Zodiac Cadet Dinghy keel leaking

[TimfromMersea]

My Zodiac 280 Dinghy, with airdeck floor and inflatable keel, has a leaking keel. I've taken the keel out, blown it up and put it into the water butt, and it's the front seam leaking. The keel seems to be just a tube of PVC material that's simply crimped at the end and presumably electro welded. It's not, IMHO, very well made.

The local repair station says that seam leaks are usually terminal.

Are there any possible suggestions for a DIY repair? And does it need the keel, used only as a yacht tender with a 2.5 hp outboard? A new keel is over £100.......

 

[rotrax]

If it were me-I have just repaired a similar dinghy to yours so know the layout-I would undo the wide end of the keel tube and try inserting a couple of doubled over bicycle inner tubes. Getting the valves in the right place for inflating/deflating appears to be the biggest problem.

Another way if you can find an oldfashioned garage with a vulcaniser for inner tubes would be to cut a small section but large diameter-2.75x23 as used on the front wheel of Speedway bikes- motorcycle inner tube across and having the ends vulcanised together. This should make one long-albeit curved-tube. Fit this inside the punctured Zodiac keel tube.

Thats my best shot anyway.

The dinghy will work, but will be crap without the keel.

 

[duncan99210]

If its a welded seam at the end of the tube, rather than one along the length of the keel, how about simply applying heat to it? Nick the iron, set it to its highest heat and see if you can persuade the seam to melt together again. Might not wan to do this where the owner of the iron can observe you and clean well afterwards...

 

[prv]

I've done a number of repairs to inflatable boats, some rather major, using the Polymarine two-part glue with success. But Rotrax's talk about inner tubes and vulcanising makes it sound like this boat isn't of conventional PVC construction?

In general I find it pays to open up the joints well past the damaged area, clean, and reassemble as originally made, rather than fiddling about with too much going on at once in a small space. However, if this is just general porosity rather than a specific hole, I've heard of stuff that you pour in through a valve and roll the boat around to spread it on the inside of the seams where it then sets. No personal experience of that, though.

Pete

 

[BlueChip]

I had an inflatable with a leak where a seem was puckered, I put some glue in a syringe and injected it into the bit that was leaking.
It worked for me, but that wasn't a high pressure tube. Worth a try I'd say.