Hypalon RIB Repair

B

bmac

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
RO Number
29428
Messages
178
I inadvertently punctured the tube under the bow light on my Walker Bay RIB and need to have it repaired. The tube needs to be released from the fiberglass bow structure to get to the puncture. Any recommendations for a shop that does this work? I am already familiar with Port Inflatables and it may wind up there if there are no real alternatives.
 
Depending on the age you may want to consider ordering a replacement tube being they have to remove it. It would really suck if the repair doesn't hold after this much work!
 
quote:
Originally posted by Audrey II

Depending on the age you may want to consider ordering a replacement tube being they have to remove it. It would really suck if the repair doesn't hold after this much work!

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The dink is 9 years old but it's kept under cover 95% of the time so the tubes are in good shape. I agree, though, it would suck if i spend $600 on this repair and then need to do a full replacement.
 
I don’t understand how you can puncture the tube but yet can not get to that spot to patch it?
 
I don't know of other inflatable boat dealer other than Port Inflatables. If the repair is possible I'm sure they could do it. They are not inexpensive, but Jay knows what he's doing. He's also pretty straight forward about telling it like it is.
 
quote:
Originally posted by b_arrington

I don't know of other inflatable boat dealer other than Port Inflatables. If the repair is possible I'm sure they could do it. They are not inexpensive, but Jay knows what he's doing. He's also pretty straight forward about telling it like it is.

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The only other inflatable dealer on LI that I'm aware of is Buster's and I'm not sure of their repair skills. I spoke to Jay at Port last Saturday and after looking at pictures of the punctured area he told me how he would proceed with the repair. Though the repair is straightforward, access is a little complicated, so I will leave it to him. Only problem is he can't get to it until after July 4th. Not much I can do about that. At least I'm confident it will be repaired by him properly.
 
quote:
Originally posted by bmac

The only other inflatable dealer on LI that I'm aware of is Buster's and I'm not sure of their repair skills. I spoke to Jay at Port last Saturday and after looking at pictures of the punctured area he told me how he would proceed with the repair. Though the repair is straightforward, access is a little complicated, so I will leave it to him. Only problem is he can't get to it until after July 4th. Not much I can do about that. At least I'm confident it will be repaired by him properly.

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When I was at Port Inflatables last week they had a bunch of repairs waiting for the weather to dry up. The are backed up because the glue is very sensitive to humidity and won't make a good repair if it's humid out. With all this rain they haven't been able to make the repairs.
 
FWIW - we have had perfect results doing all of our own inflatable/RIB tube repairs over maybe 12 different boats from 8' to 24'.
Take you time and just follow directions and its not really that complicated at all.
 
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