Rib Retubed - Excellent Result

[Bigplumbs]

My Friend has a nice 6 m Nautica Rib which was a Super Yacht Tender several years ago in California. The tubes were Hypalon and suffered somewhat because of the Sun and some quite heavy use tube wise. Now that it is in the UK he bit the bullet and had it retubed. We took it out for the first test Yesterday and were very pleased with the results. Little video below of the trip

 

[Malish]

Tell me you were not driving on public roads and hand holding your camera at the same time

 

[Bouba]

So what are the new tubes made of? and how much did it cost? Do you have to take the boat to them?
I thought Hypalon were sun proof

 

[Bigplumbs]

Tell me you were not driving on public roads and hand holding your camera at the same time

Cameras and Gimbals etc come with many mounts now and Blue tooth buttons to start and stop them. I was using one of those

 

[Bigplumbs]

So what are the new tubes made of? and how much did it cost? Do you have to take the boat to them?
I thought Hypalon were sun proof

His new Tubes are a carbon reinforced (I think) Hypalon. Hypalon is supposed to be sun proof but this Rib had had quite a hard life regarding the tubes and the combination of this and the Sun in California meant the old Hypalon was very poor and could soon have failed in places. He also had a better shape/curve created at the nose of the boat. Yes the Boat had to be taken to the retubing firm on his trailer and they had it for 2 weeks and worked on it in a large factory type building so completely under cover.

I am not completely sure of what my Friend paid for this job but for boats 4 - 6 m I think the price can range from £5,000 - £9,000 as a ball park figure

 

[Bigplumbs]

I just checked with my Friend the Hypalon was not Carbon reinforced but had a carbon effect surface. It was 1500 GSM thickness which I think is the highest level but again not totally sure