Zodiac Mk2 jet boat

Roflhat · 11 February 2026, 16:20

Found this old Zodiac for sale locally, went to see it today and it the glue was much worse than initially thought but bought it anyway. £650 for the boat and trailer, both have been sat in a small wooden shed for the last 10 years. Previous owner reckons it's 1987/88, it was on a Navy ship which served in Egypt before they bought it.
Pretty clean overall, tubes seem to hold air reasonably well but the glue on the transom and floor, on port side anyway is totally gone. Plan is to strip that back and reglue, likely the starboard side and possible the rowlocks too. Then bolt a piece of wood onto the transom to suit my Tohatsu 30 jet outboard.

Fairly flat bottom at the transom which is good for jets, guys in Alaska use these so confident it will work.

Steve509926 · 11 February 2026, 18:33

The tubes look pretty decent for something that's nearly 40 years old!
At £650 I don't think you can go wrong. The trailers got to be worth £350-£400 and the oars at least £100.
When you reglue the floor, will you alter it at all to make it flatter?

Roflhat · 11 February 2026, 21:15

They are in remarkably good condition!
I think I'll leave it as standard, too complicated to try and alter it and they seem to perform pretty well with jets anyway

Fenlander · 11 February 2026, 21:38

Ahh the oars. Those Zodiac two-piece of that era are my very favourite.

spartacus · 11 February 2026, 23:00

MKII C Tourism. Should be Strongan Duotex (Zodiac’s own PVC). If it was Grand Raid version (which Navy would have had), it had inter-communicating valves, front towing D rings, (and was hypalon). It is 1986 according to build plate. Surprised valves are plastic. Maybe been updated. Originals were nickel plated. You can still buy diaphragms and seal kits online.

Don’t trust the rowlock pins, they vibrate loose, fit a short cord from the oar to the lace cuff, or will be bye-bye to the oars if you’re out in anything lumpy. Once you lift the floor you can see the inflatable keel. The leak at the transom end were the material folds over. Will be interesting repair. Occasionally the aluminium floors come up for sale.

Roflhat · 12 February 2026, 07:30

Thanks for the info, wasn't sure if PVC or Hypalon. The lady who sold it to me said Hypalon but I'll buy both glues today and check

Roflhat · 12 February 2026, 19:31

Got started today, pulled the transom apart and cleaned everything up before slowly starting to piece it back together. Definitely a more time consuming process than I had anticipated, lots of wee bits to go on

Steve509926 · 12 February 2026, 21:04

The ply transom looks in great condition, hardly a mark on it. I assume the sib wasn't used very much and cared for very well.
Is it PVC or Hypalon?

spartacus · 12 February 2026, 23:01

99.9% sure its PVC, as Grand Raids at the time were definitely hypalon.

Grand Raids as mentioned had inter-communicating valves, definitely had GR on index plate, and adhesive code lettering, usually black bow strip, black lace cuff and tell-tale is two front D towing rings in addition to grab handle, and they only made MKII and MkIII.

More reading here for comparison, both 1985 boats.

https://www.rib.net/forum/f50/1985-z...der-59592.html

https://www.rib.net/forum/f50/zodiac...5-a-69222.html

I’ve still got Zodiac price list from 1987.

Zodiac MKIIC was £1,696.25. MKII GR was £2,518.50 new.

Roflhat · 13 February 2026, 05:54

Yeh the transom is in great shape, totally solid. It's PVC

I've used hypalon glue to prime the transom and the rubber attachments like the grab handles and rowlocks.
Next step will be to remove the floor then try to get the transom back in the boat.

Found a dive flag in the bottom yesterday which is very cool, plastic thread in the bow where it goes in

spartacus · 13 February 2026, 17:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roflhat

Found a dive flag in the bottom yesterday which is very cool, plastic thread in the bow where it goes in

I think I've still got one somewhere. They inevitably break and get lost, ropes snag on them, etc. Longer boats (length wise) had them on the port tube at the aft.

Good luck with the gluing!

