Valiant RIB repair

[Chrisdy]

Hi Guys,

Can anyone help? I have a valiant 5 mtr rib that is leaking underneath the black rubber surround. How do I get this off to repair the leaks underneath?
Will MEK act as a solvent to release the adhesive?

Chris.

[Jizm]

Where-abouts are you?

There are a cpuple of tube guys on here....

[thomas]

Jamie of JCraft has done a few repairs in my Valiant, he is busy so the last I took it to him I removed all the areas that needed fixing with a heat fun, hot enough to soften the glue but not too hot else you can damage the fabric, then a grinder to removed the glue - I have to add that my boat is very old and knackered so it wasn't a disaster if it went horribly wrong.

[Chrisdy]

Thanks Thomas, did you try to clean the glue with any solvent?

Chris

[thomas]

When I've repaired my quicksilver dingy in the past I've used acetone to get the old glue off but it will take a slight bit of the surface of the fabric off too. You can get rotary attachments to get glue off and roughen the surface for glueing.

I wouldn't go any where new boat though!!