Anyone reskin top of the tubes?

[stangx]

Looking for any information on whats all involved with rekinning the top have of the tubes on my rib. Was thinking about paint but was given 10 meters of the PVC material for free. No leaks but signs on UV damage. Was thinking to go from inside seam to outer rubber edge. There by giving the boat a brand new top half. Would you only glue 2 or 3" of outer and inner edges? I have purchased MEK and stabond 2 part glue. Was reading all handles would come off using a heat gun. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[cgoing]

If your material has UV degradation, you may have a hard time bonding material to it.

[ShinyShoe]

Originally Posted by stangx

No leaks but signs on UV damage.

Depending on the damage that might be like painting over flaky paint... So you'll have a really strong top section that pulls on the weaker damaged section and at some point it fails. But if its not badly damaged you may be OK.

Was thinking to go from inside seam to outer rubber edge. There by giving the boat a brand new top half.

Most people apply big rectangular wear patches rather than a whole extra top. That may be for ease...

Would you only glue 2 or 3" of outer and inner edges?

NO. That seems like a crazy idea. You make any loads that are applied to the unglued section be transferred to just 2 or 3" of glue when you could be applying to 12"?

Was reading all handles would come off using a heat gun.

They should. Make sure to go easy with the heat so as not to damage the underlying PVC. Getting a good smooth surface there may be harder - although the bit under the handle will presumably have no UV damage ;-)

assuming you are replacing the handles this is exactly what I mean by applying loads over 3" when 12" is possible...

[stangx]

Thanks Shinyshoe. That is the information I was looking for. The UV damage is only showing on very top like 6 to 8" but through out the length of the boat. There is 8 to 10" on inner and outer edge of top half showing no UV damage so lots of good material to glue to. Was only thinking about a full one piece top for looks but doing it in sections would be a lot easier. In sections would I but them together then apply a seam? Or overlap from back to front of boat?

[Poly]

Someone here did this several years ago. Unhelpfully I can't remember his name, so not sure I'll be able to find with a search! I seem to recall it was Paul Tilley who did the actual work. Much improved looking boat afterwards, and I believe it was significantly cheaper than new tubes. Bear in mind Paul is a professional with the right experience, tools and controlled workshop environment so a relatively simple job for them is not necessarily trivial at home. He was almost certainly working in Hypalon not PVC.

[Grady]

I have just completed this with a 5m hypalon rib. I laid down 1 coat of adhesive onto the top of the tubes with the most damage and let that fully cure. Then I prepared the tubes cleaning sanding and cleaning, Then I glued the full area and the patch. I had 11 metres of hypalon 1m in width and patched the tubes in 1m x .5m sections. This was a manageable size for 1 person.

[stangx]

Originally Posted by Grady

I have just completed this with a 5m hypalon rib. I laid down 1 coat of adhesive onto the top of the tubes with the most damage and let that fully cure. Then I prepared the tubes cleaning sanding and cleaning, Then I glued the full area and the patch. I had 11 metres of hypalon 1m in width and patched the tubes in 1m x .5m sections. This was a manageable size for 1 person.

Thanks Grady, did you overlap each section? Would love to see before and after photos if you have. I start mine next month as it will be easier to keep the garage at a good temp. Still a little cool here in Ontario.

[office888]

You'll need to scrub with MEK pretty heavily, then gluetex the surface, let it cure, then do your layup.

I'll be extremely labor intensive and is probably not worth it for a Brig. They're glued seam boats.

Why not just contact brig and buy a new tubeset?

[Grady]

Here are some pics of what I started with and ended up with. I overlapped by 2" I started from the stern to the bow. I wasn't trying to make a show boat as I will use this mostly for diving. The second pic is of the worst case and I used a 2 part hypalon glue and put a coat over all the damaged areas first. The tubes did hold air.

[Grady]

You should not be to hard or heavy handed on the bare areas as the Mex can penetrate the fabric as the top surface is compromised. This can lead to real damage and should be avoided, Applying the first coat of glue will help to build up a protective layer.