Love me tender....... Any advice

[desperatelyseeking]

The guy who looks after my boat in Santa Teresa di Gallura (North Sardinia) sent me these pictures of my rather sad looking tender (honwave T20). He says he has tried to clean it but it is ruined. Not sure what caused the problem, sun damage I think but it's sticky and discoloured. Anyone had success in recovering their hypalon from this state. Not keen to buy a new one as I killed my Torqeedo T801s this season and to buy a new dinghy on top is getting expensive.

 

[springer]

Hi, Honwave T20 is PVC not Hypalon. Hope nothing toxic to PVC has been spilt onto your tender.

Springer

 

[desperatelyseeking]

thanks for that. will stop googling hypalon cleaners now!!

 

[Nick_H]

PVC tenders go sticky if you clean them with strong degreasers like Fairy Powerspray. They can also suffer heat damage if, for instance, you have a dark coloured cover over it in the med sun. I've not heard of the PVC being damaged just by being open to the sun itself, and if that was the case you'd expect the dark blue bit to suffer more damage than the light grey.

 

[jfm]

PVC tenders go sticky if you clean them with strong degreasers like Fairy Powerspray. They can also suffer heat damage if, for instance, you have a dark coloured cover over it in the med sun. I've not heard of the PVC being damaged just by being open to the sun itself, and if that was the case you'd expect the dark blue bit to suffer more damage than the light grey.

I agree with Nick. I had a pvc walker bay tender and got a black sunbrella cover for it, and it fried in the Med sun making brown marks. I discovered this early so dispensed with the cover. I think the marks were a bit permanent, but it didn't matter because they were small. With yours, I would test the depth of the brown by rubbing with 800 sandpaper and seeing if it comes out. If it doesn't then you might have to bite the bullet and paint it with light grey tender paint, which would be a reasonably good solution if done carefully. I haven't tried/compared different brands of tender paint but someone on pbo forum might

 

[sarabande]

Polymarine are really good on these questions. I used their brush-on PVC paint to cover some engrained rust marks* on an inflatable.


http://polymarineshop.com/flexible-paint/flexible-pvc-paint.html



*Stored in a damp shed overwinter on a mild steel Dexion-type rack. Guaranteed problem Idiotic thought but seemed a good one at the time.

 

[desperatelyseeking]

Many thanks, will try.

 

[Scubadoo]

Try Magic Eraser (melamine sponge) and/or EVM, works really well and removed dark stains I had, but remember to finish off with some protector (Halfords Glym Vinyl/rubber stuff is okay).

 

[kashurst]

+1 for polymarine - give them a call, very helpful on the phone. I'm off to repaint my tender at the weekend as the PVC was looking a bit thin exposing the weave of the cloth layer. I was going to buy a new one but Polymarine convinced me a couple of recoats would restore it just fine. They do various solvents that will remove the sticky surface effect and probably remove some of the discolouration.