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By Charles J. Doane — Fall
2004
As far as cruising tenders go these days, except in certain archaic parts of New England and the Pacific Northwest, the duck rules. Its durable rubberiness, lightweight storability, and kick-butt planing ability make it the auxiliary ride of choice for most far-ranging boaters. But as tenders go, the duck is also tender. Just try stabbing one with a fork.
For example, one of my personal all-time most embarrassing moments on the water was the time I accidentally harpooned my old nine-foot Zodiac with a heavy length of sharp, rusty angle iron. Loading the dink in a hurry to get ashore on an extremely remote island, I chucked in the oars, plus the deadly angle iron, which was routinely used to leverage the corroded remains of my outboard’s lower end into the water. My chubby friend, already loaded with engine, fuel, and sundries, sputtered and whistled and threatened to sink on the spot. I grabbed some patches, a rag, and the first tube of sticky stuff that came to hand and madly gunned for the beach. I staunched the wound with the rag and the heel of my foot en route and just barely made it ashore. Then I slapped on a patch with 3M 5200, waited as long as I could for it to set, and prayed it would hold (it did, but only for a few weeks).
If only I’d had one of these new ClamSeals that recently won an NMMA Innovation Award. Though it actually isn’t that innovative—the idea is borrowed directly from the standard mil-spec aluminum patch clamps included in good liferaft equipment kits for more than 20 years—the $29.99 ClamSeal distributed by Barton Marine (800-343-8294, www.bartonmarine.com) is exactly what the doctor ordered for high-speed emergency duck repairs. A simple double-sided plastic clamp tightened with a thumb screw, the ClamSeal can be used underwater and creates a reliable mechanical bond that can serve as an indefinite repair, if need be. It can also be reused, but the tear in the boat must be big enough for one clamp to slip through into the air chamber and cannot exceed 31⁄2 inches in size.
Alternatives include the $8.99 Inflatable Boat Bandage from Mariner’s Choice (717-757-6700 www.marinerschoicemarine.com). It’s a more conventional temporary fix that consists of a simple sticky patch that purports to adhere even to “damp” surfaces. I haven’t tried one, but I’d be surprised if it held much longer than the 5200. Meanwhile, news from the world of whitewater rafting, where big ducks get impaled all the time, is that high-quality duct tape (no, it is not called “duck tape”) actually works pretty darn well, though you need to get the tear reasonably dry before applying it. Or try what one of my liferaft-servicing buddies recommends: hydraulic swimming-pool-liner patches. They have an adhesive that sets under pressure.
Ultimately, you will need to make a permanent repair, and here the answer is always serious glue. The repair kits that come with dinghies often include one-part adhesives. Some work well, but none will likely hold longer than a year or two if you use the boat hard. Two-part glues, on the other hand, if properly applied, can achieve a bond that lasts the life of the boat. Competitors in the $15 to $20 range include Weaver Adhesive (800-367-4062, www.weaverindustries.com), Stabond (800-782-2663, www.stabond.com), Clifton Adhesive (973-694-0845, www.cliftonadhesive.com), and Apollo (distributed in the United States by Weaver). Be sure to get the right glue for your boat’s fabric (PVC or hypalon) and always follow instructions scrupulously.
If you have chronic porosity problems and the old duck is always slowly bleeding but has no evident holes, check out the $47.95 Inflatable Boat Sealant from Inland Marine (239-458-0302, www.inflatablefix.com). The instructions say to first remove the valve core, then pour the sealant inside and rotate the entire boat in all directions until the sealant has fully coated the interior of the air chamber. At the least, this sounds like a very weird kind of fun.
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