Hi All

My AquaPro 9' aluminum V bottom inflatable is 10 years old. A glued seam
has let go as well as a seam between the pontoons. It seems it has reached
the end of its' life. If I had a place to put it indoors I would have a go
at gluing it back together.

An other way to perhaps give it another chance is fill the pontoons with
two-part foam. I believe I have seen this discussed here before but can't
locate it in the archives. Seems like a lot to toss in the dumpster. Any
thoughts?

Or suggestions on a replacement. I'm pretty sure I would want to stick
with an inflatable - weight being the main consideration - launching and
hauling up on the weaver davits at its' weight of ~ 65 lbs is not too bad,
much heavier and I would want some assistance.

BTW the mother ship is 32' NT.

Thanks
John

Just so happens I investigated doing the foam fill thing a while back. I talked to the guy at our local fiberglassing shop and he gave me a few things to think about.

First, his store sells 2 pound (per cu ft), 4 lb and 8 lb. The prices were not exactly cheap and would have been a few hundred dollars to completely fill them with foam. But....he said a trick you could use is to use empty containers (fairly non-compressible) or other filler to reduce amount of foam used.

Second, anything less than the 4 lb would dent fairly easily. Even the 4 will dent too and that will leave space between the foam and RIB material. Probably an undesireable effect.

Third, if you do decide to do it, pour in lifts. as soon as the first lift has crusted over then the second lift can be poured. If too much is poured at once, the crust forms and only place for foam to expand is outward...causing lumpy RIB.

So, with all that in mind and realizing that I'd have to cut a large hole in top of rib to get the pour in...I decided against it..even though the dead RIB was free to me.

YMMV
Joel Wilkins
Miss Magoo
C-45, #98
S. Pasadena, FL

jag@vcn.bc.ca wrote:
Hi All

My AquaPro 9' aluminum V bottom inflatable is 10 years old. A glued seam
has let go as well as a seam between the pontoons. It seems it has reached
the end of its' life. If I had a place to put it indoors I would have a go
at gluing it back together.

An other way to perhaps give it another chance is fill the pontoons with
two-part foam. I believe I have seen this discussed here before but can't
locate it in the archives. Seems like a lot to toss in the dumpster. Any
thoughts?

Or suggestions on a replacement. I'm pretty sure I would want to stick
with an inflatable - weight being the main consideration - launching and
hauling up on the weaver davits at its' weight of ~ 65 lbs is not too bad,
much heavier and I would want some assistance.

BTW the mother ship is 32' NT.

Thanks
John

http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering

To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/trawlers-and-trawlering

Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World
Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.