Sabe Latitude repair

I have a Sabe Latitude Float Tube and it has been well looked after, but used very little, of late.

I decided to use it on a lovely water recently and discovered that I was leaning back too far and shipping water down the back of my waders.

The reason was that the back bladder had gone down over a short time, unbeknown to me, and the reason I found, was that the valve which has a right angle entry into the tube had separated both inside and outside the poly bladder.

I suspect that the initial weld may have been radio frequency welded but I thought that as a solution maybe I could apply Marine Goop both inside and out and leave it for 24 hours prior to use.

If anyone has an alternative that they think would work better then I am open to suggestions.

The main bladder is Ok at the air connection point and I thought that a vinyl welding place may be the area to look at but I have spoken to a guy who does that for kayaks and he was not particularly keen on trying that, as I guess the melt point of the poly bladder may prove to be problematic.

I am in Australia and would hate to discard the use of the tube and I don't want to put a rubber tube in it if I can at all manage.

I trust that someone has come up against this problem before and worked out a satisfactory solution.

I might have an idea I will get back to you.

OK we have an online magazine that we produce and in Septembers issue last year we had an article on reparing your bladder. It was not about the valve but it was about basic repair of the badder. You will need to view this on a computer or laptop it cannot be viewed on a smartphone or tablet. Go to the link below for the magazine and you can find the article on page 18 and 32. I hope this works for your let us know if it works or if you have any other questions.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I had thought about Aquaseal and also Aquasure also as way of instituting a repair and of course the problem is always that it is at the valve base.

I had thought of getting a new valve assembly of the type that will screw together with a sandwich in between of marine goop.

I will wait for a few more replies so as hopefully to get a balance of opinions to enable a good thought process about this repair.

I should advise that the tubes on my Sabe are transparent and when purchased I got roll of repair tape which I have not had to use at all, as of yet.

The adhesive that you mentioned in your reply may not be available down here but I shall check asap.

Many thanks for your prompt reply as it is very much appreciated.

Cool well i hope we can help you with yoir issue. I think the biggest issue ia yhe age of the tube, but then again there should be a simple fix. Who else can help guys.

Hello Mocka..........well I did some research and found your tube was built in Idaho, USA. They r no longer in business, but u probably already new that. So I found the typical patch tape, 'Tear-Aid', which by the way works very well for flat surfaces. But this also is probably not a option, so I found a company, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] that makes inflatables. They have a support team that can help u with your problem or manufacture you a new bladder.

Give them a try..........GT

Gt ,
Thanks for the link and I've checked it out and it may have some merit.

It of course is a difficult area in some ways to fix and perhaps in others it may be not so hard.

I'll pick up some more thoughts and let the forum know as to what happens.

Thanks again for the response!

Hope all turns out well Mocka, from up north....... GT

I am new to the forum and just noticed this old series of post. about the Sabe tubes.  They were an early modification of the round step over tube. You pull the Sabe around your body instead of stepping over and in to it. It is split in the front.

I was the sales manager for about a year with Sabe. They were headquartered in the Wood River Valley.
I have a number of new bladder sets for the Sabe Latitude that I will not need.  They are for sale.

We have two Sabe tubes that we want to keep.
I now have a Fish Cat 4 Deluxe that I have not had in the water yet.

Traveler welcome to the forum and thanks for the info. If you could post up some pictures of this tube. I for one would like to see it.

mocka wrote:I have a Sabe Latitude Float Tube and it has been well looked after, but used very little, of late.

I decided to use it on a lovely water recently and discovered that I was leaning back too far and shipping water down the back of my waders.

The reason was that the back bladder had gone down over a short time, unbeknown to me, and the reason I found, was that the valve which has a right angle entry into the tube had separated both inside and outside the poly bladder.

I suspect that the initial weld may have been radio frequency welded but I thought that as a solution maybe I could apply Marine Goop both inside and out and leave it for 24 hours prior to use.

If anyone has an alternative that they think would work better then I am open to suggestions.

The main bladder is Ok at the air connection point and I thought that a vinyl welding place may be the area to look at but I have spoken to a guy who does that for kayaks and he was not particularly keen on trying that, as I guess the melt point of the poly bladder may prove to be problematic.

I am in Australia and would hate to discard the use of the tube and I don't want to put a rubber tube in it if I can at all manage.

I trust that someone has come up against this problem before and worked out a satisfactory solution.

I have the same problem, just curious to see what worked?

Also would like to but a new set of air bladders from Traveler. Sent him a message, hope for a reply. Traveler, if your are out there - HELP! thx DRD

Looking to purchase a new bladder set for my Sabe Latitude - please connect. Thx DRD

Hey I wounder if Maxxon can help you guys with this I will check they build all there our products. Not sure they can but it is worth a try.