Avon tube separation

[Sibbob]

My Avon 3.4m has 3 tube sections and the inflatable keel.
When I depress the valve of the bow tube to deflate one of the side tubes deflates as well. There must be a way through between the 2 tubes.
Is there anything to be done or do I just live with it.
Cheers
Sibbob

[jyasaki]

It can be repaired, but it would involve opening up another seam, regluing the baffle, and resealing the access seam. No idea on price, but I suspect it's not going to be pocket change.

jky

[entropy]

I agree with jyasaki, it sounds like a baffle failure. Not easy to fix and probably a job for the pros.

The question now is how did it happen. When you inflate the boat have you been careful to add air to all the chambers equally or is it possible the bow chamber was inflated hard with no air in the deflating side chamber? This would strain the baffle and could cause it to blow out.

Greg

[jyasaki]

One other thing: The baffles are designed to flap around a bit; are you sure the other section is actually deflating? Other sections will get softer as you deflate one tube (depending on your inflate order); but it should still hold air.

To test, inflate each section to about 70% separately (with the others really slack), and see if you actually inflate more than one section at a time. If not, you're just seeing the baffle trying to equalize pressure between the sections.

jky