Hi and help please.

[ausben]

Hi everyone,

I bought a 3.8 meter bestway from fb marketplace and have used it a handful of times. It's been pretty amazing for the money and the capacity (6ppl). I started with a 3hp yamaha 2 stroke and moved up to a suzuki 15hp. In the right conditions it seems to max out at around 37kph which is plenty fast enough for me on crabbing missions.

Anyways I came looking for this group because I imagine most are familiar with repairs of one type or another. I'm about to decide if my glue failure issues are worth attempting to fix. I noticed that the transom connections were letting go. Before I had a chance to address, I found one tube flat and that the transom had ripped one of the tubes down to the fabric.. Is this terminal?? Would you fix it? I've bought the AZBOND C and believe its one of the best adhesives around but never used.

I understand bestway hasn't ever been a quality brand or probably hasn't ever felt game enough to use the word "quality" in its marketing. Should I try to fix or just give up?

[Fenlander]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Mine is just one view and others might think different but I'd scrap it. It is a huge effort to properly prep/clean that and glue to a standard you would trust on the water. The biggest worry is I bet all the joints on that SIB are glued and so often other seams will fail soon after the initial set of repairs.

It can be worth the huge effort on something like a Zodiac that cost 5+ times that of the Bestway... and where on the Zodiac the tubes themselves are welded so will last a lifetime.

But for me on a super cheap all glued SIB I'd not bother.

As a matter of interest what age is it?

Oh and re your outboard... those later DT15 Suzuki models are rarely seen in the UK but a great nippy engine and light for a 15hp.

[69cmw]

Scrap it

[charliee]

I'd be scaping that - save the glue for another day - I suspect you'll spend your life gluing and patching it.

[GARYSHORT]

Hey, this is my second attempt to post... not sure what happened to the last one...

Here are a couple YouTube links to my Boat and Durabak. It is heavily modified and customized and only a few of these in CA or the East Coast.

Feel Free to reach out to me to discuss. Been ribbing for 15 years with many makes, models, and lengths. I also buy, repair, and flip unappreciated or damaged RIBs.

https://youtu.be/sbgYUcHmyJs

https://youtu.be/1cdpUvVp-jw