Mysterious air loss

ragbar · 23 June 2011, 18:01

Hi all your tube repair experts,
i want you to tell me your opinion ( PLease,grrr).
Situation : two tubes of my ribcraft are loosing air slightly, these are the left one and the top.
I've bought repair sets for the leafield valves, mounted them correctly, but nothing changed.
You might say now, of course the tubes have holes and are loosing air, but i've looked all over with soap water and leak searching spray, nothing.

I checked the repaired valves with soap water, nothing.

No pinholes in the tubes, no air loosing valves but i still must pump air weekly because pressure is fading away slightly. What can i do more than checking with soapwater and repair the valves ??????

The right tube is alright, with only pressure differents during changing tempratures, i only have to fill up 1 time in 2 month, i would say this is normal.

Please help!

Cheers
Eric
W

Channel Ribs · 23 June 2011, 19:51

Hi Eric, Paul Tilley will be along soon to offer real help. All I can say is that maybe the adjoining tube is not leaking - the loss of pressure could be entirely due to the baffle between sections.

Other than that, have you checked all the seams etc? Sometimes the bubbles in the soapy water can be very subtle.

ragbar · 23 June 2011, 20:23

Thanks for your answer.
Yes, i've checked the seams, i did everything, checked for now 4 times the tubes all over.

Maybe it's because she was build in 1997, but i guess for Hypalon this isn't really old.

The most mysterious thing is that she seem to be air tight all over, but air loss occurs and she has to be refilled with nearly 10 hubs from the air pump each week.

I did everything, inclusive ordering repair kits from America last month, and it is still all dissapointing.

May be someone would answer :" Rip off that old tubes and buy them new!"
But i won't do that, not for a good known boat that is not even 20 years old.

Cheers
Eric

Erin · 23 June 2011, 20:36

I agree with Channel Ribs that air leaks can be hard to detect with soap and water sometimes. On my old boat there was a slight leak which was from the seam under the bow roller. It was very slight but caused the same type of problem you had because there was also a leak in the baffle between the bow tube and the port tube. I would pump it up well and brush soapy water along each seam again and watch very carefully.

hadd · 23 June 2011, 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by ragbar

Hi all your tube repair experts,
i want you to tell me your opinion ( PLease,grrr).
Situation : two tubes of my ribcraft are loosing air slightly, these are the left one and the top.
I've bought repair sets for the leafield valves, mounted them correctly, but nothing changed.
You might say now, of course the tubes have holes and are loosing air, but i've looked all over with soap water and leak searching spray, nothing.

I checked the repaired valves with soap water, nothing.

No pinholes in the tubes, no air loosing valves but i still must pump air weekly because pressure is fading away slightly. What can i do more than checking with soapwater and repair the valves ??????

The right tube is alright, with only pressure differents during changing tempratures, i only have to fill up 1 time in 2 month, i would say this is normal.

Please help!

Cheers
Eric
W

Hi ragbar, try gas leak detection fluid its great stuff for finding leaks, a lot better than soapy water you can buy it off ebay ,it come,s in 1ltr bottle,s hope that helps

ragbar · 23 June 2011, 20:49

Like i wrote, i used gas leak detection fluid already, results: None

I had never thought that finding leaks can be so hard.

Obviously: she is airtight.

But

I have to fill up 10 hubs a week .

Cheers Eric

biffer · 24 June 2011, 07:04

I hate to say this but you're missing something. If air is getting out then it will show. What I've found sometimes is the soapy water evaporates before it blows a bubble on small leaks. You must go over the whole boat not just the seams. Don't just spray it on get a paint brush and swish it about

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