northcraft ribs

[corrie]

I have a 1997 northcraft 5.2m which is berthed and used in salt water and quite often rough but not outrageous seas . the problem is the seams on the tubes have given way one side two weeks ago and the other side yesterday in the same place on both tubes , a gap just big enough to fit a few fingers in , right on the bottom of the tube .
Has anyone experienced anything similar ?

[smithy]

Hi Corrie, I spoke to you when you were pulling the boat in. Had a thought afterwards, had to let my own tubes down twice on Tuesday as the weather suddenly got hot, could the tubes have become over pressured? although I doubt whether this was the whole problem.

[Rupert Bear]

I have mentioned before on other threads that my old dive club had a Northcraft that literally started coming apart at the seams and bits started falling off of.
Don't know if it was just a "friday" built one or if it is common but I wouldn't buy a Northcraft after seeing what happened.............

[timboli]

Originally Posted by smithy

Hi Corrie, I spoke to you when you were pulling the boat in. Had a thought afterwards, had to let my own tubes down twice on Tuesday as the weather suddenly got hot, could the tubes have become over pressured? although I doubt whether this was the whole problem.

Humber insisted on putting pressure relief valves on my Rib as the tubes were a dark colour!

[corrie]

thanks guys ! sounds like i'll need to keep an eye on the pressure from now on..when I think back , both times it was a hot day and I had just put some air in the tubes.. do you check yor pressures with a gauge or just guess it?

[Pete7]

Guess it. Bit tricky during the current hot spells because what is rock hard during the heat of the day turns out to be nearly flat in the evening. I prefer mine to have some "give" during the day just in case.

Pete