I was just wondering if others have been experiencing failures with the inflation valves/tubes on the skirt pillow or seats? Specifically I am talking about the area at the base of the tubes where they are adhered to the fabric? In the past this has always been a problem anytime a robert’s valve has been used in dry bags or stowfloats and I was hoping it wouldn’t rear it’s head in this application, but I guess that is wishful thinking. 
If you have had this problem, what was the easy solution? Did it end up as a glob of aquaseal or other adhesive around the base of the tube? Is there a clean, more visually pleasing solution that works better than the previously mentioned option? As it is, both of the rafts that we own have experienced this failure within the past week. 
I was just down in Thailand when my seat gave up, exactly as you describe it.
I fixed with the aquaseal blob temporarily. (don’t think it will hold forever).
Turk just informed me it is a easy fix, with a household iron.
I also had 2 other issues down there.
-
- One attachment point just fell off.
- One attachment point just fell off.
-
- The adhesive on the spraydeck has turned into chewing gum
.
I have e-mailed andrew and are waiting for a reply.
Good luck!
Both the back rest and the seat on my boats lose air via the poor valve attachment. I blobbed aquaseal on dry fabric, very dry, but the inside of the seat & backrest must have had moisture because the aquaseal cam out airy looking and my backrest is flat in about 7 minutes and the seat in about 12 and it affects my technique.
Has anybody actually tried the ironing yet? And if so how do you not seal the tubes together inadvertantly?
I will ask Turk, to get back here and answer that 
How old are those seats Roman?
I kind of thought, if they are fairly new, like mine.
Then i took it for granted ,that Alpacka would fix them permanently.
Moski,
They are right around a year old. The codpiece blew out immediately, but the wad-gob of Aquaseal seems to be holding there.
I am not sending it back hoping to handle repairs/mods myself and leave them with designing/making better boats.
I have ironed my seat and backrest. Worked very well no more leaks… I ironed too much and all I did was pull on the nylon and it seperated, but it has not other then when i intentionally pulled on it.
still haven’t fixed the air bladder on the spray deck or the velcro on my spray deck for that matter.
The iron is the trick! I took my deflated raft and seat, draped over a chair I have that has about a golf ball sized, rounded top, on the chair back, and pulled the raft down and secured it with a voile strap, so that the inflation tube was on the top. I then ironed it on a fairly high temperature, being careful not to glaze the fabric with excessive high. All the while pressing down.
It seems to be as good as new, maybe better than when new. Now how do you achieve the same result in the field? Maybe a warm round rock that was slightly heated in a fire? then dropped in a sock so you don’t scorch the fabric, heat from the inside out while manipulating and pressing the fabric around the inflation tube? Maybe this isn’t that common? Seems easy enough to fix if you have to…
On a different note, if you get a piece of minicell foam that is 1-2, 2.5’’ think, sized to fit in the bottom of the boat, throw it in the oven at like 270-300 degrees for 10 minutes or so, pull is out and sit on it after sliding it in the boat. Sit like you normally would in the boat without moving until to cools. Your result may vary, but you can thermoform mini cell. Bevel the bottom edge of the foam so as to ease the pressure on the bottom of the boat. Once complete, you can glue the foam, with contact cement, between two pieces of nylon fabric that you can get at most fabric stores, being sure to leave a tab or about 1" on each side of the boat that allow you to lace the seat in. Be aware that while this technique may be better on your arse, it can subject the raft to significantly more potential damage if you were to slide sharp rock. That is the nice thing about the inflatatable seat.
Hi guys,
Sorry for our recent absence from the forum: been utterly consumed with work-travel, year-end accounting, moving the workshop, etc. recently…
These are all warranted problems. If you’ve got stuff like this happening on a boat, we’re happy to fix it. These things shouldn’t happen on the boats, but a bad welder resulted in a spate of these elbow-valve failures on seats, seat backs, and spray deck pillows recently. If you can fix’em at home, great, but don’t be shy about asking us to do it - and a home fix on these won’t invalidate the warranty on them.
Cheers, -Alpacka
I simply had to post to applaud Alpacka on this response. Not only do you ladies and gents produce a great product, you still stand behind your product and warranty even if the end user has attempted a home fix!
Same problem, same solution. Happend around the valve of seat, backrest and cod piece. Done with proper aquaseal around the valve tube. Not sure how to iron there. Seems only practical at seams. Think it is a matter of tight packing, hope that s not suject to the boats valve at some time.
Not a big deal to repair, but a bummer in the field (no seat, no control, and aquaseal repair needs 24 h).
Take care, S
Great !
I think we avoid shipping it back overseas 
I would not have any problem fixing at home if i had a clue what glue i should use.
The seat is fixed with aquaseal, so that’s okey.
I would like to glue the attachment point and the spraydeck,
but as i understand it, aquaseal is out of question there.
I know you recommend Clifton one-part or two-part adhesive for urethane but i can’t get that here in Sweden.
I also know that Espen have had some bad luck with his clue in Germany.
So could you recommend a another brand of clue or sell some Clifton one-part or two-part adhesive for urethane to me? 