Mooring Lines on Hypalon

[knewfie]

Hi There!

We recently acquired a new hypalon rib and it's tied to our floating dock. What I'm wondering about is the abrasion resistance of hypalon. The stern line and spring lines are laying on the tube so wondering if we may have issues of abrasion over time? There is not a whole lot of movement when the boat is tied to the dock but a little bit for sure as the wind and tide changes direction. We are new to hypalon so just wondering what the consensus is on this. Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,
Kier

[office888]

Originally Posted by knewfie

Hi There!

We recently acquired a new hypalon rib and it's tied to our floating dock. What I'm wondering about is the abrasion resistance of hypalon. The stern line and spring lines are laying on the tube so wondering if we may have issues of abrasion over time? There is not a whole lot of movement when the boat is tied to the dock but a little bit for sure as the wind and tide changes direction. We are new to hypalon so just wondering what the consensus is on this. Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,
Kier

It'll cause wear marks over time.

If the line is contaminated with oil/gas/diesel, it will cause the coating to swell in the areas where it touches too.

[Brian]

It will rub and cause marks.
If left it will gradually wear through the Hypalon.
I "sleeved" mine where it was likely to come in contact with the tube and stopped the sleeve by tying a knot in the line.
You can use a variety of materials to do this.
I, being a cheapskate, used a larger diameter section of plastic pipe. This allowed the line to pull across the surface of the tubes whilst "rolling" the plastic tube.
You can, however, use other materials like soft cloth to cloak the line. The cloth will need to be sewn tightly to the line and may pick up water, oil etc. and cause other problems though.

[wellhouse]

You can also glue a wear/tread strip to the hypalon where the rope touches serves two purposes then, available pre cut or cut to size from people like ribshop, henshaws and others

[beamishken]

This is what happens when mooring lines run over the tubes. That patch is about the size of a large hand plus the smaller bits it's a sailing club rib and that's where the spring line runs over the tube so not even the main mooring line.

[knewfie]

Thanks everybody for the responses! Really appreciate it!

[Jason Turner]

If you over-patch using our PU material you will have a long term solution!
The glue and glueing procedure for the PU surface is exactly as for Hypalon but with the critical difference that you wipe over with acetone, not toluene, prior to applying the first coat of glue.

[office888]

Originally Posted by Jason Turner

If you over-patch using our PU material you will have a long term solution!
The glue and glueing procedure for the PU surface is exactly as for Hypalon but with the critical difference that you wipe over with acetone, not toluene, prior to applying the first coat of glue.

The surface of the material should also be halogenated before crossgluing plastomers to elastomers. Bostik Actisol or Kiilto TR-Primer should be utilized.

[Jason Turner]

Hi Richard,

No, no need.
RIB makers here have been gluing pu to Hypalon for many years, and with total success, using neoprene-based glues. It is essential, though that acetone, (CH3)2CO or MEK, C2H5.CO.CH3 is used, and not toluene, C6H5.CH3, is used to pre-wipe the pu surface. I have given chemical formulae as non-scientific names for solvents do vary. Important also that the pu surface is given a thorough abrasion beforehand.
Jason