PVA glue

[Portland Billy]

Has anyone tried this to fix an undetectable air leak in an inflatable?
Seems a lot cheaper and maybe the same stuff as ' boaty' advertised product.

 

[Rappey]

Pvc glue is generally not recomended for exterior work as it can re emulsify when wet.
There are ones claiming to be exterior grade.
How do you want to use it to find a leak ?

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

The ordinary stuff is water soluble.

edited to remove proof that I didn't read the op properly.

 

[Stemar]

Maybe the goop sold to destroy repair punctured tyres? The biggest issue I could see is that it may try to "repair" the valve when you come to deflate it.

How long does it take to go down? If it's enough to matter in a couple of hours, I find it hard to believe a good dose of washing up liquid and water painted all over won't find it. One hard to find leak in my old Zodiac turned out to be the valve - after I'd spent ages going over every seam and square inch of tube.

 

[BobnLesley]

Has anyone tried this to fix an undetectable air leak in an inflatable? Seems a lot cheaper and maybe the same stuff as ' boaty' advertised product.

Yes, been there, done that and pleased with the result; It may be water soluble (I never checked the bottle) bu we got almost two extra years from an old/tired/porous hypalon AB rib just using cheap/bog-standard PVA glue from Bequia's biggest (only?) DIY store. Method used:
Mix the PVA glue with water about 50/50 and carefully inject the mix past the valve into each tube - we did all three tubes of a 2.70m rib and used about 3/4 litre of PVA glue, 1/2 in the front tube and 1/4 in each of the side sponsons.
Pump up the dinghy as hard as you can, then swing/rotate/shake the dink to spread it all around the inside of the tubes, then hung-up in the rigging; we knew where a couple of particularly inaccessible pin-holes were, so tried to hang the dink so those were at the lowest point.
Leave for a couple of hours - it was 30*C, so perhaps a bit longer in cooler climes? - then deflated and re-inflated rock-hard once again, repeating the deflate/inflate about three times - the chap who originally gave us the idea advised that it's oxygen which cures the glue, so the air-changes improve/speed-up the curing process.
We then left it hanging in the rigging for a further 24 hours, released some air (it was still rock-hard) and used as before with the exception that we no longer had to take the pump ashore if we intended being there for more than two hours.
Once finished you could see several tiny 'plugs' of cured glue on the surface where it'd been squeezed out, these wore off, but the pin-holes remained sealed; it was 'good as new' for over a year, then slowly deteriorated once again over the next one by which time we were in a better location to replace it.
The only proviso I would note is that our dink spent its life inflated on the foredeck, if your intention is to deflate, roll-up and stuff it in a locker between uses, you might find that the pva 'cracks' away from the tubes, so the repair won't last as long?

 

[Rappey]

The ordinary stuff is water soluble.

edited to remove proof that I didn't read the op properly.

Haha. I did exactly the same but edited to ask another question.
I just couldn't see how you would ever use the stuff to find a leak ?
Then I read bobnlesleys post.
Im very surprised .Amazing some of the things you come across on a forum.
I've never really given thought to what tyre gloop actually consists of until now.
I also read Stemars post but the penny still hadn't dropped by then. ?
I'm sure there must be someone somewhere who has filled his inflatable with fixer foam .

 

[Portland Billy]

Just used some stuff called OKO tyre sealant (off road grade).
Injected it in through the valve and then fully inflated and swirled it around. Deflated, then re-inflated to full pressure and swirled it again.
Dinghy is still fully inflated after 15 hours. And the valves are not affected.
Looks like a winner!