Stuffed and the damage

tinker · 30 March 2008, 13:10

Towards the end of last season took the rib for a trip around Old Harry's and ended up stuffing it into a rather large wave, the odd one pops up now and again

Ankle deep in water and a bit wet and shaken but recovered ok and made our way to Swanage, made a temporary repair.

The time has now come to get ready for this year and thinking about making the repair more permanent but having looked at it today suspect it might be one for the professionals to take a look at. Any thoughts on the damage and possible repair options will be gratefully received.

PeterR · 30 March 2008, 15:11

Personally even though i am very capable i would spend the money,Pre-arrange the repair stay overnight bring the boat home.sugestions would be Paul Tilley or Henshaws.I would have thought from your photo they could both reinforce and repair also give you a firm quote.Henshaws i know work long hours as does Paul Tilley so an evening drop off i would have thought wouldnt be out of the question.You may even find someone more local however be very carefull there are some bad tubers about if you do a search on here you will find good and bad reports1.Paul Tilley inflateables 2.Chris at Henshaws 3.Edd Carter at Olmec

Roy Smith · 30 March 2008, 16:19

Would a foul weather strop have lessened the damage or stopped it.
I have heard from some very salty sea dogs that they are worth putting on.

ribraff · 30 March 2008, 16:28

I see your little perversion continues Peter..... you really just can't help yourself can you?

You need help.

BassBoy · 30 March 2008, 16:46

Roy
Forgive my ignorance but what is a 'foul weather strop'?
Cheers
BB

Hightower · 30 March 2008, 18:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassBoy

Roy
Forgive my ignorance but what is a 'foul weather strop'?
Cheers
BB

May I be as bold to answer this question.

A Bow Strop is a reinforced fabric or even a rope that is anchored under the Bow (Bow eye) and goes over the Hypalon tube in the centre, the other end is anchored inside the bow. The Idea is to stop excessive lift of the tube in the event of a stuff. With the tube having much more bouyancy and surface area than the rest of the bow area, there is an increased risk of the tube being ripped off the fibreglass hull as per the photo.

Pete7 · 30 March 2008, 18:57

Did one wave do that or was it already starting to split ? Eurocaft in Leyland are the other firm worth considering.

Pete

Bigmuz7 · 30 March 2008, 19:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

May I be as bold to answer this question.

A Bow Strop is a reinforced fabric or even a rope that is anchored under the Bow (Bow eye) and goes over the Hypalon tube in the centre, the other end is anchored inside the bow. The Idea is to stop excessive lift of the tube in the event of a stuff. With the tube having much more bouyancy and surface area than the rest of the bow area, there is an increased risk of the tube being ripped off the fibreglass hull as per the photo.

Surely the tube and strap or rope would just displace together with the tube in that case? .. and not really give that much protection ?

Limey Linda · 30 March 2008, 19:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

May I be as bold to answer this question.

A Bow Strop is a reinforced fabric or even a rope that is anchored under the Bow (Bow eye) and goes over the Hypalon tube in the centre, the other end is anchored inside the bow. The Idea is to stop excessive lift of the tube in the event of a stuff. With the tube having much more bouyancy and surface area than the rest of the bow area, there is an increased risk of the tube being ripped off the fibreglass hull as per the photo.

I am concerned about this as I have a squared off bow and thus a lot of area to lift. I have a bow roller mounted on a 2foot wide fibreglass platform on the tubes with a cleat Do you think taking the painter from the bow eye , over the roller to the cleat would do the job?

Pete7 · 30 March 2008, 19:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Surely the tube and strap or rope would just displace together with the tube in that case? .. and not really give that much protection ?

I don't think the strap will stop the tube material from splitting, but what it might do is stop the front 4 feet of tube tearing loose.

We watched a BWM rib tube go from a very small split on the bow to front 4 feet of tube just flapping about and lifting clear with every wave. It all happended in 10 miles and F4-F5 conditions.

Pete

Poly · 30 March 2008, 20:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

I am concerned about this as I have a squared off bow and thus a lot of area to lift. I have a bow roller mounted on a 2foot wide fibreglass platform on the tubes with a cleat Do you think taking the painter from the bow eye , over the roller to the cleat would do the job?

On the otherhand - you have more glue surface area than many at the bow. Is the fibreglass platform at the front pretty strong - if so will it not stop the tubes being pulled upwards anyway?

Limey Linda · 30 March 2008, 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polwart

On the otherhand - you have more glue surface area than many at the bow. Is the fibreglass platform at the front pretty strong - if so will it not stop the tubes being pulled upwards anyway?

Yes, the fibreglass thingy is tough as old boots, 1/4" thick, but as you say it will not stop the tubes moving upwards by itself. If I strap the thingy to the bow eye it should provide a lot of well spread out tube retention.

codprawn · 30 March 2008, 21:42

I reckon you should use 2 straps or one shaped like a Y so it goes either side of the bow - on a normal RIB that is.

Nos4r2 · 30 March 2008, 22:06

Blow the image up here(link) and here(link)

and you can see the foul weather strops on my boat.

Hightower · 30 March 2008, 22:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

Surely the tube and strap or rope would just displace together with the tube in that case? .. and not really give that much protection ?

I haven't got them on my RIB, but I think they are on there to stop things getting too bad when it does decide to go. I guess if they where tight enough they could help reinforce the bow tube.

At the end of the day, if you're concerned about the bow being ripped off, buy a hard nosed RIB like an Osprey or Scorpion.

jwalker · 30 March 2008, 22:44

I'd put a fiver on that bow joint being previously damaged by nipping against the relatively sharp fibreglass corner behind it. After all, hypalon is just heavy gauge cloth and if you've ever ripped up a rag you'll know that all it takes is a wee bit of damage to initiate the tear. It's always good to radius corners to relieve stress and even better to give them some protection. It's better still to have a hull design which takes most of the strain rather than rely solely on the tube joint.

It's interesting to see there's a good deal of reinforcement over the bow of the tube but none of it is carried down over that vulnerable front corner. Mistake.

jwalker · 30 March 2008, 22:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinker

Any thoughts on the damage and possible repair options will be gratefully received.

Take the old hypalon off back to a sound area. Heavily radius the hull and redo the joint with at least a couple of hypalon layers. Adapt or modify the bow snubber to continue down and over the hull. If this still leaves the area each side at the bow vulnerable then reinforce this with rubber to absorb the inevitable bruising that area will get. This may have to go back a good distance to protect each side of the bow properly. It's common for that area to be at just the right height to catch along the edge of a pontoon when coming alongside. If you overshoot or the boat takes a surge on a wave and it contacts the end of the pontoon, that'll be the bit which whacks it.

DJL · 31 March 2008, 00:01

Tinker, out of intrest were the tubes inflated until hard or where they soft-ish when it happened?

bedajim · 31 March 2008, 12:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassBoy

Roy
Forgive my ignorance but what is a 'foul weather strop'?
Cheers
BB

Take the good lady wife out for a spin and get her hair wet then you'll see a real foul weather strop

ribraff · 31 March 2008, 12:42

Another way to approach this is as follows.... Make up a T peice like the one shown and fit it to the bow as shown, Jwalker's right in that you'll need to radius off any sharp edges on the GRP flange which may come in to contact with the tube, it's also worth noting that damage like this occurs quite often and anyone looking to buy a second hand rib should look out for this kind of damage, i've seen it caused by trailer winch posts as well as crashing in to harbour walls and such like.