Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

[mooseknuckles]

Have been looking at them for a little while now. although they are pvc (korean, not chinese) they have quite a few models. Here in Canada, our choices for inflatables are few and far between.

I am pondering their ocean series 430t model (14ft) and wud be matching a 20hp tohatsu to it.

Anyone own one or can comment on the quality?

 

[mooseknuckles]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

anyone......?

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Anyone own one or can comment on the quality?

Looks well built, pvc is standard 0.9 mm, if Korean fabric much better, seems has pressure relief valves, if looking for a much more heavy duty check Seamax Navy Seal same lenght. Will have my doubts if the floor is 1.5 mm as stated on their web page, usually same fabric thickness is employed in all sib manufacture.

If it has a Canadian certification, and the seller stands for their 5 year warranty, go for it. 20 HP motor ok to cruise not heavyly loaded, to get the best max boat/engine configuration a 25 HP is minimum and a 30 a must.

Happy Boating

 

[mooseknuckles]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Was looking at their 14ft model with the standard .9mm sides, but wanted to upgrade to the 1.2 bottoms. I'm trying to keep the weight down to a manageable 200ish pounds.

Yes they indicate korean fabric, and I like that their transom is 1.5in thick versus most companies being 24mm. The 14 foot model also has 4 seat positions instead of the standard two.

I can do without all the d rings ect, but overall, it looks like solid boat.

 

[Boxofrain2010]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

I would rather have a name brand even if it were slightly used but still in excellent condition. Knock-offs look fine but are not held to the same assembly standards as say an achilles, avon, caribe, etc...get something nice that you don't have to second guess its reputation.

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

The brands you mentioned are Hypalon sibs, would have my boubts if he's willing to pay 2 to 2.5 times more for same size pvc sibs. All those reputed sibs/ribs are 0.9 mm, and 1.0 mm fabrics for larger ones. Hypalon is not Kevlar, will cut easily as you cut cheese, the only tech difference with pvc is : holds better abrassion and extreme UV & solar punishment if left living in outside environments. You'll be surprised on how pvc fabrics and workmanship have bettered and evolved in modern times.

Happy Boating

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Hi,

The boat looks OK from the internet. There are always two issues the PVC is Korean. Some of the Korean PVC products are good and others not. You will find out which one you got in the future. A lot of the Asian manufacturers use the German Mehler PVC which is great quality and used in the big name inflatables. Secondly it looks like the boat is glued and not heat welded. Gluing if done right is OK but heat welding if done right makes a seam that is stronger than the material itself. Gluing properly with the right conditions requires careful preparation and also a controlled environment. The glue itself can be a big if. Bostik glue from what I can tell is the most consistent and best.

So, in this case you pay your money ( a lot less) and you takes your chances. You could end up with a great boat that holds air well and have no problems or you could end up with issues which could ruin a good day on the water.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

Darryl

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

black though?

my grey Avon material is unbearably hot in a heatwave.... can't imagine black...

I guess you splash water on it before sitting

 

[mooseknuckles]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

The boat would see minor use both floating rivers and on the lake. Being in Calgary, our soft water season is 6 months at most and the boat will be deflated when not in use.

The sun (uv rays) and boat color will have no bearing on the boat due to our climate up here. No nead for a hypalon rig.
Thx for the replies thus far.

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Hi,

Time and storage conditions will also play a part in terms of longevity of the boat.

Here are the points I would check:

1. How long company have been making distributing the boats
2. Look online for any complaints or experiences of others
3. How are the seams made are they glued or welded

This way you can make an educated decision.

Regards,


Darryl

 

[Sea Rider]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Hi,

The boat looks OK from the internet. There are always two issues the PVC is Korean. Some of the Korean PVC products are good and others not. You will find out which one you got in the future. A lot of the Asian manufacturers use the German Mehler PVC which is great quality and used in the big name inflatables. Secondly it looks like the boat is glued and not heat welded. Gluing if done right is OK but heat welding if done right makes a seam that is stronger than the material itself. Gluing properly with the right conditions requires careful preparation and also a controlled environment. The glue itself can be a big if. Bostik glue from what I can tell is the most consistent and best.

