Hypalon - CSM - ORCA like fabric?

[Ian_Edwards]

Hi, I've just pumped up my Seago 270 inflatable dinghy, and noted that one tube is very badly damaged by UV.
The tube is exposed to the sun when the dinghy is strapped to the transom, so no real surprise that it has deteriorated more rapidly than the rest of the dinghy.
It now leaking air through the fabric.
I need a new one.
I've been considering a Hypalon Seago 270, with inflatable keel and floor.
There seem to be some good deals around at the moment.
But, Dupont stopped making Hypolon a while back, it was replaced by CSM, but Hypalon is still used in the adds.
Some adds have CSM in brackets, others use OCRA like fabric.
Anyone know what's going on here?

 

[Plum]

Hi, I've just pumped up my Seago 270 inflatable dinghy, and noted that one tube is very badly damaged by UV.
The tube is exposed to the sun when the dinghy is strapped to the transom, so no real surprise that it has deteriorated more rapidly than the rest of the dinghy.
It now leaking air through the fabric.
I need a new one.
I've been considering a Hypalon Seago 270, with inflatable keel and floor.
There seem to be some good deals around at the moment.
But, Dupont stopped making Hypolon a while back, it was replaced by CSM, but Hypalon is still used in the adds.
Some adds have CSM in brackets, others use OCRA like fabric.
Anyone know what's going on here?

Hypalon is a registered trademark in the uk but not for inflatable boat products (only for "insulation and jackets for electrical wire and cable") so Seago can use the name to describe any boat material they like so you have no guarantee it will have double the life expectancy versus PVC to justify the extra investment.

 

[geem]

Most top hyperlon fabrics used on AB, Caribe and Highfield ribs, etc are made using ORCA fabric

 

[vyv_cox]

Hypalon is/was DuPont's trade name for a chloro sulphonated methylene (CSM). That elastomer made by somebody else ought to be just as good. Many companies make other elastomers such as neoprene, nitrile, etc with little difference between them

 

[Ian_Edwards]

I phone Seago and asked the question.
They say that Seago don't call it Hypalon, the call it; "1100 decitex Hypalon style fabric (ORCA fabric)".
They buy it from ORCA, and have done so for several years.
They say that the production was transferred from Dupont to ORCA, when Dupont decided to stop making it, but Dupont retained the trade mark Hypalon.
So it looks genuine, and I'll probably give a go.
In the NW of Scotland, we can have 18hrs of sunshine a day in mid summer and the atmosphere is generally less polluted than other place in the UK, so the UV radiation dose can be high, I've had three PVC Seago inflatables, and they generally last about 5 years.

The damage is so bad I can't pump the tube up with foot pump. The black bands are reinforcement I added to protect the dinghy from the ratchet straps I use to hold the dinghy onto the stern of the boat. The UV has taken much of the top layer of PVC off and you can see the textile reinforcement. The fabric is quite brittle and easily punctured.

 

[rotrax]

We store our current dinghy, a Talamex Superlight-it only weighs 14 kilo's-upside down on our pilothouse roof.

We bought some special colour coded fabric, cream so it matches the boat, and First Mate made a simple cover to keep the UV off while on the roof.

The dink is black, so is a heat sink in the sun.

The pic below shows it stowed on the roof.