How to Find a Small Hole in a Dinghy?

[landonshaw]

I was on the hard for 2 months doing a number of jobs. My dinghy was fine. After launching and having the dinghy moved, we sailed to another bay, got in the dinghy and found it to be a lot softer than it was only a few hours ago.

What is the best way to find a leak in a dinghy? I assume you use liquid soap over small areas untill you see bubbles. Any other suggestions?

[FrankZ]

If it is below the water line you should see it while you are sitting in it. You can put it on land and fill it with water to see if the hole is on the inside. Other than that.. soapy water should work.

[barnakiel]

water+sponge+soap

[lorenzo b]

When I was a remodeling contractor I would quite often run threaded iron gas lines and have to test them, and if I had a slow leak I would use soapy water to try to locate it. If that didn't work, I would hook up my nail gun compressor to the line and crank it up to 110 lbs of pressure and than you could hear the leak from across the street, all six of them.
Also a easy way to make your small dinghy a much larger dinghy.

[Dave the Canuck]

Have a good look/listen at the valves as well. They have been known to leak.

[Reality Check]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

water+sponge+soap

Agree, Soap, and Water

You need to do the all surfaces and you may need to apply pressure such as setting on different parts where the joints may be compressed enough to initially hide leaks.

Do properly lean and use the correct patch system and make sure they are over-sized to get the job done.

[Hud3]

Before going to all that trouble, clean the O-rings of any sand grains and put a coating of silicone grease on them, blow it up, and see if it still gets soft. BTW, I'm sure you know that if you inflate it in the hot sunshine, it will be noticeably softer after the sun goes down and the air inside it cools off.

[landonshaw]

I filled the dinghy up with air, used soap and water and found a small leak. Deflated and cleaned the area and used the proper glue and patch material. Tomorrow will tell if all is fine again. Thanks for the help, Dave