Anyone used liquid sealant in an inflatable?

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labougie

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Just checking if anyone has used a liquid sealant poured inside an inflatable chamber to deal with porosity or an untraceable air leak? I have a shaped sausage which sits underneath the flat airdeck in a little Lodestar inflatable pretending to put a 'V' bottom into the boat and it goes soft over the course of a morning. Although I've filled the bath and dunked it, no bubbles. Has anyone tried the goop? Does it mess up the Halkey Roberts valve? Any advice gratefully accepted.
 
I have used it on a Narwhale(nasty deflatable tender)it started to leak again about 9 months later.The valve seemed OK.
 
A friend told me this true story, He was based in Marti Marina in Turkey, and another yachtsman enlisted his help in putting sealant into his leaky inflatable, which the two of them had to turn over and over in order to spread the sealant all over. It seemed to work very well. The inflated dinghy was left overnight on the jetty and the following morning was still firm. As the sun climbed higher and the day got hotter the owner was standing by it and admiring his handiwork, when it exploded! My friend nearly fell in laughing.
 
Norman_E said:
A friend told me this true story, He was based in Marti Marina in Turkey, and another yachtsman enlisted his help in putting sealant into his leaky inflatable, which the two of them had to turn over and over in order to spread the sealant all over. It seemed to work very well. The inflated dinghy was left overnight on the jetty and the following morning was still firm. As the sun climbed higher and the day got hotter the owner was standing by it and admiring his handiwork, when it exploded! My friend nearly fell in laughing.
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Back in the dark ages, when I was a lad (probably about 16 or 17!), we had a Metzeler Inca inflatable. We left it outside our caravan one hot summer's day. A little later,we heard a Bang! One of the tubes had split down its entire length. To their credit, Metzeler replaced the dinghy!
 
I've never used the liquid sealant, but I once painted an elderly, porous Avon with the stuff sold by Polymarine. This was done for cosmetic reasons, but an unexpected bonus was a considerable improvement in the time that it stayed firmly inflated.
 
I used the Polymarine sealflex on my Zodiac last year. It was slowly getting soft over a few days. Did the treatment as per the instructions and it was great all season, didn't need to top up for the five months after.
What it will be like after six months folded and stowed away is yet to be discovered!
 
I've got almost a full bottle of Inflatable Sealant you can have for the price of postage (or collect depending where you are) I tried to use it on the inside of a drysuit that leaked. Didn't work but it was an experiment! PM me if you want it.

labougie said:
Just checking if anyone has used a liquid sealant poured inside an inflatable chamber to deal with porosity or an untraceable air leak? I have a shaped sausage which sits underneath the flat airdeck in a little Lodestar inflatable pretending to put a 'V' bottom into the boat and it goes soft over the course of a morning. Although I've filled the bath and dunked it, no bubbles. Has anyone tried the goop? Does it mess up the Halkey Roberts valve? Any advice gratefully accepted.
Click to expand...
 
mickywillis said:
I've got almost a full bottle of Inflatable Sealant you can have for the price of postage (or collect depending where you are) I tried to use it on the inside of a drysuit that leaked. Didn't work but it was an experiment! PM me if you want it.
Click to expand...

Mike turned out to be just round the corner from me so I took him up on his kind offer. The goop was a bit thick so I thinned it down with water and spent last evening coating the inside with it. This morning - still hard! A great result and many thanks to Mike.

p.s. It DID smell like PVA glue!
 
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Good news David, glad I could help.
Out of interest, the product was called Rubber Life and made by Italian company Osculati.
The smell of it is very much like an ammonia smell, but not as strong?
 
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