Fixing a leaky bladder (let's be grown ups.. Ha Ha Ha!)

I went out fishing the Clackamas River yesterday. I followed my typical regiment of filing the tubes to equal pressure, making sure I had all the tackle, fish finder, etc. I was out in the water about an hour, and was heading to the other tributary about 1/4 across and when I went to adjust my seating I grabbed both tubes to hoist myself up a little and noticed my right one squished down over an inch. I turned and headed back to the launch which took about 15 minutes, and the right tube didn't seem much flatter. After I got home it seemed to have leaked a bit more. Now this morning I put some water in the tub, removed the bladder from the sleave and filled it about 1/2 full. I submerge it in sections but did not see any bubbles. I then scowered YouTube and found videos about rubbing soapy water on the bladder and look for bubbles. Tried that but same results, no signs. The air leaked out of the bladder and now it sits in a pile on the garge floor. I'm scheduled to go out Sunday morning but may have to cancel if I can't come up with a fix. Does anyone on FTFF have any other methods they have used successfully to locate a leak? I'm a little paniced because I even went to the manufactures site to see if there was a dealer somewhere I could buy a new one, but of course it doesn't list any. I emailed support as well. Any suggestions would help. Thanks Ed

This is an SPDan trick so I can’t take any credit for it but it worked for me. Put the soapy water with some red food coloring inside the tube and inflate it. You’ll get red bubbles at the point of the leak . Mark it with a sharpie. Rinse everything out really good and get it dry then patch how you see fit. I’ve used tear-aid and traditional patches/pvc cement and both have worked well. Trick is a clean and dry surface. Good luck and keep us posted .

I will give it a try! Thanks.

UPDATE:
Well, I went to 3 stores and finally found the liquid, water soluable food coloring. Didn't realize it was an indangered species.
Mixed it with dish soap and water and put about 2.5 gallons in the bladder. Filled the rest with air, capped the valve and began my search (with the help of my wife). Checked the seams, checked both sides, nothing. I turned it over so the valve was at the bottom and waited. Low and behold, my wife noticed a tiny drip. I had made sure to thoroughly wipe/dry the valve after we poured the liquid in, so I knew it wasn't overspill. I slowly loosened the cap and more red fluid came running out. So, it looks like a faulty valve is the culprit. Good thing I have a bag of them for all the river float tubes I have. I filled the bladder up again with the old one just to double check. If its flat in the morning, I will swap it with a new one, stuff it back in the float tube sleave, fill it and give it about 3 or 4 hours. Cross your fingers!

Fingers are crossed . Hope it works out

I'm going to take my hand held air gun in a dry bag, just in case...

It looks like you got it good luck

Great DIY fix.
Thank you for sharing this with us.

SP Dan <“))><