Help Repairing My Sagging Inflatables - Is Rejuvination Possible ?

kidcole

kidcole

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I have one of the old Santa Band inflatables. These are very collecatable and I love it. I don't want to let it end up in a trash can. The original motor is very strong but the thing is starting to sag (a lot). Santa is bending forward and so is the bear. I have checked it for general leaks and holes and cannot find any. But I can feel a lot of air coming out of the seams. I am thinking that some sort of waterproofing might be needed to seal this thing back up .. possibly sprayed on from the inside. But I don't want to pick anything like paint that would get stiff and ultimately crack.

Pic attached. Taken when it did not have any sagging problems. I have some 8' Santas and Snowmen that have similar issues.

Does anyone have experience with rejuvinating inflatables ?
 

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i read a thread here or somewhere that fabric softener sprayed on it works. i haven't tried it but just being fabric softener dont see why it would hurt to try.
 
I appreciate the replies. I am curious if marine waterproofing would work. Has anyone tried ?
 
A few years back TLC had their Crazy Christmas Lights show and a guy had a ton of inflatables. He would sew them or his mother-in-law sewed them to repair them. If the seams are leaking means the stitches are losing their hold and may just need restitched.
 
I used some spray silicone sealer to "fix" an 8 foot sagging snowman that I have. Sprayed it into the guy while inflated by giving it shots into the fan. Worked great and once dried it has remained for two years now and he still inflats great and is very firm so not much air is leaking out.
 
The problem I started encountering this year is snow getting into the fans of the new DC (LED) inflatables. The fans now seem to be turning slower, even when dry so I'm going to see what I can do for lubrication of the fan or if I need to replace them.
 
I Know I had too respray my tent with this stuff that might also work wont wash off like the fabric softener will do in rain
 
I have a sagging 8 foot scooby. I have tried spraying with clear paint sealers and also tent sealer with no effect. Bill, What kind of silicone sealer did you use? I have fixed it by adding a second fan, however I would much rather go back to one fan!
 
I also seal them with a silicone based deck sealer. I get it by the gallon in the paint section of the ace hardware. I just put it in a pump sprayer and spray it on. I usually use the spray bottle style because you don't need a lot. I do it when it's not inflated, because if there is leaks, it's just going to keep bubbling at the leak and not actually seal it. It also works great for waterproofing tents. It's a bit pricey though. I seem to remember it's around $45/gal.
I used to use Thompson's Water Seal, it's much cheaper and easier to apply because it's thinner, but you can't get it around here any more due to the stupid "protect us from ourselves" anti VOC laws. They still sell something with the same name in similar packaging, but now it's water based, has zero smell, and doesn't work for anything.
 
I just woke up and thought about another possibility for you in sealing that you can try as well.

You can get a product called Seam Seal from most places that sell camping gear or outdoor stuff. I used to use it on my tents back when I was much more of an outdoors man than now :w00t:.

Take the inflatable and lay it out and run some seam seal onto the sewed edges and let dry. This will probably take awhile to do as you need to let the stuff dry before you go moving the item around. It helps if you can hang the item onto a clothesline or some way that lets you do the most seams at a time.

This makes the seams air and water tight but doesn't affect the fabric so much. Of course this method boils down to how much time and effort you want to put into saving an inflatable and what it is worth to you. I have a couple that I only put out every other or every third season and they are really pretty nice so I am careful with them and want to make them last awhile.
Also now with the throw away mentality of out society, I think that some of the really "cool" inflatables will be extinct very soon and you won't be able to buy them anymore before too long so why not take a few minutes to help them last a few more years?
 
I have a number of large inflatables, and over time they develop leaks like the ones you're describing. I think the problem with the seams is the thread is not UV resistant and just breaks down over time. If it's black, I have used Gorilla Tape while it was inflated with quite a bit of success, but if it isn't I actually hand-sew whatever is leaking, and that has worked quite well, too. I have a 12 foot hearse that is no longer made, that has Dracula in a coffin inside that pops up and down. Over time, I had developed a lot of pinhole leaks, and this year I went out with matching thread and just sewed them up.
 
I tried using the 50-50 mix of fabric softner (I used downey) and water. It worked unbelievably well, I only found that I had to respray after rain.
 
Traneman--a person after my own heart! I always say that pregnancy is when your shirttail goes from hanging on the inside to hanging on the outside--and it NEVER goes back!
 
In my younger years (several decades go), there used to be a tent seam waterproof product that came in a roll-on container. Like the (really)old school deoderant rollons with the big plastic roller balls. Not sure if that would fix it or not.

Prior to that innovation, we used white hurricane candles. We would snip the wick off and rip it out the bottom of the candle. Then we would draw on the seams with it like a crayon. Dunno if that would help with air but it darn sure helped(helps) with water.
 
You can still get tent seam waterproofer in tubes and spray. The newer stuff is nice as you can find it in a silicone based formula that has UV inhibitor in it as well!
I still just use a good silicone spray and spray it through the fan while the inflatable is up and running. It tends to go to leaks and will plug them if not too big. Although using a candle to help plug bigger leaks sounds like a good trick along with the spray to seal things better.
 
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