AVON ripped bow in summer heat

[Crocker00]

I inflated my AVON dinghy up in the cool morning air. Ran it at the beach. Then left it inflated in the back of my truck. That afternoon I got a text "what happened to your boat!" from my neighbor. Front bow was ripped in two places.

I assume pressure increase in the afternoon heat was too much. Can this be fixed? If anyone could give advice on a product and technique I could use to repair this, my 4yr old would be very happy.

[prairie tuber]

Wow, sorry to hear of this.

You might want to PM Paul Tilley (Tidelbiz) with those pictures and see what he suggests.

[Fenlander]

Real bad luck. My Zodiac handbook warns a boat inflated in 10degC temps can double its pressure if left out on a reflective surface in strong afternoon sun... particularly darker colour boats.

[S4Simon]

Where the damage has been done is a really difficult place to repair. Mainly because an inner repair has to be applied before an outer patch panel can be applied. You can have a look at a website I created which has instructions for repairing large holes. That particular repair(on the site) was carried out on a PVC Zodiac, whereas the Avon I think is hyperlon - much harder to repair, different glues and processes.

Here's the link.

Inflatable Boat Hole repairs

[prairie tuber]

While making this repair, I'd highly recommend adding a pressure relief valve.

[prairie tuber]

Examples:

http://www.ceredinautica.com/eng/Val...edi.aspx?lnk=2

1080 Automatic Relief Valve

Raft & Inflatable Boat A6 Pressure Relief Valve by Leafield - Man of Rubber, Inc.

Inflatable Boat Valves and Accessories

[ribraff]

Wow, that's unusual for it to rip through the middle of the Centre strip like that, with heat it would normally blow out a Seam, was there any damage to that area prior to this?

[lightning]

That's pretty bad. Can a SIB really blow apart like that if inflated in cool weather and then left out in the sun?

[gotchiguy]

Originally Posted by lightning

That's pretty bad. Can a SIB really blow apart like that if inflated in cool weather and then left out in the sun?

Not in this country!

[Crocker00]

Thanks for the links. I'm going to give it a shot. I live in Texas (23C in the morning, 41 C in the afternoon). Yes, I will be putting a pressure relief valve.