticed that the outboard felt odd as we were going along, and too my surprise spotted half the transom had let go. See attached pic. I ticked the motor over to get us back to shore, worried that the engine would go for a swim at any moment.

Looks as though the glue just gave up. I know its an older aerotec, but since I fixed a pinhole in the deck a few years back its been absolutely perfect. I would hate for it to have to be binned. So, my question is.... can I fix it? Any tips for reattaching a transom? I would imagine I will need to reglue the other side too - if one side failed the other could be close behind. I saw on a search other people have reglued bits of transom, but probably not on so old a boat and not with it literally waving around.

My plan would be to use some 2 part glue and maybe some extra PVC to reinforce the joints. But I really need a sanity check - would any of you use a boat again after having a pretty major structural failure of this sort?

As a final insult, the transom popping off like this somehow pinged my girlfriends dad's new fishing rod out the boat which disappeared under the brine. D'oh.

Could be worse...I saw some pics of a Big RIB with twins...where the Transum failed COMPLETLY and had to be replaced (at considerable expense!!) on the Maiden Voyage!

[Firstrib]

Hi, I am sorry that you have had a catastrophe with the Aerotec coming unglued. The same thing happened to me, in exactly the same place, looking exactly the same as your problem. I took mine to Ed Banyard's boat glueing repair workshop in Lostwithiel, it's where a lot of the boats are sent by other chandleries. Cost a couple of hundred pounds to repair. A good professional job and he weight tested it and had it inflated for a couple of weeks to check for leaks. Also did other repairs such as a new hook patch at the front where you tie the bag on. I was very satisfied. C

[simonafloat]

Firstrib, that sounds very reasonable to me. The transom is the only repair I wouldn't attempt myself personally. It might well influence my future plans to keep/sell my 420 when it gets into its twilight years. And lostwithiel is not a million miles from me either. Even if I was to attempt the repair myself, the amount of lost weekend time is easily worth a couple of hundred to me.

[Fenlander]

>>>same thing happened to me, in exactly the same place, looking exactly the same as your problem. I took mine to Ed Banyard's boat glueing repair workshop in Lostwithiel

It's good to hear a proper repair can be made at a viable price. There have been several examples on here and on Ebay this year where this failue has happened and a £200 repair would have sorted them.

[Bigplumbs]

Have you got this mended yet ?

[falcon0310]

Mine was sound in uk
Used twice now in Africa
It started due to heat
I knew would happen due to heat
But do I come out with glue an mex to repair it
Maybe over patch it as well

[Fenlander]

Sorry to see that has happened Falcon but it would probably have failed in the UK before long too as I remember your Aerotec was one of the oldest in the UK and the transom/floor glue will be failing on most of that age by now.

Really it will need a full re-glue to the transom and possibly floor too.

There is no need to over patch if you do the original seams to a good standard. Are there no inflatable repair shops in Gambia as if there were I would have thought labour would be cheap??