Fixing holes in an inflatable tender

Paul Diamond repairs a dinghy that was chewed by rodents

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I've had a 2.3m Excel inflatable tender for over a decade, but during winter storage vermin got to it and chewed holes, one in each of the dinghy's three chambers. If the baffles had been holed as well the tender would not have been repairable, but fortunately, they were untouched.

The proper way to repair these holes was to patch from both the inside and outside to make a PVC sandwich, using the appropriate two-part PVC adhesive.

Single-part glue and external patches may be OK for pin sized holes, or as a get-you-home-fix, but are not a permanent long-lasting repair.

It's worth noting that some tenders are made of Hypalon, and the repair process is the same for those apart from using hypalon patches and glue instead of the PVC that I used for mine. The two types are not interchangeable.

The difficulty in doing inside patches is removing the valves to get access, lining up the patch, and sticking it down using the contact adhesive, ensuring you don't glue the tubes together while pressing the patches into position.

The plastic valve wrench bought specifically for this job snapped when I attempted to unscrew the valves from their seats, so I made one from a 12-sided socket spanner (see Practical Projects, PBO February 2025).

I used a piece of garden wire to hook the valve backs near their holes, to save having to fish for them from inside the tube later once the repair was completed.

PVC glue does not stick to polythene, so I used an old plastic shopping bag to line the tube inside before applying the patch through the hole. I stuck a loop of gaffer tape to the bag with a piece of line tied on, so I could drag the bag back out through the valve hole once the repair was complete.

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