Tropik by Bombard Restoration Project

[MEE]

Advice needed for the following project:
items - Photobucket Groups

Background to follow.....

[MEE]

Scoope: Repair this sport boat to servicable condition by August 7th, 2012, keeping costs down of coarse. We are needing to take this boat to the Gulf of Mexico for our scalloping and fishing trip.

Transom: All sanded down to bare wood. Soft spots from water damage and some holes drilled by the previous owner were filled with expoxy and fiber glass. See pictures. I am leaving the two 3/8 holes at the top to install some eye bolts for towing or lifting. I am planning on finishing it off with some epoxy paint. I am planning on useing G-flex epoxy to adhere / seal it to the rubber mounts and maybe the PVC fibric floor. Some finishing work is still needed.

[MEE]

Main tubes:
Small pin hole leak in one side. see pictures. I am considering sealing it from inside with one of the following products:
WEST MARINE Sealant at West Marine
or
Sealflex 500ml
Should I do both tubes just in case? Should I be concerned about contaiminating my valves?

Also, the top side of the tubes have some sun damage including areas where the resin coating has pealed off exposing the fabric underneath. See pictures at top of post. Is this just a cosmetic concern? How is this repaired? Should I use urethane or epxoy adhesive and patches or is it best to recoat it? What materials and processes would be used for either approach?
I used large PVC fabric patches in the seat locations a couple of years ago. I used Sta-bond adhesive for that and it did not work as well as I hoped. Margines did not stay well adhered. I attibute that to doing it outside in the Florida humitity.

[MEE]

FLoor PVC fabric:
The floor fabric to tubes and transom joints are mostly gone. The floor fabric and bottom side of the tubes are in good shape. I would like some advice on adhesive and repair process including how to fixture the joints. I have seen some deflate the tube and use spring clamps. Or can I just use tape? Should I consider flexible epoxy like G-flex or a urethane produce like the following:
sta bond at NRS - Kayaking Gear Rafting Supplies and Boating Equipment

Clifton Urethane Adhesive at NRSweb.com

WEST SYSTEM | Specialty Epoxies - G/flex

Should I use a differenct material or process for the floor to transom joint?

[MEE]

Center Tube:
There are two holes in the center tube. see pictures. One cut near the value and one hole near the back end. Should I patch these or just pinch seal the hole in the back. Should I consider internal sealant on this? Finally how should I tach bond this back to the floor pan?

[raymillard]

Forget the epoxies and go with proper 2 pack inflatable boat PVC fabric repair glue. Follow the instructions to the letter, including/ especially cleaning down first with MEK cleaner. Get this from the adhesive suppliers also.

I've no experience of internal sealants but I rather see them as Last Chance Saloon. Have a look here, it's all you'll need to know:

inflatable boat repair information and procedures about gluing and fabrics

Good Luck!

[MEE]

Thanks raymillard. Your recommended site has some very complete instructions and products. I noticed that they sell an internal sealer:
http://www.allboatproducts.com/Inflatable-Boat-Products/Repair-Accessories/Inflatable-Boat-Product-Sealer.html

Does anyone have any experience with this product? I am tempted to try it based on the very small pin hole leak in one of my tubes. See picture link at top of thread.

[MEE]

Does anyone have any experience bonding PVC fabric to a epoxy/fiberglass coated transom? Should I use a flexible epoxy or a urethane adhesive?

[MEE]

Anyone have any tips on how to Fixture / hold in place the floor to main tube joints while the glue cures?

[TomKat]

quite a few repair tips here

Advice « Polymarine Paints, Adhesives, Parts & Accessories

[Peter_C]

Use the same PVC glue for everything. If you can't find MEK at the hardware stores start calling around to automotive and other types of paint stores. They might have some left. Use Acetone to prep, and everything must have all old glue removed. I used scuffy pads to clean up the old glue with acetone while wearing chemical gloves.

When gluing it back on the glue is only good in the pot for a short time. Therefore you need to glue the transom in first, then work on putting the floor back in doing so in sections, as you mix a fresh pot. Buy a couple boxes of disposable brushes in like 2", 1", and what are called solder brushes from Harbor Freight. The glue adheres the two pieces of materiel, and will not need clamping or anything. When the two parts touch with the tacky glue between they will be almost inseparable. The key is the temperature has to be ideal, with low humidity, and time is a huge factor. You have to work efficiently and fast. Sometimes two people are good to have...and a few straps.

Yikes! I just went and looked at the photos. It gave me nightmares from doing mine, except your boat is toast. The peeling of the plastic layers is the sign of death. You can't patch over that much material. Or so my opinion goes. It is not worth the time and money to fix a boat that could blow a chamber at any time. Sorry probably not what you want to hear.

As a guess I would say over $180 in materials, and probably close to 40 hours to do it right.

2 quarts of this glue is what I wound up using. There is also a video to watch on repairing PCV.
http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.a...3&pdeptid=1032

[Peter_C]

Use this video as more of a warning on how not to do it, but the general procedures are there. Just not the way he didn't stop and roll each section as it was glued down. Plus the second inside parts should have been completely removed and glued back in after the bottom was on.

Re-Glue and Repair The Floor on a Zodiac Dinghy - YouTube

Ps I still don't think the op's boat is worth fixing.

[captnjack]

The OP's boat is not worth repairing and impossible to repair properly with those giant areas of delaminated fabric.

[MEE]

I appritiate your frank an honest opinion about my boat, even if it is not what I wanted to hear.
My plan WAS to use the following internal sealant in both tube to seal one pin hole in one tube and gain some "design margin" in both tubes.
http://www.allboatproducts.com/Infla...ct-Sealer.html

I WAS then considering using the following product to coat over the area that have the exposed woven layer of the fabric.
http://www.allboatproducts.com/Infla...oat-Quart.html

Is this a valid technical approach to address the delamination of the areas on the top side of my main tubes? If so, the question would still come down to how cost effective it would be as these materials are costly and I would still have to buy the 2 quarts of sta bond glue plus misc. working materials?
Thanks again for the helpfull advice.

[Peter_C]

The better question is are you going to have a DSC equipped radio onboard, or even better a P-EPIRP so the Coastie's can recover your butt when a tube blows? I wouldn't trust the fabric not to burst. Have you ever felt a properly inflated boat? The tubes get pretty taunt.

What about using it as a pool toy?

[MEE]

I don't disagree that this is a major safety issue. If it is every put back into service it would only be used on small lakes or along with our 20 foot pro-line walkaround as a "supplementary vessel" / tender / towable / sea anchor

[MEE]

I have decided to procede with this restoration. I have ordered the materials from NRS. Sta-bond (tube joints), thickened G-flex (transum joints), MEK (pvc prep), toulene (rubber prep), aquaseal (scrim coating), cotol (thinner for aquaseal) and loon UV Urethane sealant (for my one tube pin hole). UPDATES to come.