Winter Project

[Mytac]

Well, I have a new hobby, a new winter project, not too much, but a few repairs needed on my Bombard 380. Chuffed to bits that I managed a £2 adaption to my camping electric pump, thats now working fine on getting her up to pressure.. saved myself a packet on buying a new electric pump.

Can anyone give me some advice on what glue I should use for repairs work, and if anyone knows of an online guide on how to undertake small repairs, just aroud the transom, some of the seals have started to lift, and one of the decking buckles have come loose on the fitting, so I need to stick it back on again.

Any advice welcome

[camelgas]

Stuff I have learned the hard way:

1. clean and prep well, mec is a good cleaner on pvc.

2. mask around area, so glue is only kept to repair areas.

3. now get the glue out

HTH

[Landlockedpirate]

Stuff I have learned the hard way.

1. If one bit of glue has failed, the rest will follow very quickly.

Good news is it just takes time and minimal expense if you do it yourself.

You need 2 part PVC glue available from Ribstore/Ribshop/Polymarine/chandlers etc. £20 ish for a 250ml pack.

Guide to transom repairs :

Zodiac Dinghy Transom Repair | Polymarine Paints, Adhesives, Parts & Accessories

[Fenlander]

This thread where I tackled my Aerotec over the summer might make interesting reading...

http://www.rib.net/forum/f50/aerotec...ice-68545.html

It's around post #31 I get onto the area of the transom and buckles.

As a matter of interest every one of my repairs stayed sound with some intensive testing in the Scottish west coast area so fanatical prep and gluing procedure paid off.

I was lucky in being able to do mine in one of the hottest and driest weeks this year... temperature and humidity are crucial to a good bond and I doubt conditions will be ideal until next summer unless you do it indoors or get a lucky couple of days sun soon.

Because I'm interested in the life of these glued seams on Zodiac/Bombards I wonder what age yours is (last digits of serial no. plate on transom)?

BTW did you get those manual scans I sent?

Oh and are you sure the elec camping pump goes up to the correct floor pressure... they will often do tubes but usually not an HP floor.

[Mytac]

Thanks for the reply Fenlander, Yes I did get them thanks, sorry I did not reply sooner. The serial number for the boat is 1589, so I assume 1989. I will post some images of what I have to tackle soon..

[Fenlander]

Glad the manual pages arrived... I was just worried the file sizes had caused them to stick somewhere in the net.

The serial number is the one on a slim rectangular alloy plate on the outside of the transom... it's a much longer number and the Aerotec wasn't introduced until the very late 1990s.

The number is on the plate near the top of the right hand wheel leg in the image below. It follows a format like... FR-XDCH1234A414

It's the last four digits that give the date... The letter is the month, the first number the build year and the last two numbers the model year. So A414 is a 2014 model built Jan 2014.

If your alloy serial number plate is missing then take off the metal inner transom pad and the serial number is stamped into the transom timber underneath (thanks to Big Al C for that info on another thread).