I have been 100% neglectful of the boat stuff, between the kids and the house just have not paid attention to anything. Today I was cleaning out the shed and dug out my Achilles dinghy and noticed that something has eating a number of holes in it. The boat is an 1985 model if I remember correctly. My question is, can I salvage this or is it to far gone? Most of the holes are near the yellow trim piece which may prevent good adhesion of a patch. Also given that this was an animal the missing pieces are gone ( with the exception of one area) and would need lots of material replaced to make it whole.
You'll need to unglue the rubrail partially to patch the outside. Your patch should extend a minimum of 2" outward from the edge of the hole.
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Richard
Gluing geek since 2007
Opinions and intepretations expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer
I knew a guy who had bought a smallish Zodiac SIB, and ran it through a barbed wire fence on the way home. Had it repaired, patches and and evidence of stitching everywhere, made it look like Frankenstein's dinghy. He ran it for several years like that though, and as far as I know he had no other problems with it.
So, yeah, it can likely be repaired, but the economy of repair vs replace is kind of up to you.
So I sold the boat on Craigslist and the new owner decided he was going to give its repair a shot. He sent me pictures of it all done. I think he did a great job, sad to say I wouldn't have had the time to commit to it.
Glad to see this old boat got a new lease on life.
spy-sea-one
