Click here to zoom in Inflatable Boats Maintenance: The Hard Parts

Click here to zoom in Inflatable Boats Maintenance: The Hard Parts

Click here to zoom in Inflatable Boats Maintenance: The Hard Parts

Click here to zoom in Inflatable Boats Maintenance: The Hard Parts

Maintenance of the metal and wooden parts of your boat begins with a comprehensive cleaning. First, remove all of the hard parts that you are able to remove. Clean these parts by using a stiff brush on them in a solution of soap. Inspect l wooden and metal parts closely to determine if there are any scratches or abrasions on them, and if there are, repair any damage caused to the finish of those parts. This will prevent the damage from spreading through the rest of the affe ct part.

Wood Parts

All of the wooden parts of your inflatable boat will be covered in a waterproof finish that keeps the wood dry and prevents it from becoming wet and rotting away. Once wood gets wet, it begins to decay, and will eventually deteriorate to e point where it crumbles away if you so much as touch it. Wood finishing comes in one of two forms - varnish or polyurethane paint. Each type of finish has its own maintenance requirements that you need to be familiar with.

Varnished Surfaces

If the finish on your floorboards and transom is bright, then chances are that it consists of a commercial polyester finish or polyurethane varnish. Although finishes that make use of these substances look great and relatively durable an ong-lasting, once they begin to suffer wear, they are hard to maintain.

If the finish on your boat is polyurethane, then scrapes and scratches are easily touched up using polyurethane varnish and a regular small paintbrush. Although such touch-up repairs are temporary in nature, they will last long enough fo ou to get through the season at least.

Most boat manufacturers no longer use polyester finish, and you will be able to tell immediately if your boat has a polyester finish when you first apply polyurethane varnish to it. The polyester finish will immediately become sticky. If e polyester finish on your boat is damaged, then the best solution open to you is to simply strip all of the polyester varnish from the wood and either reapply a coat polyester varnish, or switch to a different sort of finish that is less t roublesome to maintain.

Another way to treat damaged polyurethane or polyester parts, especially if you aren't sure which you have, is to soak them with boiled linseed oil (available in any paint store). The linseed oil doesn't have any effect on the finish, bu t penetrates through the scratch and protects the wood. Refresh the oil every week or so, and the wood parts of your boat will last forever even though they will start to look pretty ragged after a while.

If your varnish deteriorates to the point that the wood is stained and weathered, don't hesitate to paint right over it. There is nothing sacrosanct about varnished woodwork, and often a coat or two of good paint is the best way to make bby components look new.

Metal Parts

Any inflatable boat that is of a size larger than that of a play boat will have at least several parts that are made of metal such as stainless steel, aluminum, or mild steel. Floorboard rails, oarlocks, oars, floorboards, and outboard b kets are all examples of parts of inflatable boats that are often made out of metal.

Many boat owners pay the metal fixtures on their boats no attention because they assume that the metal has been treated such that it is fully protected from erosion by oxidation. This could not be further from the truth, however, and wat especially salt water, will quickly oxidize any metal piece that is left exposed to the water for significant periods of time.

As the owner of an inflatable boat, you most probably want the boat to stay in excellent working condition for as long as possible. In order to achieve that, however, you will need to be constantly alert, checking and rechecking the vari parts of your boat to ensure that they have not suffered some form of damage that needs to be repaired before it can escalate and become worse.

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