Knackered baffles - Options?

[CUSAC]

Originally Posted by willk

I've had a quick read over this thread and your comment above seems to be the nub of it. The answer is, I know of a worrying number of boats that have had tube punctures/massive failures. They all had baffles and made it home. Your scow won't if the worst happens. IMO, all that wishful thinking about pumps and clamshells is pie in the sky. Baffles exist for a reason. Even a SIB tender has three compartments. You need a retube. Sorry.

I put option number 1 for discussion really. I don't intend to do nothing. Good to get the benefit of someone else's experiences. Interestingly having dived for 10+ years on numerous RIBs from new to 20 years old I've never had or heard of a catastrophic seam failure at sea. Can't even recall reading about any in the British Sub Aqua Club annual incident report (normally just engine failures) and some clubs run very ropey RIBS! Interesting point made earlier about whether RIB owners actually test their baffles. Could be many in use where the owner hasn't been prompted to check them but have managed lots of successful trips. Without hard numbers there is no way to quantify the risk.

I get where you are coming from but you can't really make a straight comparison between SIBs and RIBs due to one having inherent hull buoyancy. But agree I wouldn't take my SIB out without functioning baffles.

Currently I'm think I'm favouring the internal bladder solution to get the boat seaworthy and usable while saving for new tubes. Spending multiple times the cost of the boat to retube now when they are in very solid condition apart from the baffles seems drastic. Will speak to some repairers and go from there. It might be that one of them can slice and install 2 new baffles just ahead of midships at least preserving 2/3 buoyancy.

[Iron Dials]

I think you knew the answer to this one when you asked the question.

There's a reason why baffles are designed into tubes.

If you know they are non-functioning then you know the boat is no longer as safe as designed.

I suspect you will have difficulty finding any self-respecting rib repair company to half do the job (2 baffles instead of 4).
The option you put forward to leave as is, is simply foolhardy.
Emergency baffles? Well if you set off from a controlled situation you shouldn't be relying on emergency fittings.

If you don't get them fixed or get new tubes, you are deciding to put yourself and others at avoidable significant risk.

[CUSAC]

Originally Posted by willk

I've had a quick read over this thread and your comment above seems to be the nub of it. The answer is, I know of a worrying number of boats that have had tube punctures/massive failures. They all had baffles and made it home. Your scow won't if the worst happens. IMO, all that wishful thinking about pumps and clamshells is pie in the sky. Baffles exist for a reason. Even a SIB tender has three compartments. You need a retube. Sorry.

Originally Posted by Iron Dials

I think you knew the answer to this one when you asked the question.

There's a reason why baffles are designed into tubes.

If you know they are non-functioning then you know the boat is no longer as safe as designed.

I suspect you will have difficulty finding any self-respecting rib repair company to half do the job (2 baffles instead of 4).
The option you put forward to leave as is, is simply foolhardy.
Emergency baffles? Well if you set off from a controlled situation you shouldn't be relying on emergency fittings.

If you don't get them fixed or get new tubes, you are deciding to put yourself and others at avoidable significant risk.

The main question i was asking in my original post was if there were any other options short of a retube that I hadn't yet considered, and if any forum members had first hand experience of them. Therefore I don't believe I knew the answer before asking.

When I talked about internal bladders I meant that they would be inserted into the chambers and fully inflated at all times. Lots of searching on the topic on this forum yielded advice from Henshaws that this would provide "a few years of use" which is what I am looking for and would leave the boat with up to 5 separate chambers no different from a retube. I had hoped someone who had done the same would be able to confirm effectiveness.

As it seems nobody has done so (or spoken up on here at least), I stated my approach would be to speak to experts in person and take their advice. I believe this to be a reasonable way to avoid putting myself or others at additional risk (whether this is actually significant - by definition high probability it's hard to say without any stats).

Once I have some expert advice and decide on a route forward I will update the thread for information. Thanks all.

[Poly]

Don’t confuse a significant risk with a high probability - it can be a low probability with significant impact. You won’t have to search that hard to find people who have had a seam failure on here. Willks sib analogy is relevant especially if the boat is heavily laden - the hull may not float high enough, then you have water in the electrics, fuel etc and you’ll be writing the article for the BSAC annual report!

You can choose to ignore all the advice given here, spend over 1k on a quick fix that adds zero value to the boat and may only last a year or two, but presumably has no warranty if the wear out after a month - or you can put that money towards a proper retube which should give you 15+ yrs of use, adds value to the boat and comes with a warranty.

Of course you can ignore all the advice and go to sea crossing your fingers if you want. You won’t be the first or last person to hope and go, most make it back.

[darbio]

Originally Posted by CUSAC

The main question i was asking in my original post was if there were any other options short of a retube that I hadn't yet considered, and if any forum members had first hand experience of them. Therefore I don't believe I knew the answer before asking.

When I talked about internal bladders I meant that they would be inserted into the chambers and fully inflated at all times. Lots of searching on the topic on this forum yielded advice from Henshaws that this would provide "a few years of use" which is what I am looking for and would leave the boat with up to 5 separate chambers no different from a retube. I had hoped someone who had done the same would be able to confirm effectiveness.

As it seems nobody has done so (or spoken up on here at least), I stated my approach would be to speak to experts in person and take their advice. I believe this to be a reasonable way to avoid putting myself or others at additional risk (whether this is actually significant - by definition high probability it's hard to say without any stats).

Once I have some expert advice and decide on a route forward I will update the thread for information. Thanks all.

What did you end up doing? I'm looking at a way to fix up a baffle that's leaking slightly too. Cheers