Broken Zodiac inflatable. Fix or toss?

[379 Peterbilt]

I have a ruined inflatable Zodiac. Alow me to set up the story/history of it, and I will pose a question.

I have a 12' Zodiac mark II. It was made in France back in 1987. I am the 3rd owner of it. It has seen time in the Mediteranian sea salt, as well as the great lakes fresh waters of the midwest. From what I have been told by the previous owner, she has held up great, not to mention that there has never been a patch needed, nor is there one instaled on it.

The problem is it sprang one heck of a leak all of a sudden. I had it (all 4 air chambers) fully inflated to the manufacturer specifications. It was fine like this for about 3 or 4 days, (albiet in the sun) then, it popped like a baloon. I am talking a big "bang" explosive sound.

After the big bang, I refilled it up and within one hour, the Zodiac had lost roughly half it's air. I should add that while filling one of the side pontoon chambers, that the other 2 filled up as well. They all fill up, and deflate, together. This tells me something internaly (and externaly) is totaly fubar, as I know each tube should not fill/bleed into one another.

I think I know the answer to this, but I will pose it anyway....

Spend alot of money to have someone hopefully mend it up, or seek out the nearest dumpster?

I am thinking dumpster myself, but on the other hand, it seems like such a waste. This baby could be cut up to make patch kits for MANY other Zodiacs out there. Kind of an "organ donor" thing...(grin)

Your thoughts?

[ShadowMover]

Do Zodiacs have a 'high pressure' relief valve?  If they do, maybe yours got stuck. If they don't have a relief valve I'd suspect the material has aged or been effected by Ozone, UV light, solvents in the water such as gasoline, or otherwise degraded. If it has been degraded, how far off shore would you want to be when it failed?  Your offer to give the pieces away is nice, but unless you know the reason it failed, you may be hurting more than helping.

[Cap'n Jon]

We used Zodiac's all the time at first in the Coast Guard...Sounds like you lost the seperator between each bladder zone...That is something you can't fix unless you cut it open and examine each bladder valve section, but then the patch would neer take because it is too big...I'd say it's seen its last days

[379 Peterbilt]

I think you are right, it has seen its better days. I am likely gonna toss it. After further review, I have decided not to invest any money into something that old, only to have it fail again. I was pretty sure it was junk, but I posted this as a last ditch effort to see if she was salvagable.

I recon perhaps I left her in the sun a bit to long.

[Cap'n Jon]

There tough inflatables though!  I'd buy one if I was in the market.  We had a 10 foot that was our shallow water asset off the 41 foot SAR boat and once we put a 20 horse Merc on it!  Did it fly!  WOW!  Ha!