AB Navigo Hypalon Inflatable Needs Some Work-gctid380362

[Guest]

Hello to all; So we picked up an used inflatable for a pretty good price. 1998 AB Navigo 10' VS Hypalon ... fibreglass hull, inside locker. All in all, not a bad deal for $700 bucks! We didn't have a tender before so we are happy to have one now. PO said doesn't leak .... guess what, 2 weeks later we have a soft tube! (no jokes please) Buyer beware I guess. But at $700 I suppose I can spend a few more dollars and still be ahead of the game. Wonder if any members have a recommendation for a good outfit that can do mobile inflatable work in Vancouver Canada ..... North Van to be specific. Don't have any way to get the inflatable to a shop as the pick-up truck went when we bough the bigger boat.

Thanks in advance for any advice or assistance. Cheers!

[Guest]

Ohana5

Find the leak first. Use some soapy water and some bubbling action will tell you where the leak is. The first place I would check would be the inlets where you input the air into the inflatable - a notorious leaking spot.

There are also kits available to repair small leak holes and its not that difficult to do if you can find the leak.

Darby

[Guest]

I was told that the useful life of an inflatable is 10-15 years depending on how it is stored. The local inflatable store says that repairing one is very expensive...if they do it. If it is a seam then a patch can be installed over it but probably only slow it down. If it is a general porosity then they can put in sloshing sealer that will cost about $50 for the sealer and a couple of hours of labor tilting the boat around.

You can find the leak by pumping up the pressure and spraying on a soapy solution (dish soap and water) to find where it is bubbling. Do about a foot square at a time and look for very small bubbles especially around seams. Go to a sporting goods store or walmart and get the rubber glue based tent seam sealer, not the silicone type. Locate the leak, if you are lucky it is only one small spot thru a seam, deflate the tube and hook the inflation hose up to the suction side of a shop vaccum cleaner and put the sealer on the leak area. After a few minutes turn off the vacuum and then let it dry over nite. The vacuum will distort the tube so let some air back in it so it is close to the normal shape while drying. You don't want to do a good job then pressurize it into a completely different form that rips the sealer.

The trouble in finding a leak is that if all the tubes are inflated they are inflated against each other so it is hard to figure out which one is really leaking because loss of pressure in one lets the side wall pressure off the others.