So I dragged my 13' Avon to work today. It's had a leak in the keel tube since I bought it a little over a year ago. Turns out one of the firefighters (Zack) on my truck is a professional inflatable boat builder/fixer. He asked what I was gonna do to the boat today and I said just clean it out, put new spark plugs in the motor, grease everything with a fitting including the trailer wheels (I really like those bearing buddies 
).
Zack asked if it had any leaks, so I told him about the keel tube leak. He offered to help me find and patch it. I also mentioned the broken handle (lesson learned... don't use the handles to tie the boat down to the trailer). The boat fixing shop he still works for part time is in our response area, so while we were out and about anyway, we stopped by there to buy glue and price a new handle. I already had plenty of patch material, so scratched that off the list. The owner was there and since he employs Zack, they chatted. He didn't have a new handle that looked anything like the ones on the Avon, so I passed on those. He then took us to the shop and dug around in a spare used parts box and came up with a black solid rubber one that looked remarkably similar to mine.... no Avon logo and the base was more square. Big flippin' deal, says I when he said I could have it for free He also didn't charge us for the glue (the 4 oz can had a $25 price tag on it!)
So we get "home," do some work for the city (we are the designated ladder testing and fixing station, so we do the annual inspections and testing of all the fire department ladders and it's now that time of year). Got done with that and since dispatch was leaving us alone for the time being and the engine crew was off doing some probie testing, Zack and I got to work on the boat.
We pulled out the floor boards, found the leak, which was a bad seam at the aft end of the tube. Checked the rest of the tube and it wasn't leaking anywhere else. We also finished removing all 3 of the peeling Avon labels as well as the broken handle. I got to work with the dremel tool grinding off old glue while Zack patched the keel as well as a couple of small holes I spotted in the floor rubber. I got lessons (and plenty of practice!) from a pro in the proper application of the right kind of glue for Hypalon. Those labels and the "new" handle are on to stay! The keel patch helped a lot to slow the leak down, but another day will be a lesson in re-doing keel tube seams. Whatever day that is will probably also be floor board refinishing day.
I asked Zack what all that work would have cost at the shop. He guesstimated ~ $250. I would not in this lifetime pay to have labels replaced! I still saved enough to buy a few tanks full of diesel for the truck and gas/oil for the boat so I can go diving
). Zack asked if it had any leaks, so I told him about the keel tube leak. He offered to help me find and patch it. I also mentioned the broken handle (lesson learned... don't use the handles to tie the boat down to the trailer
). The boat fixing shop he still works for part time is in our response area, so while we were out and about anyway, we stopped by there to buy glue and price a new handle. I already had plenty of patch material, so scratched that off the list. The owner was there and since he employs Zack, they chatted. He didn't have a new handle that looked anything like the ones on the Avon, so I passed on those. He then took us to the shop and dug around in a spare used parts box and came up with a black solid rubber one that looked remarkably similar to mine.... no Avon logo and the base was more square. Big flippin' deal, says I when he said I could have it for free He also didn't charge us for the glue (the 4 oz can had a $25 price tag on it!)So we get "home," do some work for the city (we are the designated ladder testing and fixing station, so we do the annual inspections and testing of all the fire department ladders and it's now that time of year). Got done with that and since dispatch was leaving us alone for the time being and the engine crew was off doing some probie testing, Zack and I got to work on the boat.
We pulled out the floor boards, found the leak, which was a bad seam at the aft end of the tube. Checked the rest of the tube and it wasn't leaking anywhere else. We also finished removing all 3 of the peeling Avon labels as well as the broken handle. I got to work with the dremel tool grinding off old glue while Zack patched the keel as well as a couple of small holes I spotted in the floor rubber. I got lessons (and plenty of practice!) from a pro in the proper application of the right kind of glue for Hypalon. Those labels and the "new" handle are on to stay! The keel patch helped a lot to slow the leak down, but another day will be a lesson in re-doing keel tube seams. Whatever day that is will probably also be floor board refinishing day.
I asked Zack what all that work would have cost at the shop. He guesstimated ~ $250. I would not in this lifetime pay to have labels replaced! I still saved enough to buy a few tanks full of diesel for the truck and gas/oil for the boat so I can go diving
