Motomar Floating 430

[ChugiakTinkerer]

I'm in possession of a Motomar Floating 430 RIB which has been shamefully neglected over the past few years. It seems a bored dog can make short work of a covering tarp and can do some serious damage to the rub strakes! So I will spend some time this spring fixing this little boat up as best I can and welcome whatever advice you good people see fit to offer.

There don't seem to be many of these stateside. This one made its way to Valdez, Alaska, to help with cleaning up the oil spill in 1989.

Here's what it looks like today:



The hypalon tubes appear to be in good shape. Given the amount of damage to the strakes I plan on removing them and replacing with new. Or, if I can find a matching style I may attempt to cut off and replace the damaged portion and reglue the remainder. Most likely will be complete replacement.

Here's a rear view of the transom:



I'm thinking I should replace the plywood mounting plate.

It has 4 chambers, and I have yet to inflate any of them to see where there might be leaks or if the baffles are intact. Here's a pic of the valves:



I know not what surprises await on the underside!

Here's what I have laid out as my plan for rescuing this poor neglected RIB:

1) Get it in my driveway where I can work on it. Clean it up properly and inflate. Locate all leaks and assess feasibility of repair.

2) Repair or replace the rub strakes.

3) Consider replacing the valves. I'd like to have a standard valve that can be easily maintained, such as the C7.

4) Repair where the tube attaches to the transom. The entire attachment to the hull may need re-gluing.

5) Repair the transom as needed.

6) If necessary, completely remove the tubes. This will allow easier access to repair the tubes as well as enable proper cleaning and prep for re-gluing. Painting the hull would be possible at this point too. Of course this would come before step 4.

I've done none of this sort of work before, but I'm not shy about taking on complex DIY project. I am completely new to the jargon of the RIB community despite having owned this boat for 15 years.

[tworotorturbo]

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress!

[ChugiakTinkerer]

I filled the tubes this morning. Took this picture about three hours later.



We got our first taste of warm sunshine today. It's been a long time coming. Tubes got pretty hard, enough so that I opted to bleed off some pressure. I need to get a pressure gauge so I'm not left guessing how much air is in the tubes. Now in early evening the tubes are cooling and starting to sag. Hopefully it's just contraction and I haven't lost any air. Even still, no major leaks in the tubes and the baffles appear to be intact.

The next step is to turn it over and see how well the apron is holding to the hull. Is that the right term, apron? It seems appropriate.

[ncp]

Looks pretty good. This forum has seen much worse.

Keep us posted on the progress!

[ChugiakTinkerer]

I spent some time scrubbing the tubes using mild dish soap and a soft scrubber. It looks pretty good, at least from a distance. The aft starboard tube still needs some scrubbing. All the snow has melted but that corner of the yard is a squishy mess.



The lichen that was growing on the tubes has left some stains on the orange wear patches. This picture may not show it unless you click to get the zoomed in image.



What's a good product for getting hypalon sparkling clean? I've got plenty of elbow grease and scrubbing pads, but I'd like to use something with a bit more cleansing power than dish soap. Any suggestions?

[ChugiakTinkerer]

I think I've found an answer to my question and will be getting some 303 cleaner and protectant.

[willk]

CT - the NAF (North American Forum) guys will be able to advise you better about cleaning products than I can (in Ireland) but quite a lot of mildly alkaline domestic cleaning products work well, especially if you work them over with a slightly abrasive Scotch pad. 303 protectant is good against sun damage, there are lots of finishing products that restore colour and gloss - while they stick...

Tube pressure - for use, the tubes should be hard and should bounce a punched fist. As you know, beware strong sun if it doesn't have overpressure relief valves.

Nice find, BTW. I'm guessing you got a bargain?

[Nos4r2]

It's amazing the difference it makes just pumping the tubes up and giving something a quick scrub.

[ChugiakTinkerer]

No great bargain as this abuse is all self-inflicted. I've had this boat for nigh 15 years. I don't really want to do the math because that would probably indicate I am as old as I'm starting to feel. I have a slow leak on the port tube, I suspect the valve. Locating and fixing that is my next to-do item. Thanks for the NAF suggestion, I'll check it out.

[willk]

Originally Posted by ChugiakTinkerer

No great bargain as this abuse is all self-inflicted.

