Decided to beach at the old jet ski ramp in Werribee South today as it was a bit choppier than I would have liked for coming into the very shallow area at my usual launch spot (they are still pumping the gunk from the dredge). Hauled up onto the footpath and started the 1km trek home but the yak felt increasingly hard to tow. Turned around to see this ...
Thanks to the advice given in these forums about the relative fragility of these tyres (being meant mainly for sand) I did in fact have a spare with me ...
Yes I carry a spare tyre in a kayak along with a plastic shim to make it fit as I figured it would be a PITA to be stuck some distance from home with a flat ... needless to say it happened right at the time I had my furtherest haulout.
Not sure exactly what happened; it's right near the valve. Maybe it failed under pressure as I pulled the yak up over the transition from sand to the concrete pathway (there was a lip to go over) or maybe it got cut by something (I keep an eye out for glass and didn't see any but it's still possible I guess).
Not sure if it would be possible to reliably repair that as it appears to be in a spot that takes a lot of stress, so it might be safer to replace it.
Oh, bother
- laneends
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Re: Oh, bother
I always keep a spare in the car for when stuff like this happens, twice so far.
- Redmullet
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Re: Oh, bother
Try doing this repair Chris
I tried on my puncture a while a go and so far so good
Redmullet
I tried on my puncture a while a go and so far so good
Redmullet
- chrisw
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Re: Oh, bother
Thanks, looks like that size of split is indeed repairable. I'll talk to my Hobie dealer first though as the tyre isn't even two months old and after having a look around the 'net it appears that a split right next to the valve is not exactly an unknown problem with them.Redmullet wrote:Try doing this repair Chris
https://youtu.be/i9eZDl9KTRQ
I tried on my puncture a while a go and so far so good
Redmullet
- vicyak
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Re: Oh, bother
I've tried that repair as well before and didn't have much luck. My skills aren't the best though. I had another tyre with a massive split and used foam filler. It work however after a few trips the foam filler break down and tyre is useless.
Another idea for you. Since most of your moving is done on hard ground you should use hard tyres. Carry one of those thin gym mats with you and put under the tyres when you are going over soft sand. probably have to move it a few times. Would work though. The mat would fit in the hull. Also have a look at homemade tyres. Shane's are good example I think for mixed use.
When we launch at Campbells cove on the boat we have long metal sheets we use to push the boat down the sand. Works well.
Another idea for you. Since most of your moving is done on hard ground you should use hard tyres. Carry one of those thin gym mats with you and put under the tyres when you are going over soft sand. probably have to move it a few times. Would work though. The mat would fit in the hull. Also have a look at homemade tyres. Shane's are good example I think for mixed use.
When we launch at Campbells cove on the boat we have long metal sheets we use to push the boat down the sand. Works well.
- Steve_R
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Re: Oh, bother
That's the wise thing to do https://www.hobie.com/au/en/forums/view ... 75&t=34050I'll talk to my Hobie dealer first though as the tyre isn't even two months old
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- mingle
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Re: Oh, bother
A few years ago I remember seeing some bright-spark who modified their cart's axle and fitted the soft and hard wheels at the same time.
They could haul it over any )pretty much) surface without risking damaging the soft tyre.
Mike.
They could haul it over any )pretty much) surface without risking damaging the soft tyre.
Mike.
- chrisw
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Re: Oh, bother
I like this idea. Would be way easier to haul for most of the distance and to be honest those fat tyres can be really irritating in the stowed position as they block access to anything under them, particularly the paddle clips (this is the main reason I moved my paddle to the side). I've let out a few choice words when trying to get my hands on stuff while on the watervicyak wrote:Another idea for you. Since most of your moving is done on hard ground you should use hard tyres. Carry one of those thin gym mats with you and put under the tyres when you are going over soft sand. probably have to move it a few times. Would work though. The mat would fit in the hull.
- chrisw
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Re: Oh, bother
Followup: I pulled the other tyre off and had a close look at it and it's showing signs of failing in pretty much exactly the same spot.
It's pretty clear to me this is a design or manufacturing fault since the tyres are being used at their factory inflation level and have never gone over their max weight.
Looking at the location it appears as if the material there is being pinched during use. It's possible that the area around the valve is reinforced and this transfers stress to the nearest unreinforced portion of the tyre thus pinching it and causing it to weaken due to repetitive pinch/release cycles. At least that's my guess.
It's pretty clear to me this is a design or manufacturing fault since the tyres are being used at their factory inflation level and have never gone over their max weight.
Looking at the location it appears as if the material there is being pinched during use. It's possible that the area around the valve is reinforced and this transfers stress to the nearest unreinforced portion of the tyre thus pinching it and causing it to weaken due to repetitive pinch/release cycles. At least that's my guess.
- chrisw
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Re: Oh, bother
This idea has had me think of another possibility. While I could technically drag the entire yak on its bottom over the soft sand until I find a harder bit to put the wheels on, I don't want to do that as firstly it will scratch the crap out of the hull (especially from shells etc) and secondly subjects the totalscan transducer to extra stressvicyak wrote:Carry one of those thin gym mats with you and put under the tyres when you are going over soft sand.
Rather than a mat I am wondering if there is some sort of material that slides more easily over sand than a plastic hull that I could get in a yak-sized length. If I then pulled it under the yak (could even do this while still in the water), fastened the front of it to the front handle and perhaps strapped it to the rear to stop it bunching up, it would act as a sort of soft 'sled' that would both protect the bottom and slide more easily.
In fact as I've already started carrying a deck cover with me which I use when hauling the yak it may not be out of the question to simply extend this to cover the bottom as well, as long as I leave room for the scupper holes.
As to why I use a cover ... a few weeks ago I was heading home after dark. At one point on the footpath I go under some low-hanging branches. Heard a clunk and looked back but everything looked OK, I figured I'd just clipped one of the rods. It wasn't until about 200m further on that I realised my most expensive rod was missing. After a short panic I left my yak in the middle of the park and ran back retracing my steps to find the rod sitting on the footpath under the tree. I learned that day to store my rods in the in-built PA rod holders when hand-towing. However the fact I can't really see behind me as I'm hauling has always bugged me as there's various things that could fall or (much less likely but still possible) be pinched by some dickhead walking by as I can have a fair trek back to the house some days.
Now I use the cover both ways, plus plug the drive well with the hobie-supplied blank so I know nothing will fall out the bottom. Gives me heaps of peace of mind when transporting.