Caring for Smaller Craft
Published: Sunday, January 8, 2023 12:00 pm
By: John Tiger
Smaller craft canoes, kayaks, skiffs, rowboats, and even towables are a staple of water life. Like your larger boats, these need care, too, especially during the harsh off-season. Maintenance keeps yours ready for fun and helps them last a long time. Here’s how to maintain and keep them in good shape:
Molded Plastic and Fiberglass/Composite Boats (rowboats, skiffs, canoes)
These should be checked for cracks in the hull, scrapes and dings, abraded bottoms due to contact with sand and rocks, and excessive weathering. Old Town (www.oldtowncanoe.com) recommends using furniture polish (Pledge) to shine and protect their molded plastic and fiberglass composite hulls after a thorough cleaning. Paste wax leaves a chalky residue, especially in scratches. Check composite hulls carefully for damage; repair any cracks, broken fiberglass, or gelcoat chips to prevent deterioration.
Aluminum Boats
While a full polish with Flitz or similar metal polish would look killer, it takes a lot of elbow grease and time to complete. Not many are willing to do that work. Thorough cleaning and checking for cracks is enough. Have a competent welder repair any damage.
Wood Boats
Woodies and wood/canvas boats are very special and require intensive care. Keeping them out of the sun, keeping them dry in the off-season to keep rot away, and of course, periodic sanding and re-varnishing are necessary to keep them nice. Check carefully in good lighting for the beginnings of rot, cracks, missing screws, and broken ribs or panels.
Towables
Typically, inflatable tow-behinds need a patch to stop a leak. Patching a rip in a towable toy on a flat surface is easy. Rough up (using a ScotchBrite pad) at least 3” around the damage, cut a patch from a repair kit to cover the cut and at least 3” around it, then clean and dry the area before applying the rubber cement and compressing the patch over the area. Hold it tightly there for at least 5 minutes. Don’t inflate the toy until the cement’s dried for at least a few hours. Rips and tears on seams are generally not fixable; the repair won’t hold. Also, excessive sun weathering cannot be repaired. You’ll need to get a new toy.
A version of this article appeared in the Winter 2023 issue of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Boat 101, Canoes & Kayaks, Towables
