How to fix? Floor is separating from bow bladder.

[TheInterestHunter]

I need an education with the best way to repair my Zodiac. I don't know what's the best type of "glue" etc. You'll see photos here showing my Zodiac, firstly, but then me sticking my fingers through the floor's separated part at the bow of my boat. Any recommendations on how to fix this?

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: How to fix? Floor is separating from bow bladder.

Overall information : Fabric cleaner, 2 part pvc glue, right environment temperature, roller o spoon to flatten fabric against tube, let dry. If the sib has begun to unglue floor, will probably start to due so in other floor areas, check. Is your hand passing through both inner/outter layer/segment floor fabric ? If so problems have already started

Happy Boating

 

[nobrainsd]

Re: How to fix? Floor is separating from bow bladder.

I have reglued my floor and transom. The work has been time tested. It isn't hard, but you really need to properly prep and observe the correct environmental conditions. Two part pvc glues like Sta Bond work very well, but the glue is hygroscopic. High humidty or wet conditions will not produce a strong bond. Here is a link to an excellent set of instructions. This is how professionals glue PVC. Use the correct solvent for PVC (MEK) don't substitute acetone. You can feel the difference when prepping PVC with MEK. http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/INFO/INFOGLUE.html

Searching this forum with keywords like glue, transom repair and floor will lead to a lot of informative posts. Here is a link to a thread I participated in.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=445232&highlight=nobrainsd

 

[Peter_C]

Re: How to fix? Floor is separating from bow bladder.

Depending on how easy it is to continue pulling the glue seam apart, you might want to consider removing the entire floor and transom and regluing it. I did that to my Zodiac. It also took about 40 hours.

 

[martin6651]

Re: How to fix? Floor is separating from bow bladder.

I always used Bostic 2402 to repair our club inflatables. Its a 2 part glue, you apply to both surfaces and allow to touch dry before putting the parts together and apply pressure (i.e weights).

 

[partskenn]

Re: How to fix? Floor is separating from bow bladder.

Sea Rider is right. Once the floor started to come apart in one spot on my zodiac, it quickly spread to other areas too. It's like the glue reached a certain age, then gave up all around the floor.