So, in this case you pay your money ( a lot less) and you takes your chances. You could end up with a great boat that holds air well and have no problems or you could end up with issues which could ruin a good day on the water.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

Darryl

This theme could be endless posting, to make it short :

What is your inflatable boating experience in years, how many brands have you had/have, how many were hand glued, how many were welded, how do you know Korean fabrics are not so good ? Accoring to your small number of post on this forum, you have started from 0 as everybody does, so maybe giving plain theory read from other forums instead of 100% personal experience. Experience & practice, not theory, is needed to state if a product is good or bad.

Have had many brand inflatables pvc, hyaplon, akron fabrics and found no welded one is better than hand glued ones, welded seams will need to be hand glued when spliting with time, welded boats have also hand glued parts, Welding is faster, needs less factory work, reduces costs & saves space.

Reputed brands as Achilles, ABS, Gommonautica, Caribe, just to mention some, are making their boats hand glued, so if any other brand manufacturer is using quality fabrics, proper 2 parts glue and assemble facilities with controlled temperature environments, will have a perfect quality finished product. Anyway you cannot compare the welding that Zodiac makes on their boats, has light years of experience and top quality welding agents to any Asian manufacturer welding. As all in life, will have welded & hand glued tube lovers and detractors.

All is reduced to treat, cared for, correct air pressure inflation and where is kept & stored. I believe in first purchase, If you want to take the nail out for yourself, go to the dealer store, see a live boat, check warranty issues.

Mooseknuckles, If the boat will be used just for recreational purposes as mentioned, go for it.

Happy Boating

 

[tenmile]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Hey there,

I purchased an SD270 earlier this summer (June 2010) for light recreational use from the seller in Richmond BC (via eBay). We had an older Zodiac Z-Force 9 that was about 15+ years old and the quoted cost to repair some leaks was $450! For $600 we picked up the Seamax 9' with 5 year warranty. Put the Zodiac on Craigslist for $500 and sold it as-is in one day (leaks and all).

The unit we purchased came complete with an aluminum floor, pump, patch kit, oars, oarlocks, aluminum seat, storage bag, and a bow-mounted storage compartment. Fabric is "Duratex" PVC.

The boat is very light -- much lighter than the Zodiac it replaced. We mount this boat on the hardtop of our 26' Striper Pilothouse -- I am able to pull this boat over the bow and get it onto the hardtop myself (couldn't do that with the previous Zodiac).

The aluminum floor option is very nice -- light, strong and snaps into the side-rails provided (install the side-rails last, not first like they advise in the instructions). Also really like the oar-locks -- these are a stainless pin that slides through both oars with a plastic screw nut that locks them down -- far superior to the plastic "U" locks on the Zodiac.

The dinghy holds our family of 4 just fine. We don't have an engine for it (I'm the engine, but it can take up to 10Hp), and it moves along the water just great. We generally use it for short runs only -- a couple hundred yards from an anchorage to shore. It's small and light enough for our kids (8 and 6) to handle on their own as well.

The ONLY downside so far has been a defective transom drain valve. First time I removed the drain plug, water started filling the bottom whenever weight was put on the transom (plug in or out). I contacted Seamax, described the problem and he sent me two new valves which I had in my hand 2 days later (excellent service in my eyes).

Anyhow -- so far so good. The unit appears to be a very good quality product and the price was certainly right. I am sure that dinghys that run $2000 are superior, but doubt they would last 3x as long give the type of use ours gets.

PS: if you are in Calgary -- there is an inflatable manufacturer right in town called Zebec. Good prices and there is nothing like being able to deal locally.

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

This theme could be endless posting, to make it short :

What is your inflatable boating experience in years, how many brands have you had/have, how many were hand glued, how many were welded, how do you know Korean fabrics are not so good ? Accoring to your small number of post on this forum, you have started from 0 as everybody does, so maybe giving plain theory read from other forums instead of 100% personal experience. Experience & practice, not theory, is needed to state if a product is good or bad.

Have had many brand inflatables pvc, hyaplon, akron fabrics and found no welded one is better than hand glued ones, welded seams will need to be hand glued when spliting with time, welded boats have also hand glued parts, Welding is faster, needs less factory work, reduces costs & saves space.

Reputed brands as Achilles, ABS, Gommonautica, Caribe, just to mention some, are making their boats hand glued, so if any other brand manufacturer is using quality fabrics, proper 2 parts glue and assemble facilities with controlled temperature environments, will have a perfect quality finished product. Anyway you cannot compare the welding that Zodiac makes on their boats, has light years of experience and top quality welding agents to any Asian manufacturer welding. As all in life, will have welded & hand glued tube lovers and detractors.

