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Repairing old PVC rib
I have an old NARWHAL NL-270. A friend gave it to me, it is very old and needs a lot of work which he didn't have time to do, so he said If I want to try and fix it up I can have it (as I don't have a boat).
Well I went to a zodiac service centre in the city and they told me the material is PVC (I couldn't find any tech info on the net so I will have to go with them on that). I was planning to use a 2 stage treatment, the first coat renews and reseals the material, and the second gives colour and UV protection. The service centre however told me that for such an old baot, I should not waste the money on expensive products, simply re-glue the fixtures, strip off the old paint and then paint it with a standard synthetic paint.
I have now removed the inflatiable section from the fiberclass hull (it was previously patched up with some kind of woodworking pvc glue from the look of it). I have started to remove the old paint and the inflaitable section doesn't seem like it will be too much trouble. My problem comes with re-attaching the inflaitable to the hull.
How do I go about this? Do I simply use the PVC adhesive (the real stuff from the zodiac centre) to attach the inflaitable to the pvc flaps on the hull, or should I also use something else to strenthen / seal this as the thing is pretty old and the flaps joined to the hull are a bit past it. I won't deflate the boat once repaired, so I was thinking maybe clear silicone sealant would do the trick. It's very strong and durable once set, but Im not sure how it will react with the salt water.
Any tips or advise? I may post a few pics of the project later on if I can.
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