Advice on Zodiac valve damage

urbanbiketech · 28 March 2009, 19:23

Hi folks - first post here.

I am contemplating the purchase of a used 2003 Zodiac Futura MKII FR with airdeck. One of the main airdeck valves, however, has what looks like a shallow tear in the soft rubber surrounding the hard black plastic inlet (see image). At some point, it might fail.

Can anyone tell me if I can patch that area, or if I should just leave it alone until it fails? Also, once it does fail, can I have it repaired or replaced?

Thanks,

Vince

biffer · 29 March 2009, 09:27

leave it alone, don't try fixing something that isn't broken, i think what you are showing us is just a backing disc, easy enough to fix if it does fail

m chappelow · 29 March 2009, 21:37

yes if its like a loose disc it shouldent give any problems ,they go hard with age then drop or tear off with rough use . try some soapy water over it or even a bit of go old saliva .

urbanbiketech · 30 March 2009, 00:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by m chappelow

yes if its like a loose disc it shouldent give any problems ,they go hard with age then drop or tear off with rough use . try some soapy water over it or even a bit of go old saliva .

Hi, no, there's no loose disc. The part I'm talking about is directly attached to the black valve, and directly attached to the main airdeck floor (glued). It's a lighter gray color.

I spent 20 minutes looking for decent closeup photo of an airdeck floor so I could show it, but Google has none!

urbanbiketech · 30 March 2009, 18:37

Here is the best image I could find. As you can see, the damage is on the ring of material around the valve that is bubbled up a bit. This ring of material looks to be integral to the airdeck and not just an extra piece of material. I don't, however, have any knowledge of airdeck construction/valves, so I'm not sure.

Thanks for your help

prairie tuber · 30 March 2009, 19:07

Does this photo help?

urbanbiketech · 30 March 2009, 19:26

Hi - great - thank you. The damage is on the part close to the valve hardware, and not on the loose flappy part which I imagine is there to protect the rest of it.

Thanks,

Vince

urbanbiketech · 31 March 2009, 14:37

The seller took a photo for me, so here it is. Any opinions?

prairie tuber · 31 March 2009, 18:24

I'd look at it this way, if the airdeck does eventually fail, you could always replace it with floorboards. If you are trailering the boat anyway, you'll find that the floorboards perform much better and are much more versatile than the airdeck is. That is if you can either get a good deal on a set of floorboards or fabricate your own floorboards from wood. I know that a set of aluminum floorboards ordered from a zodiac dealer are stupidly expensive.

If you choose to fabricate your own set of floorboards you can make them much more rigid than the aluminum ones from zodiac. Ideally the boards themselves should be made from marine mahogany plywood (5/8" should be plenty thick). The stringers (one long piece) and the stringer retainers (bolted onto the top of each floorboard) should be milled from a very strong hardwood such as mahogany, oak, or pupleheart. Use stainless steel bolts to hold the stringer retainers to the floorboards. The H bars can be be made from U channel aluminun welded together back-to-back.

biffer · 31 March 2009, 19:08

it won't fail, leave it alone!

urbanbiketech · 01 April 2009, 00:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by biffer

it won't fail, leave it alone!

Thank you both for your replies. Biffer, can you tell me what the part is that is punctured/torn? I'd feel a whole lot better if I knew what purpose it served.

Thanks,

Vince

biffer · 03 April 2009, 08:42

it's a base that is bonded to the airdeck material and the valve screws into it, there is probaly another three layers of plastic underneath that disc before you get to the inside of the airdeck