Repairing the RIB ( Rubbish Inflatable Boat)

[Hightower]

A Vipermax . My next RIB

I do however belive that Humber should be bought upto speed to this thread as it's not good publicity to have unhappy customers, whatever is wrong.

Garmin has a terrific reputation for it's after sales and I'm certain it is number one in the market place because of this. Whilst I'm not suggesting a New RIB here, I do think they should have a chance to help you with your problem as it's a bit of a one off situation being as isolated as you are and with no Tube fitters available.

Anyone reading these posts that have an interest to buy a Humber won't just be looking at the performance of the RIB, but aftersales customer care support and the like. If one person decides to buy an Osprey then that's a Humber sale lost. It won't take long for a smaller RIB building company to go to the wall in this situation. Humber is quite a big operation, but negative feedback will hurt them.

So I do think it's a good Idea to let them know, I'm sure you're not blaming them as they are today but they deserve a chance to help you, even if it's just with advice.

[bedajim]

[quote=BogMonster;179846]

Originally Posted by tinker

This post is at a bad time, give it a few days and some one will give you the answer how to do it, I hope.
If the navy are there one of them must know how to do it, really feel for ya, having been in the position you are in, ever thought about moving house?

I can do it with sausages but it means probably another £1000 to get them here any time soon - not sure I can stomach spending that amount more when I just KNOW something else will go wrong (engine will blow itself apart, or whatever) the moment I get it back in the water....

So what are your options?

£1000+ for sausages and a boat to use or sell
ship it back to the uk and get it fixed then sell it £???
sell the engine and have a party and burn the hull

Got to go for the sausages even if it is only to get some money back by selling it afterwards

[Neil Harvey]

[quote=bedajim;179861]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

So what are your options?

£1000+ for sausages and a boat to use or sell
ship it back to the uk and get it fixed then sell it £???
sell the engine and have a party and burn the hull

Got to go for the sausages even if it is only to get some money back by selling it afterwards

Not so sure I'd buy a rib with the sausage job done. Although it may do the job, it will not be so easy to sell on in my opinion.

For me, the second option might be best of the three options above. Ship it back, have it fixed by a pro, and have them sell it on. Proper job done, only shiping fees one way and almost guaranteed some money back.

Then again, i'd also contact Humber again and get them to read the saga on here. i'd be really surprised if it did not reap some kind of reward, even if its only advice.

[BogMonster]

The point is, at the end of the day it is six years old and so I wouldn't expect them to make a contribution - few if any suppliers of anything would offer warranty cover of that length apart from in some things like roofing or fencing where things carry a 10 or 25 year guarantee. If you had a six year old car you wouldn't get anything from the manufacturer so I don't think you can blame them for poor after sales as the thing only carried a year's warranty so it is well out of that - it may be different if the boat was only a couple or 3 years old. I actually think that boat manufacturers would be fairer offering a time or "mileage" warranty like car makers do - perhaps 5 years or 500 hours whichever comes first, that kind of thing, but it seems that none of them do (there was an article in RIB Int a couple of months ago on boat warranties and I don't remember seeing anything in there). I sell vehicles for a living and we see problems appearing on 5 or 6 year old vehicles which have maybe 10 or 15000 miles on them because the owner is some old guy who drives to the shops a couple of times a week and that is about it. Sometimes Land Rover will make a contribution depending on the nature of the fault, but sometimes they will do nothing. Time or hours would help low-use private boat owners while not disadvantaging the company by giving a 5 year warranty to professional owners. Something for all manufacturers to think about perhaps?

I should also say at this point, that as some may remember, Humber did supply some patching material and wear patches free of charge a few months ago, but before I got a chance to fit them - due to low temperatures - the original repair I did failed due to the hypalon delaminating. At that point I figured there wasn't much point in fitting the wear patches as it would simply cover up what was clearly turning into a bigger problem and I'd just be wasting a few tins of my precious - and bloody expensive by the time I got it here - glue.

As has also been said a lot of the problems are down to my location and circumstances - it should be said that if I'd been just down the road from Mr Tilley (or indeed Humber) I would have dropped it off, had it fixed professionally and been back in the water in a week for a few hundred quid and been happy enough. In fact if I could do it I would not have begrudged the cost of a new set of tubes as it would mean that I knew it was "good for a while" and would no doubt have improved the resale value. I'm a great fan of fixing things properly for long term reliability (despite what anybody may think from some of the ideas I've concocted - but needs must!!!)

