Kayak maintenance

Desire, that the kayak will serve us for many seasons, we must properly maintain and nurture it. After completing the hike, it should be cleaned from the outside and inside, wash thoroughly from contamination, then set it to dry on a stand in a shaded and ventilated place. If there is no shaded space, we protect the folding box against sunlight by covering it. We should use this treatment also during longer journeys. At the end of the season, bearing in mind that this equipment belongs to the most expensive equipment of a tourist canoe, We carefully proceed to repair and maintenance for the winter period.

Folder - the rubber coating of the folding unit should be washed, dry, remove stains with "Tri" or pure gasoline, repair the damage, sprinkle talcum powder inside and put the cover on, dividing it thickly with paper in the places of folds. We put such a complex shell into the backpack. If the conditions allow us to store the folder on the skeleton, then after preparing it in the above-mentioned manner, set the folding box with a slightly taut coating, on the rack. Wooden structure, i.e.. skeleton, clean before placing on the stand, remove the damage, replace damaged parts, and then lightly coat with a colorless varnish with a brush and dry. We store the preserved construction of the folding box on a frame or in parts, in a dry place with a moderate temperature. We brush the metal parts with a thin layer of petroleum jelly.

Rigid kayak - we do a bit differently with this unit, though, and here it is important to remember, that careful and thorough care extends the life of the kayak by a few, and even a dozen or so years. During long hikes it is common to damage or break some part of the kayak. However, due to other activities during the trip, we can spend little time on a thorough repair, so only temporarily repair the damage by nailing a cracked rib, slats, skeleton or by setting up the so-called. the prosthesis and pull it tight with a wire, if it's a wooden part, and with rivets, if the tin. We secure a hole in the kayak by cutting out the damaged spot, cleaning the edges with sandpaper, applying a plywood patch from the outside (for confidence and from within) and seal by putty. We use this temporarily secured kayak until it is thoroughly repaired during a break in the trip or after the season, when we proceed to a major repair.