Vayu Restoration

A couple of years ago I bought a used West marine inflatable dinghy and 3 hp Nissan motor for 500 bucks. The motor is great but the first time I put the dinghy in the water the bottom fell out! Well I was not too upset as the motor alone was worth what I paid but being the kind of person I am I could not just toss the dinghy.
So I went off to West marine and spent $120 for 2 pints of special glue to reattach the bottom. I mean how hard could that be right? Well I used 1 pint to reattach the bottom but as it was now fall I did not get a chance to try it out. As spring came around I was shocked to see the rather pricy glue had simply let go! I had followed the instructions to a T but it seems this glue was basically worthless. I will give West some credit as they refunded my money for the unused pint but still I was out 60 bucks and no better off.
So I thought I would try some 5200 fast cure on it to see if that would work. It did at least till the glue under it failed yet again. Ok this was getting old. I completely removed the bottom this time and set about grinding off the old glue. Once this was done I re-attached the bottom with 5200. It was not pretty but seemed to be holding this time. But of course it is a boat and MUST follow the 2 steps forward and 1 back rule. Now that the bottom was stuck on the boat would no longer stay inflated more than 12 hours.
Well this was not acceptable at all. Thinking about how the boat would look in the dumpster, I decided it was time for drastic measures. At this point I really was using the boat as a test platform to see what worked and what did not. Off to West marine again. They had some stuff to pour into the inside of the tubes that would seal leaks. Problem was it was $60 a quart! (Why is it everything they have for inflatable's is $60? Even the paint is $60 a quart!) As it would take 1 for each side I decided $120 was too much to spend and after the success of their glue I was not optimistic. There had to be something cheaper.
Off to the big box home improvement store. I looked around and settled on contact cement for $14 a quart. Of course on the way home it occurred to me that if I used contact cement and I one day deflated the boat the insides might stick together! Back to the store this time I got a gallon of driveway sealer for less than $12 including tax. It was a long shot but it was cheap and a last resort. I poured 1/2 gallon in each tube and rolled the boat around to distribute the stuff inside. Much to my pleasure it worked! No more leaks and the bottom was holding! Maybe there is hope.
Lastly I went online to Defender marine and bought a quart on anti fouling paint for inflatable's and some white paint fishermen use for buoys and such for $63 about half of what West Marine wanted for their paints. The jury is still out on those items but so far the boat is looking better and holding air. It is now usable.
The purpose of this exercise was really to figure out how one could make repairs to their boat at low cost. My thinking is this could be useful for those cruising or otherwise on a tight budget. I will one day replace this boat but as I do not really need it much now it makes a good platform for learning. I will update as time goes by. Time for a beer!