Hypalon porous // how to Repair?

[W0LF]

The Topside of the Tubes are porous:







The Tubes hold Air and do there job it's just the Optic that needs attention.
My Idea: Just another thin layer of Hypalon. But where can i buy that?
If i check Henshaw eg. i only find strong Hypalon.

Do you have any advise?
Greentings from Germany

Wolfgang

[Maximus]

I must say I'm surprised they still hold air!!
What are the rest of the Tubes like?
I'm sure Henshaws could sort you out some Hyperlon cut to size if you have someone to overlay it.
Personally Id Definatly get a pro to do it...AND WHILE it still holds air ok!!..otherwise I reckon it'll be a re-tube.
As to "thin" Hyperlon,and I'm not sure there is such a thing!
Anyway,Why bother?...the normal grade opposed to the thicker grade/commercial will do fine.
Either way,by the look of the Tubes.. I reckon it'll only be a temporary solution.
How old is the RIB?...IF the rest is OK it may worth thinking about having the lot replaced,it's up to you to decide what is the most viable/economic solution.

[W0LF]

The rest of the Tubs are in good condition. The Osprey is from 1996 and i realy need only something for the upperside of the Tube. Why not 1300gsm you asked - very simple - thin = cheaper (hope so).

[jyasaki]

Hypalon fabric is a 3-ply affair: An inner lining of neoprene (makes it airtight), a fabric weave (usually polyester, I think; adds dimeneional strength), and the hypalon outer layer (resists sun and chemicals), all bonded together.

Gluing an additional layer of hypalon over the whole boat (or even just the upper sections) would be a pretty big job, IMO. Not so much the material, but the labor involved.

Maybe one of the hypalon paints would be a better and cheaper option? Some people have reported good results.

jky

[Nick Hearne]

If it where me I think hypalon paint would be the way to go to get a few more years out of it!
I'm keen on boat diy but would not start trying to cover the tubes, but for a pro it can be done with great results

[Rogue Wave]

I think the tubes material is suffering from Sun damage (polymerisation) and the stuff that you are trying to stick to isn't secure therefore it comes away after you have patched. I spent three very frustrating days trying to do a similar repair and could.t get any successful outcome.

Somebody that hasn't tried to do it may well believe it can be done and you are welcome to listen to them. The only way that you will patch this successfully is if you can find good material around the damage site and stick from that but it's going to be a big patch.

You may well find that a professional toober has another way of repairing it but I suspect not!

Therefore as much as I hate tube paint its the only way to go but its not a great way

[paulbrown22]

Mine were probably about as far gone as they could have been with sun/rope damage, and I very successfully had the bow recovered and then large wear patches added to the rear sections by RodellaRibs:

http://www.rib.net/forum/f8/max-size...tch-57401.html

http://www.rib.net/forum/f8/wear-pat...tec-51117.html

[W0LF]

I really don't want to paint the tubes. The large wear patch idea sounds good. Maybe that could be the right way. Thank you all for you advise.

[Rogue Wave]

[QUOTE=paulbrown22;655907]Mine were probably about as far gone as they could have been with sun/rope damage, and I very successfully had the bow recovered and then large wear patches added to the rear sections by RodellaRibs:



i am really amazed that an effective repair could be done on fully delaminated tubes over the amount of surface area displayed in the OP's photo. Due to the fact that here is no substrate to adhere to as it falls away after the patch is applied.

Can I ask is your boat the blue tubed/white rubbing strake rib featured on Rodella's very good website? I ask that because that appears to have just rope/friction damage and therefore fixable as you have something to adhere to. If it is your boat they did a nice job.

[paulbrown22]

Hmm, not sure - mine's blue tubes black strake, but looks like there might be some photos on their Facebook thing at the bottom of the gallery page (or there's some on the Ribnet threads linked above).

I'm no expert at all, but yes, it had very severe rope/friction damage through the surface and well into the weave in places, and quite a bit of sun damage as well affecting the outer Hypalon layer, where this blue colour really seems to absorb the sun.

Given some of the areas were pretty large, I've certainly been very impressed so far with the work done, and the wear patches are holding perfectly after 14 months or so and the recovered bow for 2 years.

[Rogue Wave]

I'm not knocking your favoured company i think Rodella do very good work I'm trying to save the OP from wasting a lot of time and money by thinking he can fix his tube problems by overpatching! Looking at the pics of your tubes it doesn't look like they were delaminating as much as being rubbed up the wrong way. And therefore overpatching would be easy in terms of adhesion and attractive if skillfully done, which your clearly were

Fixing the worn out bits is as you have good material to bond to. Can I ask were the Sun damage parts colour faded or could you remove the top layer of the hypalon and expose the weave by rubbing with your fingers Say 2 inches away from the fading.

[paulbrown22]

Not an issue at all - I'm only reporting what I've had done on my boat, with what to me looks like similar damage in some areas.

Yes, the sun damaged areas were severely faded, and in many areas rubbing with fingers would peel off the top layer of blue. Can't say I measuered how far away from the fading I could rub off, but it all seemed fairly fragile, until you got to the dark blue areas where the tubes are clearly undamaged.

[9D280]

FWIW mine (pics on here somewhere - try the forth cruise / Easdale / Wheel 10 threads) was like that all over (but is also 10 years older then the OP's boat)

Previous owners (sailing club - it was a rescue boat) hypalon painted it, which seemed to work fine untiul the layer below the paint started to come off!

It was ver theraputinc peeling the paint off the toobs, but as more came off they started deflating faster! Ultimately, I need new toobs. I have toyed with a decently applied layer of Hypalon paint, but to do the whole boat is going to be approx 1/6 the cost of a re-toob (at the last costing), so I'm just saving for the re-toobing.

I reckon the paint on mine lasted 8-9 years, based on what the previous owner told me about the paint date (and it was more the material underneath coming off than the paint itself).

[W0LF]

On your advice to work out with Patches, I have decided to do it and want to show you here is the result:

That is the starting point







Now the Rework:

[W0LF]

Here are the results:







Thanks to Klaas from RIB4FUN.NL

[paulbrown22]

Looks like it's come up very nicely!