I have decided that I'm not even going to attempt another repair that is dependent on gluing big bits of floppy material together because I have no idea how you are supposed to control half an acre of floppy fabric covered in contact adhesive and I'd be wasting money. And its bloody depressing when you spend hours doing something and then it all goes wrong at the last moment.

My cunning plan (which is still curing) is that I have made a "mini sausage" out of the two tube ends, drilled a hole through the end and stuck a TR13 tubeless tyre stem in. I'll tape around that (the tape is much softer and "grippier" so should provide a good grip on the tube inner), stuff it in the end, blow it up hard and see what happens when I then inflate the chamber behind it - it will either work or it will pop out, but it might give me a bit more use before the second half of the summer disappears which will be good If it does pop out then I might try gluing it in, depends on how quickly I can get sausages made up, but I figure if I am careful with the air pressure behind it I may be ok for a while...

Don't know about the resale value of a "sausaged" boat - but more than the value of a flat one! I actually think the sausage idea is fairly robust - the guy here has been using his boat for 3 or 4 years with no problems at all - and remember it gives a double thickness of hypalon right along the most critical area, fit wear patches as well and it should be pretty tough!

[Stephen-RIB]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

The point is, at the end of the day it is six years old and so I wouldn't expect them to make a contribution - few if any suppliers of anything would offer warranty cover of that length apart from in some things like roofing or fencing where things carry a 10 or 25 year guarantee. If you had a six year old car you wouldn't get anything from the manufacturer so I don't think you can blame them for poor after sales as the thing only carried a year's warranty so it is well out of that - it may be different if the boat was only a couple or 3 years old. I actually think that boat manufacturers would be fairer offering a time or "mileage" warranty like car makers do - perhaps 5 years or 500 hours whichever comes first, that kind of thing, but it seems that none of them do (there was an article in RIB Int a couple of months ago on boat warranties and I don't remember seeing anything in there). I sell vehicles for a living and we see problems appearing on 5 or 6 year old vehicles which have maybe 10 or 15000 miles on them because the owner is some old guy who drives to the shops a couple of times a week and that is about it. Sometimes Land Rover will make a contribution depending on the nature of the fault, but sometimes they will do nothing. Time or hours would help low-use private boat owners while not disadvantaging the company by giving a 5 year warranty to professional owners. Something for all manufacturers to think about perhaps?

I should also say at this point, that as some may remember, Humber did supply some patching material and wear patches free of charge a few months ago, but before I got a chance to fit them - due to low temperatures - the original repair I did failed due to the hypalon delaminating. At that point I figured there wasn't much point in fitting the wear patches as it would simply cover up what was clearly turning into a bigger problem and I'd just be wasting a few tins of my precious - and bloody expensive by the time I got it here - glue.

As has also been said a lot of the problems are down to my location and circumstances - it should be said that if I'd been just down the road from Mr Tilley (or indeed Humber) I would have dropped it off, had it fixed professionally and been back in the water in a week for a few hundred quid and been happy enough. In fact if I could do it I would not have begrudged the cost of a new set of tubes as it would mean that I knew it was "good for a while" and would no doubt have improved the resale value. I'm a great fan of fixing things properly for long term reliability (despite what anybody may think from some of the ideas I've concocted - but needs must!!!)

I have decided that I'm not even going to attempt another repair that is dependent on gluing big bits of floppy material together because I have no idea how you are supposed to control half an acre of floppy fabric covered in contact adhesive and I'd be wasting money. And its bloody depressing when you spend hours doing something and then it all goes wrong at the last moment.

My cunning plan (which is still curing) is that I have made a "mini sausage" out of the two tube ends, drilled a hole through the end and stuck a TR13 tubeless tyre stem in. I'll tape around that (the tape is much softer and "grippier" so should provide a good grip on the tube inner), stuff it in the end, blow it up hard and see what happens when I then inflate the chamber behind it - it will either work or it will pop out, but it might give me a bit more use before the second half of the summer disappears which will be good If it does pop out then I might try gluing it in, depends on how quickly I can get sausages made up, but I figure if I am careful with the air pressure behind it I may be ok for a while...

Don't know about the resale value of a "sausaged" boat - but more than the value of a flat one! I actually think the sausage idea is fairly robust - the guy here has been using his boat for 3 or 4 years with no problems at all - and remember it gives a double thickness of hypalon right along the most critical area, fit wear patches as well and it should be pretty tough!

