11-03-2010, 03:52 AM
No bugs to worry about now up here in Ontario, Canada but some kind of protection is standard in prime fishing season. I just found this posting on another forum.......
We had a customer ( a very experienced tuber) suffer a sudden and complete bladder failure while traversing the middle of a lake. This individual was forced to swim ashore with water filled waders and boots while holding their rod. Not a good situation to say the least.
The cause of the failure was a leaky bottle of insect repellent. The repellent appeared to have burned a large hole in the Urethane tube and heavily damaged the surrounding area.
The owners manual, if anyone read it, contains a warning about insect repellent, but it does not give any indication of the catastrophic outcome.
The best recommendation is not to carry insect repellent on the tube. If you feel you must carry repellent, do not put it in the pockets over the bladder.
While the users boat had a single bladder, the loss of air was so fast that one side that the user was dumped into the water before the other side had collapsed. In other words, had it been a 2 bladder design, the outcome would have been the same.
In short Float tubes are safe. But a little caution goes a long way.
I keep my repellant in the backrest pouch behind me on my Fat Cat but have had it in the pockets before. I do keep it in a sealed freezer bag. I definitely was not aware that the repellant could do this to a float tube.
God Bless,
Don
[signature]
We had a customer ( a very experienced tuber) suffer a sudden and complete bladder failure while traversing the middle of a lake. This individual was forced to swim ashore with water filled waders and boots while holding their rod. Not a good situation to say the least.
The cause of the failure was a leaky bottle of insect repellent. The repellent appeared to have burned a large hole in the Urethane tube and heavily damaged the surrounding area.
The owners manual, if anyone read it, contains a warning about insect repellent, but it does not give any indication of the catastrophic outcome.
The best recommendation is not to carry insect repellent on the tube. If you feel you must carry repellent, do not put it in the pockets over the bladder.
While the users boat had a single bladder, the loss of air was so fast that one side that the user was dumped into the water before the other side had collapsed. In other words, had it been a 2 bladder design, the outcome would have been the same.
In short Float tubes are safe. But a little caution goes a long way.
I keep my repellant in the backrest pouch behind me on my Fat Cat but have had it in the pockets before. I do keep it in a sealed freezer bag. I definitely was not aware that the repellant could do this to a float tube.
God Bless,
Don
[signature]