Float Tube and Belly Boat Bladders

11/04/2025

Busy as usual at Wiki-tubes HQ at this time of year. As people dig out their tubes for summer to find the PVC bladder has deteriorated over winter and starts leaking on the first trip out.
Just finished this set for a very pleasant gentleman Vincent.
Guideline Drifter. Although the original PVC bladders have a strange double system, persumably for safety, I am confident enough in my PVC free bladders to make him a standard replacment.

21/02/2024

I have a set hand made PVC free bladders for a Snowbee float tube if anyone is intrested.
These bladders may also fit a number of other makes of tube.
£70 including postage. Snowbee are charging £86 for a replacement set of PVC bladders.
Grey boston valves not black.
Please see my page for more info on my products.

18/02/2024

That's another hand made replacement PVC free bladder done for a The Creak Company U-boat 2000.
Bit of a tricky one as the original bladder was multi sectional as in had side walls/sections. Managed to compensate for this by making the two halves bigger. It took a couple of goes, as you never know what shape it will take until you inflate it. Happy with the end result though.

14/07/2023

Replacement PVC free bladder finished today for an older Snowbee tube. Despite the old PVC bladder being very heavy duty it had sadly still failed.
Believe this tube will soon be getting used in South Africa! The weight saving of the new bladder will be appreciated 🙂.

25/06/2023

Latest replacement PVC bladder set. This one for a MK 2 Snowbee tube. It was only a matter of time before I got one of these very popular tubes to do.
I believe thease bladders are the same shape as used in several makes of tube including Vision Keeper, Repala FT100 and the Lineaeffe to name a few.

14/04/2023

Latest hand made replacement PVC free bladder finished. This one for an Orvis Waterbug.
Plenty of buoyancy in this tube for the fuller gentleman. Looks very comfy.
I've seen quite often now when a PVC bladder is repaired it tends to fail again just along from the repair. This confirms to me how much PVC bladders deteriorate over time. Take care in your tubes people.

10/04/2023

Couple of replacement PVC free bladders for this older "mk1" Snowbee float tube. Looks like a great tube and will be serviceable for years to come now the old dangerous perished leaking bladders have gone.

02/12/2022

Another small seat bladder finished for a Super Fat Cat tube.
Interesting one this time. Firstly as this is the first bladder other than the Shaky Expedition/Sparton Cruiser that I've found to use the same material and not PVC in one of their bladders. Despite having PVC main bladders the manufacturer obviously realised it would not hold up to the wear and tear of the seat cushion. Secondly the old bladder looks like it's had a hard life. Although it's hasn't failed it is starting to delaminate hence the owners request to replace. Lastly its the first bladder I've had to make with internal webs to hold its shape similar to an air bed. Proved a little tricky but happy with the result.
If you require replacement bladders for your float tube either due to your old PVC ones being holed or due to the associated risks of using PVC bladders feel free to get in touch.

20/11/2022

The reasoning behind my hand made PVC free replacement float tube bladders. Hopefully following in the foot steps of the late great Steve Parton.

Steve Parton's Sexyloops weekly column: A matter of some concern - float tubing inners safety

04/10/2022

Pressure testing a sample PVC free bladder today. Repeated several times and went pop at between 10 and 11 PSI every time. Considering I advise people to inflate their bladders to no more than lung pressure (1 to 2 PSI) I'm more than happy with my safety factor.
Please do not use this method to inflate your bladders. You can potentially burst your bladder or more likely split the stitching on your outer tube.
Geeky bit if I remember right from my collage days. This gives me a safety factor of between 5 and 10. As an example industry safety factors are for high pressure valves 3.5, for aerospace 1.5 to 3 and 3 for the automotive industry.
Would be good to test this on a PVC bladder for comparison but unfortunately all the PVC bladders I get are already full of holes!

22/09/2022

New set of PVC free bladders finished and successfully tested for a Creek Company OCD float tube.