Water leaking in from between the hull and tube

[BigE]

I was out bombing around in my Bombard Explorer 550 yesterday having a merry old time and towards the end of my trip our there was a chap floating out into the Solent (Just off Hurst Castle) on a small SIB, his engine had packed in so I did the right thing and towed him back into Keyhaven. No problem there but upon returning out to Hurst Castle to collect my family I noticed the rear of the boat was full of water, possibly form towing, possibly because I forgot to open the drain plugs in the transom. I emptied the water as best I could and made it back to shore and emptied some more. It looks liked new water was still coming in. Without many options I left it overnight on it's mooring and the Bilge pump on auto. I ran down this morning at low tide where it was beached up so I could open the drain plug, not much came out and it sits on a fair incline with the bow up so it drains well. Few, it seems no big issue.

I went to check on it just now at high tide and it's still floating but there is some water in the hull, that's always been the case and too little for the bilge pump to pump but enough to irritate me. As I was looking around I noticed a small leak coming in from the starboard side rear, where the tube meets the hull and a distance from the transom to about 12 inches was watery. No water gushing in, just a noticeable wet patch that if you dried, it would appear again within a minute.

I suspect this is why the deck was getting wet last year and the ongoing source of my water ingress issues I've mentioned before. Now, I beleive (please correct me) the tubes are glued onto the hull and it could be that the glue has failed, the boat probably about 20 years old now and not worth much.

I know I could get it retubed but it's not worth the cost, can anyone suggest a cost effective way to tackle this? I can get the boat onto it's trailer easily enough and bring it home to work on. Could I deflate the tube on the starboard side and inject some form of sealant to block any small leaky areas? Honestly, it's a small leak area and I can't really pinpoint it exactly other than a 1-2 foot strip of tube/hull.

Thanks for any constructive advice other than scrap it or take it to a specialist who will charge £3K when the boat is probably only worth about £2K.

[Last Tango]

I'm sure they wouldn't charge 3K to repair it but I'd imagine someone will be along to tell you how to repair it yourself.
Pumping sealant in doesn't sound like the right way to fix it though. I'd imagine you'll just end up with a bigger mess to clean up and if it's silicon you were thinking of it'll have to be chemically cleaned of before you can tackle the job properly with glue.

[BigE]

I'm sure getting new tubes fitted were £3K when I asked but take your point about sealent.

[charliee]

Spray some washing up liquid around the likely areas on the inside of the rib and fire an air hose from outside to see if you can target the leak.

[Last Tango]

Originally Posted by BigE

I'm sure getting new tubes fitted were £3K when I asked but take your point about sealent.

But you're not wanting it re-tubed. Just a bit of hot air strip & re-gluing. I've never had anything like that done but I'd guess a couple of hundred quid?

[Navajoturquoise]

inject some form of sealant to block leaky areas? Absolutely not! The problem will not be solved and the repair will be tougher to be done properly, particularly if any silicone sealant is used.

Iv'e had the same problem on my Bombard Explorer 600, initially on the starboard rear side, then on the port side. It is caused by the un-gluing of a manufacture installed patch of material that connects the hull to the tube. When the RIB achieves speed and planes, the tubes come out of the water at the front end of the boat but remains partially submerged at the rear end. Although the thickness of the underwater patch is not very substantial, it is subjected to a lot of pressure from the water flowing by it. On my RIB the adhesive eventually failed and water started to come in on the starboard side, slowly at first then faster. A year later the same thing happened on the port side while the RIB was cruising at 70 km/h when water gushed in quite suddenly. It stopped coming in when the speed was reduced to 15 km/h.

To fix the problem, the RIB must be taken out of the water and allowed to dry completely. Water will have a tendency to remain under the failed patch and must be removed if good results are to be achieved. Ideally the patch should be removed with the help of a hair dryer but if that is not possible, drying the area under the patch may be done by lowering the front end of the boat, inducing water to be gradually drawn out. Once everything is dry, the area should be scraped free of any glue and re-glued using a two part adhesive. Each side takes about three hours to complete and will cost about $100.

I will be posting pictures of the repair that was done to my boat later today.