RIB tube problem

[Nigelbear]

I am new to boats, I have purchased a boat from e bay, been told it's a nice RIB.I bought a 5.1 Tornado (hypalon) with a 75HP 2 stroke petrol engine, the engines a dream.
Problem I have is that the tubes keep deflating, not fully but enough to have to be pumped up consdiderably - there are 3 valves, 3 tubes.
I have carried out water tests and found very small leakage, these have been repaired, but it still goes down!
I understand that when it gets cold it does go down a little but this is concerning me.
I cannot find ant leakage problems.
HELP!!!
Thanks
Nigel

[MustRib]

Hello Nigel..
I take it you have done the thin soapy water brushed on around the valves, seams etc etc and marked any air bubbles?
Maybe the valves are quite old? may need replacing.
My SR4 tubes get very soft after a few days in the garage as they cool down.
the tubes are from the 70's and despite changing the valves recently, they dont stay up all the time. I can get at least one ortwo weeks before they start to feel soft.
Andy

[MustRib]

also ..I dont think your tubes are Hypalon on the Tornado unless they have been replaced... there are lots of posts on here about Tornado tubes that are worth searching.

[jwalker]

You said your tubes are hypalon so if you're not mistaken this will not apply to them but I'll mention it just incase they are polyurethane and for general info. I'm aware there was a problem with some Tornado tubes where air was travelling into and along the reinforcement fibres and escaping through the ends of the material.

[Nigelbear]

Originally Posted by jwalker

You said your tubes are hypalon so if you're not mistaken this will not apply to them but I'll mention it just incase they are polyurethane and for general info. I'm aware there was a problem with some Tornado tubes where air was travelling into and along the reinforcement fibres and escaping through the ends of the material.

I dont really know! Guy in a boat shop said that if it was similar orange colour as a life boat then it would be Hypalon?
All I know is the problem is not obvious, when the boat was delivered from Berkshire to West Wales the tubes were up until the following day when they went down?
Regards
Nigel

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by Nigelbear

Guy in a boat shop said that if it was similar orange colour as a life boat then it would be Hypalon?

Professionals, eh.

If it's orange but turned kinda pinkish but is still orange underneath if you rub the surface hard, it's likely to be hypalon. If it's orange and still orange and a bit shiny it's likely to be polyurethane. If it's old and kinda bleached out towards being clear where it's been exposed to the sun, it's likely to be early polyurethane.

Tornado used to build using polyurethane and that was a feature of their boats but that doesn't mean they never used hypalon.

...Berkshire to West Wales the tubes were up until the following day when they went down...

I consider that to be a substantial leak and you should persist with the soapy water.

[Ian Shaw]

You have already been given sound advice, but just to guild the lily....
If the tube is original it will be polyurethane. Tornado have never built in Hypalon.
Much depends on the age of the boat, the older boats have glued seams, newer boats have welded seams, and the location of the leak. The first thing to do is to establish the location of the leak using soapy water as previously described. If you find no leakage along seams or valves test the remainder of the tube. Then contact Laurence Lock at Barnet Marine (currently at the Barnet stand at the SBS) and he will be able to advise how best to proceed.

[codprawn]

I was looking at an old Tornado RIB the other day - it was seriously heavy duty - massive rubber rubbing strakes and I am pretty sure it was made of hypalon.

[Ian Shaw]

Hi Codprawn,

Nice RIB !
The tubes look exactly as orange PU - same shade of orange, some indication of shine, seams look to be as per usual with normal Tornado PU tubes.
Tornado sometimes use a heavy-duty PU for their bigger boats. At 1700gsm I believe this is heavier and stronger than the usual heavy-duty Hypalon.

[Neal]

Originally Posted by Nigelbear

I am new to boats, I have purchased a boat from e bay, been told it's a nice RIB.I bought a 5.1 Tornado (hypalon) with a 75HP 2 stroke petrol engine, the engines a dream.
Problem I have is that the tubes keep deflating, not fully but enough to have to be pumped up consdiderably - there are 3 valves, 3 tubes.
I have carried out water tests and found very small leakage, these have been repaired, but it still goes down!
I understand that when it gets cold it does go down a little but this is concerning me.
I cannot find ant leakage problems.
HELP!!!
Thanks
Nigel

Hi Nigel and welcome to ribnet. We have almost the same set up as you and are very happy with it. When we got the boat it had three chamber PU tubes in orange (as i understand it the standard for that boat) they were broken so we replaced them with 5 chamber hypalon. The new tubes are a dark blue and do change with the weather more than the orange ones did. If you cant find a problem with the good advice above you could ring one of the tube boys who post on here they are very good and should be able to help.

[Nigelbear]

Originally Posted by Neal

Hi Nigel and welcome to ribnet. We have almost the same set up as you and are very happy with it. When we got the boat it had three chamber PU tubes in orange (as i understand it the standard for that boat) they were broken so we replaced them with 5 chamber hypalon. The new tubes are a dark blue and do change with the weather more than the orange ones did. If you cant find a problem with the good advice above you could ring one of the tube boys who post on here they are very good and should be able to help.

Heres my rib.
Thanks for all the advice just need a remedy now> The previous owner claims he had no problem with the tubes going dowm, Im lost!
Thanks
nigel