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OK, so leaving brands out, I recently got myself a used dual bladder wing. Both bladders worked great and held air fine. Then I integrated it into my BP pack rig and donned it and fussed about with it for location and adjustment, etc. I decided at that point that I didn't like the inflator rigs on it - or at least the primary. Plastic buttons and kinda light weight. The brand itself is decent, if not outstanding.
So being a HUGE DIYer, I says to myself, "Self, you've got that nice singles rig with that inflator you adore on it - swap em out." No big deal. So then it became immediately apparent that the elbow fixtures at the bladder connection were of different size. No big deal there either. Popped the ties on both preparing to swap. Well the adored inflator setup has the little cable in it - not for a shoulder dump, but as an added feature to keep the hose from being over extended and damaged (in theory, at least). Some of you at this point may well be able to guess the brand of said singles wing. So anyway, I says to myself "Self, no biggie here either." So I pop out the pin and take the elbow out to my workshop and look for a drill bit just under the size of the the stock pin hole. Pop it in to a drill, get the elbow of the main inflator on the dual bladder unit, measure, lightly punch, drill, gently deburr, and voilla: it now will recieve the pin from the adored inflator.
Made the swap, put on single new ties. Both take and hold air. I'm extremely pleased with my own ingenuity. At least until it became apparent that there is a slow slow leak on the dual - not too bad, but it would of course be exacerbated when under strain of me, twins, etc. So after all this babbling, here is finally my question: I am next to certain that the weak spot is the hose to elbow connection with the wire tie. Actually I always thought of this, and the hose to inflator connection as well, as weak spots in the general design of all such units. From the factory of course they have various amounts and types of adhesive to bond the hose to the hard surfaces of the elbow and inflator.
So I'm looking for recommendations to replace said adhesive. Wire ties are cheap, so I've not even a remote hesitation to pop them and redo my work on the elbow(s). But is AquaSeal the best option? If so, which version? I even thought some simple pure silicon adhesive would work, but I am still at this point unfamiliar with any substrate issues in the world of scuba plastics and synthetics, with various otherwise designed chems or compounds. Surely some one else out there has performed a replacement or repair of that hose to elbow, or hose to inflator, connection and used an adhesive - yes? (Yes, yes, I know. Don't call you "surely" . . .)
Thank you in advance.
Kindest regards.
TSL
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"See . . . I got wet a bunch of times with these special get-wet people and had to do stuff and then I had to take this test with a buncha math and stuff. They said I missed one question (spelled my name wrong - duh). Then the nice get-wet people gave me a card thingy with a picture of me on it (kind of a scary picture actually) so's I could be all official-like when I get wet. (It seemed really important to them - I just like to get wet.) . . ."
There are a lot of things you could do...but what you should do is have a tight fit, using just cable ties...
I am assuming you would like to make the connector larger to fit the hose that is larger?
None of the BC/wings that I have taken apart have any adhesive between them and the hose...(Zeagle, Mares, Hollis and diverite).. the Hollis has two zip ties...but no safety line, the other all have a safety line.
I work as a chemical engineer, by the way.
Attempting to glue two items that don't really fit is just begging for an issue later..and this is important stuff.
Think of it this way...if you were going to fly on an airplane, and there was work being done on the wing... but they didn't have quite the right bolt, so they made a bigger one work with glue... would you fly with them?
While I don't know this for a fact, you may be able to get a hose that would work.. would go there first.
I have taken apart a number of corrugated hoses and most seem to have what looks like a rubber cement. It does not adhere well to either the plastic connector or the hose, but it must help seal the connection. I have never found a need to use such a sealer. When one zip tie does not do the job, I just add a second one.
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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
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