Roflhat · 14 February 2026, 19:38

Got a fair bit more done today, with help from my mate Jack. Pulled the floor off, then started putting the transom bits back together. It's not our finest work but looks alright. Transom has ended up slightly higher than original but fits alright. Managed to puncture inside of one of the transom mounts whilst removing old glue so had to patch that then continue

Hopefully start on the floor tomorrow, don't think we have enough glue to finish it which is a shame but we'll do what we can

Fenlander · 15 February 2026, 10:41

Interesting to see. Up to that year and the following ten years was the golden era for Zodiac SIBs. With the exception of the well known glue issues once they went to PVC the materials used were still excellent. Sadly these days their leisure range of SIBs is a shadow of their former output.

Your work rather reminds me of my first Aerotec from around 2000, bought as a restoration project when it was 15yrs old. I stopped just short of taking the transom and floor off but it certainly was a crash course in glued PVC repairs.

Looking forward to seeing how it performs with the jet.

Peter_C · 15 February 2026, 17:50

I went through the same job on a 1992 MKII Sport GT. With a few improvements along the way I probably had 40+ hours into re-gluing the floor and transom, and had to get a second set of hands for putting the floor back on as it happens fast. Point being it IS a lot of work, as almost all the bits and pieces that are glued on fail. Learned a lot along the way though, and found a system for gluing.

Even with a regular propped 40hp trimmed way up I could move along in 8 inches of water at idle speed. Using a Stingray wing it would plane at around 11mph. There are many things I miss about that boat. Hope you have fun with yours too

I have always been jealous of your racing cats, as they would be a hoot.

Roflhat · 15 February 2026, 20:54

I'm impressed with the quality of the tubes, being 40 years old and you wouldn't really know it. Not sure yet if I'll use the jack plate I bought for the pioner to raise the engine or try to extend the transom up using wood. Most likely try the jack plate first as I already have it and it's easier.

Got another chunk done today, with help from Jack for a couple hours. Started on the floor but ran out of glue, that's 1L of PVC glue so far and half a tin of hypalon glue for the rowlocks etc.
The keel tube also had a tiny hole in it which I've patched, was in a tricky spot to repair so will see how it looks tomorrow.

Hopefully get some more done tomorrow, pretty much just the floor itself to go

Roflhat · 17 February 2026, 07:39

Got the floor back on, not entirely happy with it as it's difficult to pull it tight and hold it there while the glue sets. So it's ended up around 10mm further in all round the tubes, which has resulted in some wrinkles. Going to do a few touch ups next time on bits that didn't stick so well and then flip the boat over and do the inside parts of the floor.

The patch on the keel tube looks to have held alright

Roflhat · 17 February 2026, 14:39

Wondering if an Avon S400 would work, they look to be hypalon and hold together better and a similar design with a flattish hull

Fenlander · 17 February 2026, 16:03

Always liked that Avon model, not sure if hypalon though. However just a reminder of a comment I made in your previous related thread...

"...what about any aged Hypalon Avon or Zodiac with some added reinforcement? Most of them are quite a shallow V running to no V at the transom. They can be a bargain if untidy but otherwise sound and they are pretty tough old SIBs compared to a modern PVC model"

Orwell boy · 17 February 2026, 18:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roflhat

Got the floor back on, not entirely happy with it as it's difficult to pull it tight and hold it there while the glue sets. So it's ended up around 10mm further in all round the tubes, which has resulted in some wrinkles. Going to do a few touch ups next time on bits that didn't stick so well and then flip the boat over and do the inside parts of the floor.

The patch on the keel tube looks to have held alright

What's the wheel on the front for ?
Not an expert on gluing but would it be better to stick to tubes with less tube inflation ,the inflate to remove ripples 👍

spartacus · 17 February 2026, 20:10

You go use Gorrilla tape or such like on the floor, to keep the tension on the floor material. As long as the two surface are clean, I’ve found it’s handy. Use a little petrol to remove any residue when you remove. Remember you have the inflatable keel to put in place under the floor, so it might be okay.