Anybody have experience with nylon/vinyl (or nylon/PVC) flotation bags? Like these:
http://www.mohawkcanoes.com/accessories.html
I have used mainly nylon/urethane (what Voyageur used to call “ultralight”) bags, and I have used a small all-vinyl bag in the bow of a canoe, but I don’t have any data on the durability of nylon/vinyl. Do they hold up?
I know they are heavier than nylon/urethane. And they come in cooler colors.
Mark
10-gauge 100% ThermoPlastic Urethane (TP
– Last Updated: May-09-11 11:05 PM EST –
Stick with the good stuff, your life depends on it
10-gauge 100% Thermo-Plastic Urethane (TPU),
http://www.nrsweb.com/Tech_Talk/Infinity_Flotation.asp
NRS guaranteed for life to the original purchaser !
urethane-only?
Interesting, another float-bag technology that I knew nothing about! The page you linked to says the stuff is not a laminate, but the pages for their Infinity canoe flotation, like this one –
http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=42092
– say the canoe bags are made of urethane-coated nylon. Any idea why the discrepancy?
Mark
urethane versus vinyl-coated nylon
– Last Updated: May-10-11 10:05 AM EST –
Yes, the vinyl-coated nylon bags hold up fine and the bags sold by Mohawk are of good quality. The weak spot would be the tie down grommets which are simply stamped into some excess material at the bag corners, rather than a strap of nylon webbing sewn into the seam of urethane bags.
But one should never count on the corner grommets to secure the bag into the canoe anyway as they rip out very easily. But the corner tie downs can be useful to help keep the bag snugged up into the stem of the canoe, and to keep the bag corners from pooching out of the bag cage.
The vinyl-coated nylon bags are prone to fading upon exposure to sunlight, and I think they are more prone to mildew as well. If you take them out of the boat and store them dry, it shouldn't be a problem.
I prefer the urethane bags of the type that used to be made by Voyageur, and are now sold by Harmony and by Gaia under the "Everlast" line, because of the very considerable weight savings. The weak point of those bags is that after years the joint between the Roberts valve filler tube and the bag weakens and begins to leak, but I have generally been successful rebonding them to the bag material with Vynabond.
The Gaia Everlast bags come with a "lifetime guarantee". Of course, so did the Voyageur urethane bags, but my lifetime seems to have exceeded that of Voyageur.
I have both the Voyageur and Mohawk
I prefer the Voyageur for the weight savings. And mine did separate at the dump valve, like pblanc said. I got them with a boat and they had considerable years on them before I got 'em. But I repaired them just fine with Aquaseal.
I prefer the Voyageur bags but I’ve also got 3 sets of the Mohawk bags and other than the extra weight, I’ve got no complaints. I don’t use the corner attachment points at all.
Vynabond for repairs to urethane
bags? I find Vynabond to be a useless adhesive except when bonding vinyl to vinyl. Aquaseal and Seamgrip are urethanes and I’ve found them effective on Nylon/urethane. They work on PVC bags too, but I’ve not had much luck with vinyl composite bags. I’d rather have pure vinyl, which is relatively light and holds up ok.
my experience has been different
I have rebonded the flanges of filler tubes to more than half a dozen urethane bags with good results.
If there is a small leak at the margin of the tube, Aquaseal works fine, but if the entire flange of the stem has come away, Vynabond works better.
Voyageur always included a small repair kit with their urethane bags that had a piece of material identical to the bag and vinyl adhesive (Vynabond).