All is reduced to treat, cared for, correct air pressure inflation and where is kept & stored. I believe in first purchase, If you want to take the nail out for yourself, go to the dealer store, see a live boat, check warranty issues.

Mooseknuckles, If the boat will be used just for recreational purposes as mentioned, go for it.

Happy Boating

Hi,

In terms of hypalon there is no other way to bond hypalon then to glue it. If manufacturers are making a hypalon boat then it is glued. A well glued boat using a high quality long lasting glue is great. However to achieve the best result the workers need to be skilled and the environment needs to be controlled. Heat welding requires a lot less skill and if done right the bond is stronger than the material itself and also does not suffer degradation over the years. I agree no boat can be totally welded there will always be some glued panels and also handles glued.

In terms of boats I have owned I have owned two. A Zodiac Zoom made in France. I also have a Rave Bongo which I repair and inflate for my kids every year at our lake. The front inside bow seam of the Zodiac leaked and although latexed many times by the dealer and myself always leaked. The Zodiac was made of PVC. I purchased a Chinese made Titan also PVC and it is holding air better than the Zodiac. It seems that the Chinese manufacturer is using German fabric to make the boats by the name they use for it.

My inflatable experience is about 5 years however I have also read a number of books about them and I have a keen interest in the materials etc.

My point is that in Asia there are good fabrics and bad ones. Only time will tell which one you bought

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Not picking a fight. I'm genuinely just curious. How do you know what fabric is being used by any manufacturer, let alone a manufacturer based in China and how do you know that brand A fabric is better than brand B fabric?

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Hi,

As I said the materials all look shiny and new when you buy them. Time will tell you what you bought. In my opinion if you can get Mehler PVC German fabric it is a good start. I am told there are also good Asian manufacturer but the end user has no idea.

Time however will give the answer very clearly

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

I see...I guess the point I was trying to make, in a roundabout way, is that all of these no name boats could be made with the crappiest material on the planet and you, as the consumer, have absolutely no way of knowing just how **** poor that material actually is. Even legitimate inflatable manufacturers do not publicly post where they get their fabric or the quality grade within that fabric. For instance: Hypalon is made under a license, issued by a DuPont, by a variety of manufacturers. All Hypalon has to be made to a certain standard to be called Hypalon...But is all Hypalon the same? Nope. In addition to the obvious fact that it can be purchased with different thread counts it can also be sold in three different grades. Most inflatable boat manufacturers use grade one(the highest), but I know of one well known manufacturer that periodically uses grade 2(cosmetic blems) when they get short on money.

PVC material is a complete crap shoot as there is no standard that the material has to live up to. Generally these 3rd world manufacturers use the cheapest material they can source, use the cheapest glue they can source, use the cheapest labor they can source and build boats with the cheapest logistical support possible...Almost always in a non-climate controlled building. That's not to say that every boat built in a mud hut is awful, but enough are that anyone who buys a brand X better do so with their eyes wide open and have very limited expectations.

As to Mehler being good, bad or ugly...I don't have a clue. Do you know of any name brand manufacturer that uses their material? If not, it might be a good idea to adopt a wait and see attitude about promoting it. The fact that it is produced in Germany is a point in its favor, but 15 years ago a German manufacturer released a PVC/urethane material that was used by an inflatable boat manufacturer with disastrous results...When it was being used it was promoted as the new super PVC. Four years later, all of those name brand boats had turned to parchment paper.

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Elvin,

I believe Mehler supplies Zodiac with material for their boats. Here is a quote from a boat site:

"German manufacturer Mehler Texnologies is currently one of the largest producers of polyvinylchloride (PVC) coated fabrics. Closed production line ? from making a polyester base for materials on its own factory ? and quality control on every step of the process guarantees only the highest quality of materials produced. Mehler Texnologies has over 80 different types of materials, as well as its own research facility which specializes on research and development of new materials, as well as improving already existing products. Their research and development facility also develops new materials for custom offers, which allows Mehler Texnologies to satisfy every need of its customers. One of the largest customers of Mehler Texnologies is another inflatable boats manufacturer, ZODIAC.
PVC materials that are made by this company are the best in the world is such fields as rigidness, resistance to wear and tear, plasticity, durability, resistance to corrosive effects of oil and petroleum, quality, and cost. All materials, excluding specialized fabrics and fabrics with polyurethane coating, are designed to perform its best at temperature range of -30? to 70? C, service time of over 15 years, and are highly resistant to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, meaning they will not lose its shape of color when exposed to direct sunlight. "


They have been around for a long time and their product I believe sets the standard.

