Exploding Orange - part 2

BogMonster · 30 November 2007, 11:26

Checking the RIB over yesterday, I found something that I could do without but was prepared for. Folks that have been around for a while might remember a saga of exploding tubes ("tube" - port side only) about a year ago. I eventually found a solution to that and since then it has been OK (touch wood!).

Yesterday I spotted this, the same thing on the starboard tube, in the early stages and "just" leaking air (I thought it had been losing a little bit of pressure on that side the last couple of times I have been out). Haven't investigated further yet but it looks very much like the same sort of seam failure.

Bit of a bugger really as the next few days weather forecast indicates that our long awaited summer is about to arrive

better get on and do something about it I suppose

Anybody with a Destroyer of a similar age would be well advised to keep their eyes peeled for this sort of deterioration - it appears quite suddenly as I think it starts on the inside of the seam and then bursts through. From what I saw when I fixed the other one, I think wear patches would be covering the problem up rather than solving it, and don't let anybody tell you it is due to debris strike either

Nick Hearne · 30 November 2007, 12:33

Well at least you know that to do this time, I take it you ordered 2 sausages?
At this rate you can call yourself the Falklands only Tube expert!

Good luck

BogMonster · 30 November 2007, 12:42

You are so right, I did order 2 sausages because I was 99% certain the same would happen to the other tube in due course. The other sausage has been nestling gently in the roof of the garage for 9 months or so.

As Gordon Ramsay would say:

"Sausages - done!!!"

An hour and a bit later... off with the starboard tube end, two (VERY carefully measured) holes in the side of the tube for the valves to poke through, a bit of faffing around for positioning and a LOT of compressed air and here she is ready to rock 'n' rib

As I expected, the fabric is delaminating and causing the seam to let go progressively from the inside, just like the other tube did. Bit of a bugger but a lot less heartache than the first one! It's not as pretty as a retube but a perfectly functional repair - touch wood I have had no trouble with the port sausage since I put it in at the beginning of the year.

The odd thing was that despite the starboard tube never having gone flat on me, there was a couple of gallons of seawater inside. Not sure I can work that out, but I got bloody soaked when I dug the knife in the bottom of the tube to start cutting the cone off.

jwalker · 30 November 2007, 12:53

Judging from the time of your posts, that took you just over an hour...good going. It's a good solution too. I'm really impressed by the accuracy of both your measuring and the sausage cos it's not the easiest material to work with.

BogMonster · 30 November 2007, 13:13

If I am being honest it was probably luck (on my part) rather than accuracy, but as they say "all's well that ends well"

Yes I went straight out from posting the first pics (which were taken yesterday) and set to with scissors and craft knife. If the sun puts in an appearance, this afternoon I'll be off for a test run. If I am never heard of again, you'll know it didn't work

Think I might order a spare sausage from Paul so I have one on hand in case of punctures, then I can just whip it out, jam in the spare one and repair it at my leisure. Next best thing to removable tubes

Nick Hearne · 30 November 2007, 13:39

Well done that man give your self a big pat on the back!

Nasher · 30 November 2007, 14:37

Credit where credit is due, well done.

Nasher.

9D280 · 30 November 2007, 15:47

.... have you ever seen this delamination "mid toob"? (i.e. in the middle of a totally unseamed, unstuck to anything and just plain bit of Hypalon? )

My toobs seem to have a "wear sheet" (like a wear patch, but covers the whole toob top from rubbing strake right round to the joint with the 'glass inside!) which has a couple of interesting air filled lumps like your seam pic. I put it down to a leak in the undrerlying toob that was being caught by the wear patch, but now I'm not so sure...... Boat is a late 70s / early 80s model.

I now wonder if I'm going to hear a loud pop mid trip sometime next summer...

Good job on your repair

BogMonster · 30 November 2007, 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9D280

.... have you ever seen this delamination "mid toob"? (i.e. in the middle of a totally unseamed, unstuck to anything and just plain bit of Hypalon? )

No, it seems to be confined to one specific area - the bottom of that seam i.e. the bit that gets the biggest beating from the water at high speed. The rest of that seam was OK - not great (it wasn't taped for a start) but intact and airtight, it was just the section you can see in the close up photo, about three or four inches right at the lowest point on the cone. The port side tube was the same, except a bigger part of the seam - six or eight inches if I remember correctly (I try not to think about it!)

If you didn't fit those patches to your boat I wonder if it was slashed by some low-life with a previous owner and the big patches were fitted to make a "useful feature" out of the repair? Such ideas have been suggested on here before - makes it looks like it was meant to be like that rather than looking like a repair

If so then perhaps the patch is peeling away from the underlying tube around the split/cut and that is why there is a bubble?

Anyway I have just got back from a couple of hours out and it seems fine so that is good. The thermometer on the back of my house reads 20.8 degrees C (that's warm for these parts) and I could easily have spent the rest of the afternoon "testing"

A couple of shots - wake shot in the harbour and some of the local wildlife basking alongside our company launches Beagle (nearest) and Speedwell (the one behind - the one needing the engines)

9D280 · 03 December 2007, 12:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

If you didn't fit those patches to your boat I wonder if it was slashed by some low-life with a previous owner and the big patches were fitted to make a "useful feature" out of the repair? Such ideas have been suggested on here before - makes it looks like it was meant to be like that rather than looking like a repair

If that's the case then they've gone to a LOT of effort to disguise two small holes! The entire toob is pretty much double skinned, with the odd area (round the bow) triple skinned! To remove al lthe handles, lifelines etc, cover the entire diameter (bar the rubbing strakes) then stick all the grab handles etc back on does strike me as a lot of work , so I reckon it's original fit. (It started life as a DOT approved rescue boat)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

If so then perhaps the patch is peeling away from the underlying tube around the split/cut and that is why there is a bubble?

Agreed, I think that might be what's happening. Interestingly the bubbles don't seem to get bigger or harder when I pump the tubes up, so I reckon it's probably just a bubble of trapped air from the original fit. (says he, fingers crossed!!)