Tut tut - Father Mulligan says that self abuse is the worst sort

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Originally Posted by willk

Tut tut - Father Mulligan says that self abuse is the worst sort

Is it coincidental I find myself needing eyeglasses?

[ChugiakTinkerer]

More cleaning and assessment today. We had 4 inches of global warming fall overnight. This is now officially the longest meteoric winter on record for Anchorage, Alaska (early snow in the fall and late snow in the spring.) *grumble*



I inflated the tubes this afternoon. The bow and starboard were just a bit soft from my pressure release from a week ago. The port tube was saggy but not flat. I realized that I didn't have the valve caps on, so I put them in place after inflating. Hopefully it's a valve leak. Or maybe not, I don;t know how readily these valves can be tweaked.

My scrubbing is pulling loose some of the fibers in the hypalon. I think I may trim those off with a scalpel-like tool, oh so carefully.



There's a colorful patch on the starboard tube that I didn't notice before. it's starting to lift up on the right side. I think I'll replace it with a new gray patch.



I trimmed off about 50 cm of the chewed-up rub strake. You can see where it took a bit of the orange hypalon fabric with it. I hope the new rub strake can cover that.




The middle D-ring on the port gunwale rope is starting to tear through. Yet another fix.



Next post, the valves!

[ChugiakTinkerer]

The valves are "some sort of military" according to my local rafting shop. There's an exposed black rubber boot with a plug cap. Deep within is a brass valve pin. First, the view with the cap/plug inserted.



Here I've taken out the plug. There is some text on the flap which reads:
INSTRUMENT RESEARCH LABORATORIES LTD
CORSHAM.WILTS.ENGLAND

The valve boot has MADE IN ITALY along the top, and something I can't read along the bottom.



And finally, the valve itself in all its algae-infested glory!



Is anyone familiar with this type of valve? Does there appear to be a chance that with the right tool the valve can be removed, without cutting into the hypalon? Waiting with fingers crossed for someone with the magical knowledge.

[wrublewski]

Hi,

I'm looking for more info on this boat. What is the cargo weight limit? what is the engine size limit?

I'm looking for the specs of the boat.

[HughN]

Originally Posted by ChugiakTinkerer

Here I've taken out the plug. There is some text on the flap which reads:
INSTRUMENT RESEARCH LABORATORIES LTD
CORSHAM.WILTS.ENGLAND

Anything along the lines of 'Made in England' on must be very, very old!

I think that there used to be an organisation called "The Admiralty Photographic and Instrument Research Laboratories" that performed research, etc., for the Royal Navy. I'm not sure if there is a link - it would have been unlikely to be a 'Ltd' company (but might have been split off as a separate entity).

Corsham had lots of Admiralty stores, so there may be a link. A lot of the underground ones have been taken over by companies storing very expensive wine for very rich people - it is like gold reserves, with bottles being moved around as they are traded!

HTH
Hugh

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Thanks for the reminder about this project thread.

Life has distracted me from following up on this. The boat is in much better shape than my original assessment indicated. Port and starboard tubes are good, just have slow valve leaks that are contained if the valve caps are well seated. The bow tube has a small leak that doesn't go away by keeping the valve cap on, so I still have to track that down and fix it.

As to the specs for the boat, here is a picture of the transom plate:



You folks across the pond may be better acquainted with Italian than me. But based on the context and guessing as to the worn off lettering I reckon it states:

Model: 430
Weight: 95 kg / 210 lb.
Total persons: 6
Maximum weight: 1000 kg / 2216 lb.
Max horsepower: 50 HP
Serial number: MFL43265L888

[ChugiakTinkerer]

Paying a little better attention to that photo, the last four characters in the serial number appear to be E888. Probably meaningful in some way but I'm far from knowing how.

[Aaron02]

Originally Posted by wrublewski

Hi,

I'm looking for more info on this boat. What is the cargo weight limit? what is the engine size limit?

I'm looking for the specs of the boat.

6 person
2200lbs
50hp max

[Scuba Chris]

I LOVED my 14ft Motormar. I think it was made in Italy? I held several records in Hawaii trolling with it. Large tunas to marlins. Now i have another at +17ft w/twin Mercs but rather have my smaller one. Again.

[Scuba Chris]

Massive fish!