In terms of Hypalon, Dupont have stopped making it. Pennel I believe still makes it and again perhaps a slew of other far east manufacturers.

Many boat manufacturers and suppliers will tell you if they are using Mehler fabrics for their boats. Just google Mehler and inflatable boat and a whole lot will come up.

Having said that in terms of PVC there are lots of good PVC manufactuers in Asia but if you don't know which one you are getting then its a crap shoot. I have a Chinese made boat made with Mehler fabric and the quality seems quite good.

All boats are shiny and squeeky when new. As I said before Time will tell you what you bought.

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Hi,

To add to this many manufacturers will tell you what material they use:

Aquapro Construction Materials
Aquapro is unique in the inflatable boat industry as they offer two fabric options for most of their range. Aquapro use only proven fabrics from two of the world's most renowned European fabric manufactures. For the weekend casual boater and general leisure use we recommend the Polymar fabric. For the serious commercial operator, military and offshore cruising yachtsman we recommend Hypalon fabric.
Polymar - This high quality synthetic fabric is manufactured by Mehler Technishe, a long established German manufacturer located in Fulda. The fabric features a 1100 denier polyester base cloth and an ultraviolet stabilised PVC coating. All the structural seams and internal bulkheads are hot air welded and internally taped.
Hypalon - This fabric has set the standard in inflatable boats for over 50 years. Aquapro uses the French company Pennel Industries Orca Hypalon. This is a four-step process using neoprene for internal air retention, high tensile polyester for the base cloth, external neoprene coating and then a final coating of ultraviolet and abrasive resistant Hypalon. All seams and internal bulkheads are glued and are taped internally for 100% air

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Again, not arguing...I'm just not 100% sold on your line of reasoning. I guess I am just much less trusting than you on what no name manufacturers claim they are using...On any given day of the week I've been doing this for far too long and have seen far too much crap come out of the Asian market to trust what any of them say. As to Mehler, I doubt that they make Zodiac's material, but I do know that Mehler has supplied at least some material to plants that have produced some Mercury models. I don't know if that is continuing today or not. I suppose that that my primary concern is that people will buy a no name boat, for a too good to be true price, have a problem, find out their warranty is useless and then abandon the use of inflatables for the future. Virtually all of these cheapo imports are brought into Canada and the U.S. by small start up companies that don't have a lot of assets...Makes a paranoid man worry

On Hypalon, I've never even heard of a boat manufacturer that actually used DuPont produced Hypalon. Pennel is used by most of the SA and EU countries. Achilles Hypalon is used by both Achilles and Mercury. I don't know if TOYO is still producing Hypalon or not.

And of course we haven't even discussed the use of Poly on some boats...Don't want to either

 

[Luvinflatableboats]

Re: Anyone have info on Seamax inflatables?

Elvin,

From a Mercury Marine Website:

http://www.mercurymarine.com.au/new...-new-quicksilver-dinghies-ideal-for-4x4s.aspx

Made of Mehler Haku PVC, the Quicksilver Dinghies have thermowelded seams (not glued) which guarantee a consistent joint which is actually stronger than the material itself. Mehler Haku PVC offers long-life, being long-term UV resistant and strong enough to withstand cuts, abrasions and general wear and tear.

It is widely accepted that Mehler make the material for Zodiacs among the people whom I purchased my boat from. They sell Zodiacs too.

I agree that anyone can setup shop and sell boats that are made of inferior material and there is no after sale service. I bought mine from a dealer whom I trust and know will backup the warranty.

I am sceptical too about the no name boats available on the internet especially with the clause in the warranty that they don't warrant against "Normal wear and tear" just manufactuer defect. In any case by the time you need them they will be onto selling something else.

My point in the whole discussion is that the no-name boats are cheaper and that you don't know what you are getting and where its from. You pay less money take your chances and see if you have made a wise investment. Would I buy a no-name boat. Probably not.