Hi Stephen,

I have only just found this thread, looks like you have got yourself in to a real pickle with that repair. I sympathise with what you have had to put up with. With regards to dealing with the floppy fabric and bonding, it might be possible to make a polystyrene sort of plug to hold everything to the right shape as you are gluing to the two together?

If I can be of any help please let me know.

Cheers

Stephen.

[paul tilley]

stephen glue the mini sausages in place you can always take them out if they dont work

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by paul tilley

stephen glue the mini sausages in place you can always take them out if they dont work

Will do that, I think with Sikaflex rather than hypalon glue.

Put the sossie in this morning and blew it up, now looks like a boat again but it is leaking past the sossie just along the seam of the original tube, so will need some sort of sealant - it may take half an hour to go flat but certainly enough of a leak to be a PITA. Think I will pump sikaflex in around the seam and then blow up the sausage fairly hard and leave it for 24hrs to set.

Apart from the tyre valve sticking out of the black cone and the fact that the strake is not attached for the last 12 inches or so, it looks quite neat really, if I do this with a "proper" inflation valve sticking through where the original one was (cut that out to about 4" diameter hole for the new valve to peep though) then you'd hardly notice any difference. And the sun is shining so it is a better day than yesterday all around

[Poly]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

as the thing only carried a year's warranty

I don't know about when your boat was made but I think the fabric on humbers now comes with 5 year warranty from the manufacturer (pennel). I now yours is know beyond this so it may not make any difference.

[codprawn]

You keep saying how much shipping costs are - as you are a landrover dealer can't you slip some tubes in with some spare engines or something - or even stuffed into the back of a Defender being shipped over???

[Tomas]

I've been following this saga and have had nothing to contribute...up until now. Stephen, when I consider the difficulty of getting parts and supplies here in the N.E. Caribbean on my 84 square mile island, I can't even imagine the difficulty that presents you down there. From one islander to another, hang in there my friend. I go to the grocery store and they are always out of key items, sometimes for months. At one point they were out of dry cat food like forever and my cats were getting damn tired of dog food. I complained to Wahleed that runs the place and he have me a blank look and said, "Hunger the best cook".

Hey, but living remote builds character.....yea right!

Tomas

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by codprawn

You keep saying how much shipping costs are - as you are a landrover dealer can't you slip some tubes in with some spare engines or something - or even stuffed into the back of a Defender being shipped over???

The freight cost (by sea) on a set of collapsed tubes would not be too bad - I'd pay that, the problem is it's another couple of grand which I don't want to spend right now, and another lot of gluing which I'm not confident about doing and no boat for the rest of the summer and then the problem of not being able to do it outdoors in the winter and not having anywhere big enough to fit them under cover.

I should say by the way, the failure of the fitting of the new tube ends was entirely due to my lack of talent with manoeuvring large bits of floppy hypalon around, and no bad reflection on Paul Tilley who supplied them, the quality of them was excellent as expected from a supplier with Paul's reputation.

The freight by air (DHL) would be horrendous - it cost me £100 to get two tube ends here and it would probably cost nearer £1000 to get a whole set of tubes. Equally the cost of sending a new hull/tubes by sea would be about £2000 - I measured my boat this morning, it's about 5.8x2.28x1.5m on a cradle which is 20cbm at £100 a cbm. Mind you if Humber kindly offered me a new hull and tubes to fit the console/engines on, I'd certainly find the two grand to get it here

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Tomas

I go to the grocery store and they are always out of key items, sometimes for months.

Hey, but living remote builds character.....yea right!

Tomas

I know exactly what you mean - same here.... haven't seen a decent potato for about three months

But you are right, its character building and in most cases (excluding boats) all good clean fun that teaches you all sorts of things.

You do have better boating weather over there though...

[BogMonster]

Just back from a couple of hours on the water with the "mini sausaged" tube and the concept certainly works fine, though despite sealing it around the end of the old tube with Sikaflex there is still a slight air leak from the old tube - must be an art to get them airtight along the seam I think!

So a full length sausage is going to be the answer I think, with a bit of pressure in, this one shows no inclination to pop out even though there is pressure behind it, so a full length one would never move. The contact area inside the old tube is only about a foot long.

