Folbot Yukon Wants Some Repair

[JohnSand]

I purchased a used Yukon Expedition upstate yesterday. I'm the fourth owner as near as I can tell. The third owner made some errors with the boat which want remedies, though none that render it inoperative. The worst is that the upper tab is broken from the forward frame, preventing the deck strut from locking to it. Next is that the deck spreaders are broken. He made the mistake of tightening the screws that attach the side frames to the stem. One sponson leaks, which I attribute to age. The hull above the waterline is faded and sun damaged, the spray skirt is very sun damaged. These last are from storing the boat outdoors. The frame tab I believe can be repaired with aluminum channel or angle bolted to the frame. The deck spreaders can be rebuilt or replaced with dowel or fiberglass rod. We already loosened the stem screws to disassemble the boat, I think that is sufficient. The hull I intend to wash and treat with 303. The sponson I think I can reseal with Aquaseal after locating the leak.
What has worked for you?

[JohnSand]

Update: I had been thinking that perhaps the Folbot Aleut and Yukon might share parts, especially frames. They have the same beam, and are only one foot apart in length. Today I pulled them both from the garage and checked. In short, the cross frames are I-dentical. (I'm going to start a thread to that effect for ease of searching). My Aleut is less useful and older, so I switched the frames and sponson. I might sell the Aleut, or part it out, or even try to make a lighter travel boat of it's frame. I haven't yet checked if the deck spreaders can be switched.

[RangerTim]

Deck spreaders are problematic in my experience, especially the old swivel style used on plastic rib boats. They break. The newer moon clamp spreaders on tubing rib boats seem more durable but the moon clamps pop off of the ridge tube. I use Velcro one-wrap to hold them on. I also use one-wrap at all rib-tubing interfaces.

Please let us know if you come up with your own spreader design.

[JohnSand]

Thanks, I will. Right now I'm considering just using wooden dowels stuck in the holes and bungied to the center deck stringer.
I've repaired the holes in the sponson with Aquaseal, but it still has a very slow leak. I'll try to locate and fix that too.

[JohnSand]

Some updates:
Fortunately most of the broken off bits were in an envelope in the repair kit. I glued the broken plastic back using Plastic Surgery, a cyanoacrylate "super glue". I backed that up with plastic repair epoxy. It all seems pretty strong. I located most of the leaks in the sponson and treated with Aqua Seal. I also found that one of the float bags had many small holes. I don't know if it was stored in a briar patch or attacked by vinyl mites. I repaired the largest hole with Aqua Seal, then sprayed the rest of it with Rustoleum LeakSeal. That worked too. I have yet to cut a new piece for one missing deck spreader, but I bought the stock. Any suggestions on cutting it?

[RangerTim]

I'm sorry I cannot be of help with cutting whatever you bought for a deck spreader. I just wanted to let you know someone is watching your progress. For some reason I do not receive notifications consistently so the forum slips my mind.

Did you take any photos?

I have a friend with a yellow Aleut with deck faded to gray. The fabric seems to be maintaining its integrity so perhaps the dye is the cause.

[JohnSand]

Thank you. I haven't taken any photos, sorry. I cut the rod pretty easily with a hacksaw and glued it as I did the other. It seemed to hold, but broke the first time I used it. My next step is to try bungee loosely to the frame. Meanwhile I found a New Old Stock sponson on ebay. It's longer than my boat, but I'll just fold the ends.

[RangerTim]

I have wondered if something like a tinkertoy wheel might be part of a deck spreader solution.

[JohnSand]

That's a good suggestion, I'll keep it mind.