Sealant for ASW-19 Water Bags

[RAS56]

Greetings folks,

I have an older pair of Smiley bags for my ASW-19 that have a couple of small leaks that I've tried to track down but seem to be more "seepage" leaks than outright something I can patch (even finding the source of the leak has been a problem). One is in or near the seam of each of the bags.

When John at Eastern Sailplanes quoted me a replacement cost of 1100 bucks for new, I had a renewed interest in seeing if I can get these old ones to hold water!

I'm thinking about using a non-toxic latex product used in the inflatable boat industry to seal small leaks of a similar nature..."ToobSeal". Seems like a pretty benign product:

http://www.bixlersmarine.com/Info-Instructions/Toobseal/More-About-ToobSeal

Anyone have any experiences with this stuff or something similar? Suggestions? Ideas?

Currently, I have a non-usable set of bags on my hands...worst case scenario...that stays the same. Best case...I bring these suckers back to life!

Thanks in advance,

Rob

ZAP

[Dan Marotta]

I have no experience with that product, but I DO have a lot of experience
with a product called "Shoe Goo". It's also packaged as "Goop" and you can
find a tube at the local hardware store for about 5 bucks.

Shoe Goo is advertised as a product to repair the soles of shoes and it
works. It's tough and it sticks to anything. It was the only thing I could
find to glue the sail batten pockets on my old Hobie Cat. In fact, the only
thing that would stick. I've used it to seal leaks in an aluminum trailer
and am currently using it in the cockpit of my LAK to glue a USB female
connector in my panel to power my Android.

It remains flexible. For the price and availability, you should give it a
try. Just smear it along the suspect seam, let it set up, and give it a
try. Oh, yeah... Use a rubber glove or else smear it on with a popsicle
stick because it's hard to get off your fingers.


"RAS56" > wrote in message
...
>
> Greetings folks,
>
> I have an older pair of Smiley bags for my ASW-19 that have a couple of
> small leaks that I've tried to track down but seem to be more "seepage"
> leaks than outright something I can patch (even finding the source of
> the leak has been a problem). One is in or near the seam of each of the
> bags.
>
> When John at Eastern Sailplanes quoted me a replacement cost of 1100
> bucks for new, I had a renewed interest in seeing if I can get these old
> ones to hold water!
>
> I'm thinking about using a non-toxic latex product used in the
> inflatable boat industry to seal small leaks of a similar
> nature..."ToobSeal". Seems like a pretty benign product:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/7tmxen5
>
> Anyone have any experiences with this stuff or something similar?
> Suggestions? Ideas?
>
> Currently, I have a non-usable set of bags on my hands...worst case
> scenario...that stays the same. Best case...I bring these suckers back
> to life!
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Rob
>
> ZAP
>
>
>
>
> --
> RAS56

[Bob Gibbons[_2_]]

Many years ago we had problems with leaks in our factory PIK-20 bags.
We were able to make patches using patch supplies we obtained from a
swimming pool supply company. Some of above ground pools apparently
use a similar vinyl material.

We eventually ended up going to Smiley bags, but this was mainly due
to the nature of the double walled PIK factory bags, which made inner
leaks difficult to repair. The pools supply patches appeared to work
well.

Bob

On Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:02:15 +0000, RAS56
> wrote:

>
>Greetings folks,
>
>I have an older pair of Smiley bags for my ASW-19 that have a couple of
>small leaks that I've tried to track down but seem to be more "seepage"
>leaks than outright something I can patch (even finding the source of
>the leak has been a problem). One is in or near the seam of each of the
>bags.
>
>When John at Eastern Sailplanes quoted me a replacement cost of 1100
>bucks for new, I had a renewed interest in seeing if I can get these old
>ones to hold water!
>
>I'm thinking about using a non-toxic latex product used in the
>inflatable boat industry to seal small leaks of a similar
>nature..."ToobSeal". Seems like a pretty benign product:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/7tmxen5
>
>Anyone have any experiences with this stuff or something similar?
>Suggestions? Ideas?
>
>Currently, I have a non-usable set of bags on my hands...worst case
>scenario...that stays the same. Best case...I bring these suckers back
>to life!
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Rob
>
>ZAP

[Roger Fowler[_2_]]

The stuff worked on the Smiley bags in my Std. Cirrus. They never leaked
again.

Roger

At 02:02 14 January 2012, RAS56 wrote:
>
>Greetings folks,
>
>I have an older pair of Smiley bags for my ASW-19 that have a couple of
>small leaks that I've tried to track down but seem to be more "seepage"
>leaks than outright something I can patch (even finding the source of
>the leak has been a problem). One is in or near the seam of each of the
>bags.
>
>When John at Eastern Sailplanes quoted me a replacement cost of 1100
>bucks for new, I had a renewed interest in seeing if I can get these old
>ones to hold water!
>
>I'm thinking about using a non-toxic latex product used in the
>inflatable boat industry to seal small leaks of a similar
>nature..."ToobSeal". Seems like a pretty benign product:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/7tmxen5
>
>Anyone have any experiences with this stuff or something similar?
>Suggestions? Ideas?
>
>Currently, I have a non-usable set of bags on my hands...worst case
>scenario...that stays the same. Best case...I bring these suckers back
>to life!
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Rob
>
>ZAP
>
>
>
>
>--
>RAS56
>

[RAS56]

The stuff worked on the Smiley bags in my Std. Cirrus. They never leaked
again.

Roger



Cool, an answer I was hoping to hear!

There was no way I was going to spend over a thousand bucks replacing these things, but I'll roll the dice with fifty and see if I can make 'em hold water.

Thanks for the gouge.

Rob

[Dave Nadler]

I can't believe a question was asked on RAS
and no answer was provided mentioning Duct Tape.
You guys are falling down on the job.
See ya, Dave "YO electric"

[RAS56]

I can't believe a question was asked on RAS
and no answer was provided mentioning Duct Tape.
You guys are falling down on the job.
See ya, Dave "YO electric"

C'mon Dave, this is an aviation forum..."duct tape" is for plebian ground-pounder applications.

"Speed tape" is the correct terminology here! And this solution is even more elegantly simple than speed tape...it's like the J-B Weld of leaky wing bags!

Rob S.
ZAP

Ps-need any help up at OSH this year? Still wish it could have worked out for me to pinch hit when you thought you were short handed!