Re-tubing inflatables?

During the storm Irma, I used my dinghy as a cushion between the stern and mangrove bushes, kind of like a big fender. When the storm blew all the water out of my canal, it probably left my boat wallowing in the mud for a couple of hours. Consequently, the compression of the dinghy blew out one of the tubes and two other fenders. Taylor will replace the fenders but my 12 year old dinghy is pretty tired and there's really no point in trying to seal up those old tubes again. I've already used the west marine sealer in the tubes twice, worked good but the strings are hanging out of the seams on this thing.

I see a few companies around here offering to retube old inflatable's. Has anybody tried this? Will it last? What did your job cost? Would you recommend it? Thanks in advance for any information.

Definitely can be re tubed (and with better quality product in most cases, wether or not it's financial is another question,

Dont know any one in your region but we use Demaree (Friendsville MD) as :D.I.B. - Inflatable Rafts, Rescue Boats, Workboats, Sponson, RIBs - Demaree Inflatable Boats and can vouch for there quality and friendly people to deal with, we use only there products as in a commercial application,

Cheers Steve

One question only you can answer: Is it worth putting new tubes on an old dinghy, or would you be better of shopping for a new one to replace the old one?

You didn't indicate dingy size or brand. Some manufacturers (Zodiac?) had dingy's designed for easy tube replacement, but for others it could be a quite difficult process.

It is worth pricing, but I see a red flag. You said you have already had to repair a couple of times. So your pricing should be not only for the tube that is blown out, but for the remaining tubes which might need replacing soon as well. In other words, before you get started down the repair road know where you might end up.

Caribe 9. Always dreamed of something larger with a console, but this inevwith a 9.9 gets out good with very light weight. I think it would be all tubes replaced or nothing.

Our Delta class RCMSAR rescue boat, by Titan, in Sidney BC, had regular, scheduled tube replacement last year by the manufacturer. To my eye, the old tubes were in far better condition than the tubes on my own 13 yr old RIB, but that being a boat that is depended upon to be immune to failures while out on a rescue, the re-tubing was done at 10 years old. I don't know the cost. I know that the boat had to go in for removal and measurement, then after a 4 or so week wait, go back in to get the new tubes installed. After 1 year on the new tubes, they still look perfect.

I have a Zodiac YL340 RIB.

After 12 years of use/abuse the tubes were in need of replacement.
The original tubes were poly something.

Last spring I bought new Hypalon tubes from Defender. They are the Zodiac replacement units, made by Zodiac for this specific model.

The cost was not cheap at $3600 but it was a good value compared to buying a whole new RIB.

It took two people about an hour to replace the tubes. The hardest part was finding someone with a trailer to borrow.

This re-newed the RIB to like new condition. I am very pleased!