Restoring a sun-weathered inflatable dinghy

[TechDoc]

Not a Sea Ray specific question, but relevant to my impending 390MY purchase...

The boat includes an inflatable dinghy that looks like it has been stored uncovered, face up on the swim platform, in the Southern California sun for years. Needless to say, the boat looks very weathered, faded and rough. The inflatable sides seem to be holding air well, and the rigid floor and transom appear to be in good enough shape. I would love to keep the dinghy in operation for at least a few more years, so I'm wondering if anyone has tips for restoration.

I have seen some cleaning and painting/coating products online, but I have zero experience with anything like this. I would appreciate any advice or real-world experience. I believe the make of the inflatable is a Caribe, if that helps.

Thanks in advance

 

[SeaAyeOwe]

When I bought my boat my zodiac was yellow and grungy - elbow grease and soft scrub with bleach got the worst of it off, but I think I picked up a great tip on here that worked wonders on my tubes and floor.

Bucket of bleach and water - lots of white towels, I bought a bag of white rages from Costco - soak the towels in the bleach and lay the dripping wet towels on the tube and leave them to dry. This worked really (and I mean really!) well - after a few hours of the bleach on the surface the tubes and floor came up almost like new.

After that - leaving out in the sun also helps bleach them and keep them white.
Dave

 

[TechDoc]

Thank you for the tip. I'll definitely use that for areas that are stained. Most of the surface actually looks faded out by the sun. It looks like the tubes should be a nice gray color, but are now kind of chalky. I'm wondering if there is a way to remove or restore that top layer back to the smooth, gray color.

There are definitely areas that are stained, so I'll use the bleach towels first on those spots. After that, I'm hoping there's a way to get the rest of the tubes looking less faded out. I have seen some paint/coating products, but ideally that would be a last resort.

Thanks again for the tip!

 

[La Maddalena]

We are rafted with friends this weekend that just painted their 19 year old dinghy - I think they used something called tuff skin or something like that. It is gray and looks brand new. I'll find out exactly what they used and post it here.

 

[mjoplin]

Just refurbed mine. Had some leaks and obtained some bulk hypalon material and Pliobond glue to fix. Inland Marine makes a great topcoat in med gray that I brushed on and it now looks like new and there is no more chalky residue issue. I scuffed it with scotchbrite, wiped the entire dinghy down with MEK to clean it, and brushed on the topcoat. One quart did the entire boat with 2 coats overall. They also have a numbering kit with stencils and a small container of black topcoat.

In addition to purchasing online from Inland, West Marine also has it OEM'ed from Inland in a WM label. It is about $50 for the quart of topcoat and around $20 or so for the numbering kit.

Forgot to take a "before" picture, but here is the end result. This is a 16 year old Caribe that was in pretty bad shape. Fabric & thread showing in many spots, very chalky (you'd be covered in white chalk getting int/out of it, and would leak down overnight. Looks like new now.

 

[dpmulvey]

Aurora Marine has a product specifically for this. I've never used it but am a fan of the rest of their product line.

 

[480ces]

Just refurbed mine. Had some leaks and obtained some bulk hypalon material and Pliobond glue to fix. Inland Marine makes a great topcoat in med gray that I brushed on and it now looks like new and there is no more chalky residue issue. I scuffed it with scotchbrite, wiped the entire dinghy down with MEK to clean it, and brushed on the topcoat. One quart did the entire boat with 2 coats overall. They also have a numbering kit with stencils and a small container of black topcoat.

In addition to purchasing online from Inland, West Marine also has it OEM'ed from Inland in a WM label. It is about $50 for the quart of topcoat and around $20 or so for the numbering kit.

Forgot to take a "before" picture, but here is the end result. This is a 16 year old Caribe that was in pretty bad shape. Fabric & thread showing in many spots, very chalky (you'd be covered in white chalk getting int/out of it, and would leak down overnight. Looks like new now.

Looks Great!

Do you have another photo of that seat from the other side? I've been looking for something like that for AGES.

 

[mjoplin]

JMWarren, Here are some additional shots of the finished project. I just got a pedestal and seat from a local sporting goods store and used some blind nuts and stainless bolts to anchor it down.