We see a lot of craft through our work shops for repair and re-tube and we often hear "its in really good condition, it has not had much use, its been stored inside under cover" The reality is Inflatable craft are not made in a way that allows them to be as good as the day they were made after 10 - 15 years. With a car you see the rust, you have it MOT'd and an "expert" checks it all over, but with a boat the changes are much more subtle and harder to see unless you know what you are looking for.
The fabric degrades as do the glued seams and as you can see in this video despite the boat being in useable condition when you start taking it apart you see what has been going on inside, baffle failures, just how much the fabric and glue strength has reduced.
We all need to ask "is the boat we use safe" and when buying a used boat of more than 10 years old ESPECIALLY if you want to keep it for a lengthy period cost in a re-tube because regardless of make, fabric, seam type, use or storage beyond 15 years is the boat you have as safe as the day it was new ?
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