When you become a kayak owner, one of your focus will be on your kayak’s longevity.
It is very possible to use your kayak for a long period of time when you take good care of it.
But you need to know how to protect the bottom of your kayak.
This will help prevent your kayak from damages that can lead to sinking.
Some of the ways in which you can protect the bottom of your kayak is to avoid kayak dragging, waxing your kayak as well as using a kayak bottom patch.
How To Protect Kayak Bottom
1) Avoid Dragging Of Kayak
When you are moving your kayak from one place to another, you have to do it the right way.
Moving of kayak the right way comprises of a lot of things.
This includes the tools you use to move the kayak as well as the contact of the kayak with the surface.
To move the kayak the right way, you have to make sure that the bottom of the kayak is not touching the ground.
This is because the ground is mostly rigid in nature.
Moving the kayak on such a surface will create a friction between the bottom of the kayak and the surface.
That is why dragging a kayak is a bad practice.
You can read more on why you should not drag a kayak.
This is because when you drag a kayak, the friction that develops will cause wear and tear on the surface of the kayak.
This is mostly at the bottom of the kayak.
To move your kayak safely, you have to make sure that you use things like a car roof rack, kayak trailer or kayak trolley.
These tools will help move the kayak well without the bottom of the kayak touching the ground.
This will help prevent the bottom of your kayak from scratches and holes.
2) Do Not Kayak On a Very Shallow Water With Rocks
Kayaking on safe water bodies is one of the most important things to do as a kayaker.
In doing this, one of the safest water bodies to kayak on is a shallow water.
When it comes to kayaking on a shallow water, the level of damages recorded is always very less.
This is because the chances of drowning in a shallow water is very slim when compared to larger water bodies like an ocean.
That is why beginners are always advised to kayak on shallow water bodies when they start kayaking newly.
But the shallow water body can be bad for kayaking in some instances.
This is when the water is too shallow.
When a water body is too shallow, it will lead to the contact of the bottom of the kayak with the water bed.
This causes a rough contact with the bottom of the kayak which might damage the kayak bottom.
In worse cases, there can be rocks at the bottom of the shallow water.
When a kayak comes in contact with these rocks while kayaking, it can easily puncture the kayak bottom.
This will lead to the development of holes in the bottom of the kayak.
To protect the bottom of your kayak from scratches and holes, you have to make sure that you do not kayak on water bodies that are too shallow with rocks at the bottom of the water body.
This will go a long way in making sure that your kayaking moments is less destructive to your kayak.
3) Store Your Kayak Well
Apart from protecting your kayak when you are using it, there are other ways to protect your kayak from damages too.
This has to do with how you store your kayak.
When you store your kayak in a wrong way, you are going to have a lot of damages on the kayak.
This ranges from having scratches on the kayak to having holes in the kayak.
But when you store your kayak well, these issues are easily eliminated.
Storing a kayak well helps protect the hull of your kayak from damages.
In storing your kayak, you have to make sure that you use the best practice always.
This has to do with storing inflatable kayaks as well as storing plastic kayaks.
Some of the things you have to do is that you have to avoid storing your inflatable kayaks in a place that is filled with uncovered sharp objects.
This can easily puncture the kayak and create a hole.
When you are storing your inflatable kayak, you have to make sure that you put it in a protective bag.
This will help in avoiding damages to the kayak.
When you are storing a plastic kayak, you have to make sure that you keep it away from extreme exposure to extreme heat.
This can cause the parts of the plastic kayak that is exposed to melt thereby causing a hole in the kayak.
4) Add Protective Layer With Kayak Patch
One of the best ways on how to protect the bottom of your kayak from damages is to make sure you prevent your kayak from scratching.
This is better than repairing your kayak from scratches and holes.
To make sure that this is possible, you have to make sure that you protect the bottom of your kayak.
This should be done even if you have very less scratches on your kayak.
In fact the best time to use this method is from the first day you buy your kayak.
When this is done, the bottom of your kayak will be well protected.
This will avoid the stress of repairing the bottom of your kayak after it has already been damaged with scratches or holes.
To do this, you have to use a kayak bottom patch.
This will form a protective layer for your kayak.
If the kayak gets exposed to a rough surface, it is the protective layer that will face damage and not the main body of the kayak.
5) Do Not Use Sharp Objects On The Kayak
To help prevent scratches or holes from developing on a kayak, the kayaker has to be very mindful of how the kayak is handled.
Objects that are sharp have to be kept away from the kayak surface.
This is extremely important when it comes to an inflatable kayak.
This is because inflatable kayaks are more fragile when compared to the plastic kayak.
When they are inflated, the chances of them getting damaged easily is very high.
That is why you have to make sure that you do not allow sharp objects to come in contact with them.
This will help protect the hull of your kayak from scratches and holes.
But when you make use of sharp objects in your kayak, your kayak can easily be destroyed.
6) Waxing Your Kayak
When you want to protect your kayak bottom from getting damaged, one of the ways is by providing a layer that covers it.
When the kayak is exposed to a condition that can damage the kayak, the kayak will not be easily damaged.
What will be damaged will be the protective layer that was placed on the bottom of the kayak.
This is where waxing of kayak bottom comes in.
With the use of a wax on the surface of your kayak, the wax creates a protective layer that protects the bottom of the kayak from damage.
This has been used by a lot of people to increase the longevity of their kayak.
It has become one of the best ways on how to protect the bottom of your kayak from scratches and holes in which a lot of kayak owners have adopted.
So if you really want to make sure that the bottom of your kayak is not easily damaged, you can make use of wax on your kayak surface too.
Further Readings