Kwok Wah Lai

Hi Landon, I’m sorry to hear you’re having such a frustrating experience! It sounds like your iron might not be hot enough to fully weld the TPU layers together – after they’re welded it should be impossible for the seams to peel apart in the way you described.

After spending so much time on it already, it would be totally understandable if you…[Read more]

Beauty!

Great trip report! Thanks for posting!

Hi David, the diameter is 275 mm. Cheers!

Very cool! Thanks for the tips, Christian!

Welcome! I haven’t done any high pressure testing, but yeah, I think it will depend on the factors you mentioned plus the design of the inflatable object and how the forces are distributed along the welds. Cheers!

You could try that – I’ve heard that it works but I haven’t tried it myself.

Hi David,

I think it’s worth trying – it’s one of those things I’ve been meaning to try for ages but haven’t got around to, myself. What I’m not sure about is the longevity of a glued joint on the inside of the tube fabric, and what’s the best adhesive to use. Some people have reported that a glue called HH-66 works well, but I can’t find it…[Read more]

Hi Markus,

It sounds like the air is escaping through the zipper – a few small bubbles could add up to 1-2 breaths per hour, no? This could probably be resolved by cleaning the zipper and reapplying lubricant. If the zipper isn’t leaking and the seams are all sealed and the fabric isn’t damaged and there’s no dirt in the Boston valve or top-up…[Read more]

Done!

Hahaha!

Good looking fish!

Gorgeous shot!

Great idea, Bruce! It’s amazing you were able to remove the foam and reseal where it had been. Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful!

Yep, you just have to cut the black tube and insert some flexible tubing (or rigid tubing pieces that you can then attach flexible tubing to). You can get clear PVC tubing at most hardware stores, and that should work well enough for float bags. Cheers!

Yes, I’ll help you out if that’s what you prefer – just send me a message through the Contact form.

Fantastic! Beautiful pictures and great trip report! And thanks for the valuable feedback. Cheers!

The iron I’ve been using lately is the leather iron from Alibaba.com. It requires some modification, but it’s better than the Black Baron because it’s narrower (more info here: https://www.diypackraft.com/construction/tools/ ). I see they’re also selling them on Amazon now too:…[Read more]

By the looks of it, it’s probably not still airtight, so I would heat seal some scrap yellow fabric over the damaged areas, and then add some Seam Grip or Aquaseal along the edge between the patch and the black fabric, if necessary.