Are buoyancy bags repairable??

[realnutter]

My bow bag goes down over a period of about a week... I'm sure this can't be normal, so I assume there's a leak somewhere...

Are they patchable??

[JimC]

My bow bag goes down over a period of about a week... I'm sure this can't be normal, so I assume there's a leak somewhere...

Are they patchable??

Its is fairly normal, there will be a leak/leaks somewhere, they are vaguely patchable with the right materials, but they'll still leak.

[or am I being overly negative about the things?]

[SoggyBadger]

I've successfully patched the bow bag on my boat using the Holt-Allen repair kit. The challenge is in finding the leak in the first place.

[realnutter]

I've ordered the kit... I guess a bath of hot soapy water is the best way to find the hole(s)

[Ed]

They are fixable up to the time the material becomes overly brittle.

But it is an ongoing battle to keep them working.

My favorite way of fixing them is with Stormsure: http://stormsure.co.uk/adhesives.html

Only issue with this brilliant glue is that once opened the caps get stuck to the tube so hard you can't open the stuff the second time you want it. They get around this by sellling you 3 tubes in one packet. A better way is just to store the stuff in the freezer, then it doesn't bung up.

eib

[realnutter]

Thanks Ed.. I'll bear that in mind if the supplied glue doesn't do the job!

[Rupert]

When the seam or corner has gone, it can be a pain to fix, but you can certainly slow the leak down. If it stayed up for a race I was happy before I broke the bank and bought new bags.

[dronskiuk]

When the seam or corner has gone, it can be a pain to fix, but you can certainly slow the leak down. If it stayed up for a race I was happy before I broke the bank and bought new bags.

Seams and corners can be successfully welded in the case of PVC bags as opposed to the more fabric-based version...in my chandlery days the canopy manufacturing department had a 'hot sealing' machine for putting windows in to awnings and this took seconds to create a perfect seal on a buoyancy bag..a bit like the bags that the supermarkets use to seal in fresh goods.

[SoggyBadger]

I've ordered the kit... I guess a bath of hot soapy water is the best way to find the hole(s)

There's no benefit in it being hot and soap may create bubbles which mask the bubbles being released from the puncture.

[jpa_wfsc]

SB I think the idea of the hot soapy bath might have been to test your buoyancy bags while taking a bath!! one has to take care to avoid other causes of streams of bubbles in those circumstances though!

Meanwhile, pop in to your local DY store and buy a gas leak detector liquid - it is more sticky than soapy water so stays where you spray it and shows leaks on bags and indeed boats better.