PVC dinghy UV breaking down

[Tayana42]

Originally Posted by HopCar

I would treat the sticky stuff like it was an adhesive. I use 3m adhesive remover or WD40 to remove adhesive. You might give that a try and see what happens.

HopCar, that's another great idea. I'll try that on a small portion and let you know what happens.


S/V B'Shert

[Tayana42]

HopCar, you may be brilliant!!! I am at anchor but I of course had some WD40 at hand. I tried it on a logo patch (nothing to lose) and it worked a treat! It worked so well I proceeded to do the rest of the sticky mess. Lots of rubbing and lots of terry cloth rags were needed because they gummed up with the sticky goo. But it seems to have done the trick. Now I'll give it a good coating with Aero 303 Protectant and keep an eye on it to see what happens to the glue joints.

By the way, this PVC dinghy is only 2 years old but it's been in the Southern California (not tropical) sun continuously with out any cover. As I said the tubes and joints were okay, only the glued on bits like rub strake, oar locks, logos were gooey.

I'll report back in a week or two. For now, wow! Thanks HopCar, and everyone else who offered helpful ideas.


S/V B'Shert

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Just throwing it out there, but we have a lot helicopters that fly overhead our marina as well as commercial jets.

I have noticed some softening of a vinyl coating on the top side only of our bike locks while our neighbor had a PVC dinghy he said got ruined buy unburnt fuel raining down from the aircraft exhaust. Don't know if it is true or not.

Maybe a64pilot could confirm this is a possibility.

Anything is possible I guess, turbine exhaust is on average about 600 to 700 C, I doubt much of anything is un-burnt at those temps.
Industrial pollution would be I think more likely?

[JPA Cate]

Industrial pollution would be I think more likely?

A64pilot: Industrial pollution may make it worse, but just plain tropical sun purely eats PVC dinghies. I first noticed it in French Polynesia (low industrial pollution zone) in 1990.

FWIW, even hypalon dinghies benefit from chaps, but they are not as susceptible to UV caused degradation as PVC, by a long shot.

Ann

Ann

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Malbert73, thanks. I do have the aero 303 which I should have used more often before having this problem. I did try wiping off as much of the sticky stuff as I could with terry cloth rags and then applying the 303 but it didn't solve the problem. Didn't stop it from getting worse.


S/V B'Shert

Actually, the clue is that 303 and waxes do VERY little (doing some 3rd party testing of several on vinyl now) or you would not be having the problem. You just can't apply them often enough. Is that not OBVIOUS on the face of it? A common myth, perpetuated by the makers. There is the illusion of protection; buffing each time you use it helps remove surface oxidation, and the wax provides gloss.

There is also the myth that suppleness can be restored. I admit that it feels that way, but after side by side testing of samples buffed by the makers (!), the actual stiffness was unchanged.

Paint will work. Defender and others carry several. I used Amazon MDR and it did fine. The main thing is to scrub the hell out of it with TSP first, in part to remove all of the 303 you put on it.

[HopCar]

Thinwater, another Practical Sailor test?

[Tayana42]

To follow up on the sticky PVC after about a month I'm sorry to say it is a sticky mess again.

HopCar was right about the WD40 removing the mess. Then I coated it liberally with Aero 303. But the PVC continues to degrade.

I guess I'll try painting over it next. Thinwater suggested Amazon MDR. Anyone else have a suggestion for paint?


S/V B'Shert