Seams Failing

People who have had an inflatable Hobie with seam failures...how does it occur? Meaning, are you out in the middle of the lake and things go RIP? Does it normally happening when inflating?

My hull is approaching 4 years old, and I use my i11s twice a week ice in to ice out. Just wondering if there are warning signs to look for.

My i12s developed a slow leak in the floor over the course of a couple hour excursion. First sign at the 3/4 point of the journey was my seat got tippy, mostly towards the rear. Didn't cause alarm because it wasn't worsening fast and my fat side chambers kept the sail erect so I didn't have to pedal much in my degrading posture. I couldn't use my emergency sticky patch and air pump due to active ocean conditions, and anyway couldn't access the leak even at drydock.

I had the retro hull design with complex seams for scuppers and a stowage chamber. Maybe I popped it at pump up. Newer models have less vulnerable seams, but less redundancy in terms of fat side chambers. Probably only your center chamber is vital for seaworthiness, and I imagine you would soon detect a leak due to tippy seat and do a U turn.

Oh, my non-Hobie experiences may shed light on survivability of a seam leak as well:

My only fast seam leak came at pump up time, and couldn't be missed. An electric pump could not reach it's target of 10psi but spun endlessly at 7psi. Removing the pump, I heard a weird whistle which I at first took to be some critter calling. Soon it was clear that a seam had parted over about a third of an inch where the factory had made insufficient overlap. I used it's patch kit (maybe only glue; maybe expired) and amazingly it welded together strong, in spite intrusion of a lumpy friction pad. This was on a convertible wind surfer / sailing skiff which had inflated ok before.

I got mixed up with some weird valves on an oversize no-pedal lookalike to i11s, which gave an idea on how to simulate a slow seam leak. If you leave the outboard chambers full, but bleed off 1/3 pressure in the center chamber to simulate a central leak, test the rigidity of hull and chair. It might be surprisingly good, maybe even if you bleed 2/3 pressure. In fact (this is what surprised me) even opening the center valve entirely may leave a fair amount of air in the center chamber due to side chamber rigidity. Maybe you would need to sit directly on the soft floor to be able to pedal.