hi there,
i bought a 4.6m rib last year which had undisclosed accident damage at the front which had been glassed over to sell and i've been having a nightmare with it since !
i had a quote from a well-known tubes manufacturer/ specialist firm to lift the tubes up t the front, make the glass repair and then re-bond the tubes...
they did this twice and each time their fibreglass repair cracked first time on the water...
finally they agreed to lift the tubes a 3rd time and i would get the actual repair done elsewhere and then they would refit the tubes
this happened and i'm 100% happy with the fibreglass repair but i've just got the boat back from having the tubes re-fitted and i'm worried that it's not been done properly
the outside strip which bonds the tube to the boat was visually perfect on collection, but by the time we got home it seems to have debonded in places in the centre despite the glue having already been fully cured
http://theloft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/vin.jpg
if i push on the tube with my hand in some places i can hear the strip pulling away from the tube and there are also places where this outside strip will easily pull off by hand although in most places it seems to be on there firmly...
the tube specialists assure me they are tube experts and their repair is 100%...
so...(!)
firstly could anyone please confirm whether they think the rebond looks as dubious as i suspect it is... i may just be getting paranoid after having travelled 50 miles to the repair place 7 times now (!) i'm not even sure whether i should take the boat out or not and secondly please could anyone recommend anyone competent to remove and rebond the tubes 'properly' within a reasonable distance of Bristol, i'm having trouble finding anyone closer than a couple of hours drive
sorry for the long post and many thanks for any advice or thoughts anyone has to offer,
regards,
andy
