Zodiac inflatables failure

30boat

30boat

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Is it common for these to have the bottom come unstuck?I recently helped a friend reglue his boats botom back on after a previous repair with two part glue failed and three days ago when entering harbour I spotted one of these sitting on the deck of a yacht with the bottom nearly completely off.My friends inflatable is about two years old and the other one appeared to be fairly new as well.
 
The real worry here is the state of other seams. This was bought home to me a few years back, I had a Narwahl come as part of previous boat deal, and did the usual "blow it up on the back lawn and leave it" test prior to loading it aboard... The main seam on one side gave up. Frightening if that had been afloat...
 
30boat said:
Is it common for these to have the bottom come unstuck?I recently helped a friend reglue his boats botom back on after a previous repair with two part glue failed and three days ago when entering harbour I spotted one of these sitting on the deck of a yacht with the bottom nearly completely off.My friends inflatable is about two years old and the other one appeared to be fairly new as well.
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The glue should be good for about 8 years on the underside. We just had a 1999 dinghy repaired as it too had the bottom begin to become unstuck. After just two years it sounds like poor care or a batch problem with the glue.

Oh and it is really difficult to 'help a friend ' who is mot a professional at gluing them as it really needs the right temperatures, facilities and experience to do a sound repair. I did a temp repair with two part glue and it worked, sadly at the stern the glue began to fail and i just had to get a pro to do it as i lacked the clamps and more importantly the time to trial and error do a full repair on the entire underside which we had done. It looks the business now tho. They added a reinforcement and gave a 2-3 year guarantee
 
Last edited:
Jamesuk said:
The glue should be good for about 8 years on the underside. We just had a 1999 dinghy repaired as it too had the bottom begin to become unstuck. After just two years it sounds like poor care or a batch problem with the glue.

Oh and it is really difficult to 'help a friend ' who is mot a professional at gluing them as it really needs the right temperatures, facilities and experience to do a sound repair. I did a temp repair with two part glue and it worked, sadly at the stern the glue began to fail and i just had to get a pro to do it as i lacked the clamps and more importantly the time to trial and error do a full repair on the entire underside which we had done. It looks the business now tho. They added a reinforcement and gave a 2-3 year guarantee
Click to expand...

I realize it's not easy doing a good job of regluing a dinghy but I've given up on the specialized two pot glues and now use a CT1 equivalent adhesive with very good reults on my Hypalon Avon.The repairs I've done on mine were quite extensive due to a rat making a meal of it and they've held for several years now.I'm sure the right glues would be better but as you've stated one needs the correct tools and temperature and humidity conditions.
 
I thought the 'proper' Zodiac branded dinghies were thermally welded instead of glued together and their economy brand (Zoom) was glued.
In any case you cannot use the hypalon glue for PVC dinghies. Hypalon is a synthetic rubber that is vulcanized together. You cannot vulcanize PVC.
 
When out on our Zodiac yesterday the tubes separated from the floor. How can I find a professional to repair it?
 
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