Pressure Relief Valve Replacement

[Ed110]

I'm looking to replace the two old PRVs on my Excel 480xhd. They don't look like any I've seen before, the removable PRV part (male thread, 30mm diameter) has an eight sided head, and it appears that trigger pressure can be adjusted once it is removed, by turning a knob inside the back of it against a threaded rod to change spring compression. The valve head fits into a female threaded part which seems to also be part of a white plastic circular stiffish backing plate of about 4 inches diameter, glued inside the boat tube. Problem is the glue between the fairly stiff backing plate inside the tube and the inner face of the tube wall has failed over 40% of the backing and leaks air badly at both valves (one each side), leaving boat unuseable just now. The PRVs themselves seam to seal ok after stripping down and cleaning, and their rubber inserts and plastic bearing faces seem in good condition. It's just the bond/seal of backing plate to inside of tube that's the issue.

I've glued up the failed section of backing plate to tube bond again in the meantime, but have little hope it will last in the long term, so I want to replace these valves with new ones ASAP, probably with Leafield A6 or similar, mounted on new pvc doubler patches which I will glue inside and outside the tubes, after I have cut the old valve backings out.

Questions for anyone who can help with advice are:

1. what is typical pressure rating for a SiB PRV? I've never had to replace one before so ignorant on the normal over-pressure allowance. Working pressure for the tube will be up to 0.25bar/3.5psi, I expect. Leafield offer much choice of pressure rating, and I don't want to pitch it too low or too high. I'm thinking maybe 4 psi (leafield red dot), but is that enough, and should I go higher to avoid annoying bleeding too often in response to bumps or pressure changes? Existing valves have no sign of any rating on them, and as noted appear to be adjustable for pressure anyway. Any advice from those of you who have any experience of replacing PRVs would be appreciated
2. Does anyone else have the type of valves I have, and do you know who makes/made them? Also, has has de-bonding of valve seat backing plate from inside tubes been an issue for you too? Backing seems harder and smoother than normal pvc boat fabric, so perhaps that's the issue?

Thanks for any advice/information anyone can give!

Ed

[jeffstevens763@g]

Talk to terry at excel he will sort you out

[Ed110]

Jeff, many thanks for your speedy reply, but unfortunately I don't wish to have anything to do with Terry after previous bad experience.....

I contacted Terry last year looking for technical advice on fixing the valve backing plate leak problem but the short version (avoiding a rant) is I found him strangely unhelpful and unwilling to give any advice. Maybe he was having a bad day. I learnt from him that he doesn't build boats, he sells them, and that his technical guy in the UK isn't good with phone conversations, so wouldn't be able to help me with advice on valve change out either. Rest of call seemed to be taken up with saying "I don't know what you want". All in all a very strange experience, particularly since I had bought the boat from him 2nd hand a while before (not used in the interim due to serious illness and lockdown), and I'm not keen to try and engage with him for advice again.

There seem to be those on this site who have had good experiences with Excel after-sales service, and those who have not. Unfortunately I am a "not good". Just my personal experience, but I'm not willing to subject myself to that sort of nonsense again. Left me feeling maybe I should have stuck to one of the better known brands, but to be fair to the Excel boat itself, the build quality, other than the failure of connection of the PRV backing material to hull tubes, seems pretty good.

Any advice other than "Call Terry" would be much appreciated, but I appreciate if I hadn't already tried that avenue the suggestion would be a good one!

Thanks

Ed

[jeffstevens763@g]

Ed contact rib shop or poly marine they’ll sort you out

Jeff

[Ed110]

Jeff,

thanks, hadn't thought of that will do, and will post back any advice I get for benefit of others..... Glue repair to existing valve backings seems to be holding up so far without leaks....

cheers

Ed

[jeffstevens763@g]

Originally Posted by Ed110

Jeff,

thanks, hadn't thought of that will do, and will post back any advice I get for benefit of others..... Glue repair to existing valve backings seems to be holding up so far without leaks....

cheers

Ed