I forgot to take a photo of the sausage before I put it in, but basically its the two tube ends Paul made, with six inches or so of tube on each, glued back to back. Apart from the tyre valve you wouldn't know the difference from a proper tube (I deliberately left the rubbing strake off till I know what is going to happen, because it was such a bugger to get off). Of course a full length one (filling the whole of the old aft chamber on each side) would have a proper Leafield inflation valve on it - and a PRV this time around - which would stick out through the hole left where the original used to be, and I don't think any casual observer would notice any difference from the original setup.

Best of all no F gluing

Getting there, definitely getting there, what I now need is two 67 inch long sausages with built in inflation and pressure relief valves

[Aidan]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

Well there is only one word left to describe this

DISASTER

Do NOT ever try this repair it is TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE. I now just have £250 more worth of scrap hypalon and a scrap boat with half a tube missing and no way to even bodge it up to get a couple more days use out of it. Tube end sticks to itself, to you, to every F thing except where it is supposed to be and once I did get it more or less on I realised there was no way at all that the ends were going to meet when I was 3/4 of the way around, it just goes all over the place. I take my hat off to anybody who works with inflatable boat repair for a living because I'd shoot myself inside a week.

Guessing it cost about £10000 all in with the other stuff I have bought, all for 40 hours worth of use. Fun as it is, I can't afford a £250 per hour hobby on my salary.

I wish I could sue Humber for the cost, stress and inconvenience of this bloody boat. I really do but I doubt I'd stand a chance and anyway I've wasted enough money on this heap of junk without wasting more on blood sucking lawyers. I think its time to draw a line under this disaster and get rid of it.

Thanks to all for the help and support, without you I would have given up in despair six months ago, but this chapter of my life is finished.... before it kills me.

DO NOT TRY THIS REPAIR YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Hi Stephan,

I recall recently on a thread of some person who ordered the sponsons replacement chambers and slipped them inside the existing ones and they glued and inflated them. It seemed like a simple but useful fix.

I didnt study all the responses but this was a recent (week or two before Christmas) thread. It may be useful to you cos it looked simple and quick to me.

I wouldnt try this myself as I would not have the determination required. Sort of Chuck it and get another.

Good luck with it anyway.

Aidan

[Nick Hearne]

Glad to see something is going right!

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Aidan

I recall recently on a thread of some person who ordered the sponsons replacement chambers and slipped them inside the existing ones and they glued and inflated them. It seemed like a simple but useful fix.

I didnt study all the responses but this was a recent (week or two before Christmas) thread. It may be useful to you cos it looked simple and quick to me.

I wouldnt try this myself as I would not have the determination required. Sort of Chuck it and get another.

Good luck with it anyway.

Aidan

Would it be this one?

Yeah chuck it and get another is sooo appealing, if only I had the money I'd get a big Cat digger and trample it into the ground then bury the wreckage! But then if only I had lots of money I would do lots of things

Having said that this morning reminded me what fabulous fun it is (got to give Humber credit for the performance, the boats really do go well and are so stable and forgiving) so I suppose that is why I persevere

[Biggles]

It looks good

[The Garfish]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

what I now need is two 67 inch long sausages with built in inflation and pressure relief valves

i recomennd a pare ov dolfins. shuv de fkin fings hed furst upn de toobs wiv jus de tale stikkin owt an yoov gott a bote wiv trimm tabbs az wel.

gArf

[Aidan]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

Would it be this one?

Yeah chuck it and get another is sooo appealing, if only I had the money I'd get a big Cat digger and trample it into the ground then bury the wreckage! But then if only I had lots of money I would do lots of things

Having said that this morning reminded me what fabulous fun it is (got to give Humber credit for the performance, the boats really do go well and are so stable and forgiving) so I suppose that is why I persevere

Yep, thats the idea alright. I didnt realise you posted it.

You seem to be getting there. Half the fun is in getting there isnt it. Bit like the Griswalds in National Lampoon, Chevy Chase.
I mean if it was always a case of stickin in the key, we would all have learned nothing over the years. Character Building I seem to recall a boss said to me once, but he was a W..ker.

Anyway Good luck with it. It seem to me tho that many of teh boats that I see for sale are recent projects and they are being sold for less than the cost of repair, so be careful what you spend on repair, or you may end up burning it.
My plan is to spend all my money and leave nothing.

Aidan

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Aidan

Half the fun is in getting there isnt it

No.

After the last six months I cannot agree!!! I am (would be) quite happy to get into a boat and for it not to explode.

Garf's idea seems quite sound though, it would give some extra propulsion too if you carried an electric cattle prod and gave them a dig in the butt (does a dolphin have a butt??) when you needed some afterburners