Repairing the RIB ( Rubbish Inflatable Boat)

[BogMonster]

Today I embarked on the new tube ends for the orange satan so thought I would post some pictures...

...probably end up being a story of how NOT to do it but hey

I can already say that you should not repeat not do this job at all if you have a professional within 500 miles of you unless you are a complete masochist... pay them whatever they ask to do it for you. I wish I could.

Peeling the rubbing strip off (with a hot air gun) is a pig of a job. After fighting with it for a bit I jammed a bit of metal down the inside of the "D" part of the strake and put a ratchet strap across to the wall, to pull the strake away from the tube (all still inflated at this stage, no idea how you would manage if the tube was flat!). Unstuck a bit, pulled a bit, unstuck a bit, pulled a bit. Paul told me to peel it back and open up the seam but I decided I didn't dare do that because the orange layer started to come off the hypalon in lots of places and I decided I didn't dare fatally weaken the tube in case this fails and I have to do the "inflatable sausage" repair - anyway it looked like this:



Unfortunately it means that I will only be able to (at best) tape the bottom half of the seam (still better than original though - it was completely un-taped when built) but I figure that's the important bit so will try that first!

Then I tied the cleat off to the roof to try and make the tube as round as possible and not end up glued to itself:



Looking up the inside of the tube it is MOST interesting to note that it appears my boat is built out of gash material.... there was glue all over the inside from "something" which seems to be nothing to do with this boat:





You can also see the baffles which have a lot of give in them - this is with the forward chamber inflated to give it some shape.

Once I got it off it was interesting to look at the cause of failure which seemed to be a badly glued seam as well as fatigue in the material, the inner seam was coming off:



I looked back at the email I got from Humber which said "Generally throughout the rib manufacturing world problems like this occur due to wear and tear" mmm I suppose I must have hit something on the inside of the tube then...... must be more careful in future!

Following that, sanded it all up and primed it with glue then primed the tube ends too.

Tomorrow sees the moment of truth, did I measure the tube diameter accurately enough, will it stick properly, will I end up with it stuck to itself, or will it all go well in which case I might press on and do the other side.

More tomorrow

[codprawn]

Wear gloves - if you are a true Landie nutter you probably ooze EP90 - no wonder the tubes keep coming unstuck!!!

[Biggles]

Stephen,

Best of luck. I was trying to think of a way to keep the tube in a decent shape whilst you put the new cone in. But sorry I can't.

[BogMonster]

Somebody suggested on one of the other threads, using a car inner tube to hold it in shape and then taking it out at the last moment, so I might try that I think. But actually, having it tied off to the roof like it is produces a better shape than I thought, I'm just a bit wary that if it isn't bonded in the perfect shape it will produce "tight spots" when inflated and that might be a weakness.

I think I'm going to order the sausages anyway - nearly half the cost of these was getting them here by air so if I order the sausages now to come by sea I'll have them here if this job fails. After the Christmas hols I won't have anywhere indoors to do another job like this anyway, only available because the garage at work knock off for the whole period.

My Land Rovers do not leak Mr Cod

[Biggles]

What about a party balloon. Once all the work was done maybe the pressure of you pumping up the tubes would make it collapse. Doesn't sound quite right but I think you get the drift.

[ollyit]

looks hard work mate, I've been in the same situation with my tubes - nightmare task

[BogMonster]

Well there is only one word left to describe this

DISASTER

Do NOT ever try this repair it is TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE. I now just have £250 more worth of scrap hypalon and a scrap boat with half a tube missing and no way to even bodge it up to get a couple more days use out of it. Tube end sticks to itself, to you, to every F thing except where it is supposed to be and once I did get it more or less on I realised there was no way at all that the ends were going to meet when I was 3/4 of the way around, it just goes all over the place. I take my hat off to anybody who works with inflatable boat repair for a living because I'd shoot myself inside a week.

Guessing it cost about £10000 all in with the other stuff I have bought, all for 40 hours worth of use. Fun as it is, I can't afford a £250 per hour hobby on my salary.

I wish I could sue Humber for the cost, stress and inconvenience of this bloody boat. I really do but I doubt I'd stand a chance and anyway I've wasted enough money on this heap of junk without wasting more on blood sucking lawyers. I think its time to draw a line under this disaster and get rid of it.

Thanks to all for the help and support, without you I would have given up in despair six months ago, but this chapter of my life is finished.... before it kills me.

DO NOT TRY THIS REPAIR YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

[Biggles]

We feel for you.

[ollyit]

bummer mate

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Biggles

We feel for you.

Thanks

The bit that perhaps p*sses me off more than anything is that I now have nothing worth selling to raise the money to get the Mac which is what I really want...