New guy here from Wing Inflatables

Nico · 28 September 2010, 17:09

Hey guys, just wanted to say that the forum looks great and its nice to see people excited about Inflatables. I work at Wing Inflatables in California as a tube designer, so any questions or suggestions you might have don't hesitate to ask.

Wing Inflatables, inc.
Fabricators of polyurethane replacement tubes, sponsons and foam collars for rigid inflatable boats.
www.wing.com

Tim J · 29 September 2010, 03:13

Hi! I just sent an inquiry to you guys about new tubes for my small rib...hopefully you can help

Tim

capntroy · 29 September 2010, 08:17

It's great to see you guys here, I've purchased a dozen Wing tubes ranging from 10' to 36' and I wouldn't own anything else!

jyasaki · 29 September 2010, 16:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nico

Hey guys, just wanted to say that the forum looks great and its nice to see people excited about Inflatables. I work at Wing Inflatables in California as a tube designer, so any questions or suggestions you might have don't hesitate to ask.

Wing Inflatables, inc.
Fabricators of polyurethane replacement tubes, sponsons and foam collars for rigid inflatable boats.
www.wing.com

Hey, nice to meet you (electronically, of course, but still...)

I was just talking to the dive shop owner, and we got to talking about tubes on my RIB. I said if I needed to have them done, I'd think about going to you guys at Wing. He just got a confused look on his face.

In any case, it probably won't be anytime soon, but nice to know you guys are not just doing military contracts.

jky

ribfan · 30 September 2010, 03:17

Glad to see you aboard. I've always thought Wing makes a great set of tubes. Is Wing going to become a bit more active in the consumer rib market, or stay mostly in the commercial market?

Bill

Nico · 01 October 2010, 15:45

Hey, great to hear from you guys. Our main revenue comes from the commercial RIB market, but that's not to say that we don't do custom orders. We really cant compete with the Chinese competition as far as the consumer market goes. Our urethane fabric is much more expensive than the hypalon and pvc counterparts. Plus the whole labor thing..

Nos4r2 · 01 October 2010, 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nico

Hey, great to hear from you guys. Our main revenue comes from the commercial RIB market, but that's not to say that we don't do custom orders. We really cant compete with the Chinese competition as far as the consumer market goes. Our urethane fabric is much more expensive than the hypalon and pvc counterparts. Plus the whole labor thing..

Why do you use it then, when Hypalon is superior?

Poly · 01 October 2010, 18:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Why do you use it then, when Hypalon is superior?

Not everyone agrees that Hypalon is superior to PU. Valiant and XS both claim PU is better (stronger, harder wearing etc). However I'm surprised its more expensive as Barnet Marine seem to offer to do retubes in PU for the same ball park (maybe slightly less?) than Tidel/Henshaw in Hypalon.

capntroy · 01 October 2010, 20:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Why do you use it then, when Hypalon is superior?

Not quite sure what you're basing that statement on, but Hypalon is in no way superior to polyurethane.

Nos4r2 · 01 October 2010, 21:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by capntroy

Not quite sure what you're basing that statement on, but Hypalon is in no way superior to polyurethane.

Show me a set of serviceable 30 year old PU tubes then

capntroy · 01 October 2010, 22:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Show me a set of serviceable 30 year old PU tubes then

Forget 30 years, I wish I could get any set of tubes to last 10 years....

My R.I.B.s work in pretty heinous conditions, i.e., landing against ship hulls, against rocks, landing on barnacle covered structures and god knows what else, and I can trash a set of Hypalon tubes in the span of three years. The Wing polyurethane tubes last on the order of triple what a Hypalon tube lasts...

And unlike my experiences with hypalon, I've never had a fatal blowout or huge tear in a Wing polyurethane tube. I've come home from jobs with half a hypalon tube hanging from a boat like tattered drapes...

The other HUGE plus is the strength of the attachment points; I recently had my 36' R.I.B. stuff the bow into a 6' wave and the hypalon tube separated from it's bolt rope attachment at the bow and down both sides about 8 feet. I've stuffed Wing tubes into larger seas and at greater speeds than this and never had an issue.

My primary concerns are safety and durability and having the boats make it home in one piece after a tough day, hypalon doesn't come close to a Wing tube in this regard.

Starovich · 01 October 2010, 22:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by capntroy

, hypalon doesn't come close to a Wing tube in this regard.

PU or hypalon was the question, not tube maker

capntroy · 01 October 2010, 22:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starovich

PU or hypalon was the question, not tube maker

I don't have any experience with other PU tube makers and have no idea if they are using the same 40 oz. Cooley polyurethane or maintain the same quality manufacturing practices that Wing does, so I can't speak about them...

Starovich · 01 October 2010, 23:01

need to be sure we compare apples with apples, or the points are mute.

capntroy · 01 October 2010, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starovich

need to be sure we compare apples with apples, or the points are mute.

Or moot even....

prairie tuber · 02 October 2010, 14:46

Hi Nico,

Good to have you on here. I was wondering if you make fuel bladders with a capacity the 20-25 liter ballpark. Can it be done at a reasonable cost (under $ 200 per unit?) I'm not sure if PU is suitable for this application.

Also I was looking at the info on your website about the 4.7m CRRC (P-4.7) and noted that it uses a conventional inflatable center v-keel. According to the site, the P-4.7 performs similarly to a similar sized boat with 'speed tubes'. I'm guessing that that is referring to a zodiac FC-470. Could the performance similarity be due to the fact that the P-4.7 has bare hull weight of only 180 lbs compared to 330 lbs of an FC-470, therefore allowing the weight difference compensate for a less efficient hull design? Also did you experiment with any true tunnel hull designs (rather than a futura hull) for this application?

Screaming04 · 02 October 2010, 19:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nos4r2

Show me a set of serviceable 30 year old PU tubes then

Don't get me wrong, I love Hypalon... but to use one of your phrases "horses for courses"

30 years service may be a goal for us (UV stability) but commercial operators and military (auction off 10 year old ribs, of which I'm a proud owner) abrasion resistance is what they are after. It doesn't need to last 30 years because they won't have it anymore...they want it to last 7-10 grinding up against pilings and other boats. That's one place where PU is superior (and holding air).

For must of us though... Hypalon is the ideal material.

jyasaki · 04 October 2010, 19:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Screaming04

Don't get me wrong, I love Hypalon... but to use one of your phrases "horses for courses"

To continue that line of reasoning, a 30 year old PU-tubed boat would be a very early example. That would be like comparing one of Zodiac's early PVC boats after say 20 or 30 years (which probably isn't going to happen,a s most of them came apart at the seams...) I'm sure glued hypalon boats went through a few growing pains when adhesives were being tested, as well.

Technologies generally improve over time (or are superseded and disappear); I wouldn't necessarily discount a 30-year old process because there aren't any 30 year old examples around.

jky

Screaming04 · 05 October 2010, 00:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyasaki

To continue that line of reasoning, a 30 year old PU-tubed boat would be a very early example. That would be like comparing one of Zodiac's early PVC boats after say 20 or 30 years (which probably isn't going to happen,a s most of them came apart at the seams...)

jky

I've seen one particular 5 year old PU tubeset that will not see thirty years... I could barely stand the sight of it at 5.

prairie tuber · 14 October 2010, 06:36

Where did Nico go?