Basic Kayak Maintenance Guide for Everyone

Kayak is a great investment, as it helps you to get into one of the most exciting sports in the world. However, proper maintenance and care is essential to ensure your you make the most out of your kayak. Spring and Fall seasons are the periods where you need to roll up your sleeves for the maintenance. Still, a good inspection of the kayak after every session is just as important. It helps you spot any problems as soon as it arises. Moreover, before any major kayaking trip with your friends or family, do the overall check again to ensure a peaceful ride and wonderful experience

Here are some of the very basic and not-so-basic steps that you can take to ensure your kayak is maintained properly:

Basic Pointers for a Maintenance Check

1. Check the Hull :

   If you let your kayak sit long in the storage be it garage or in some corner of the basement, the hull could catch moisture over time and be damaged. Fret not, some heat will be enough to let it back in shape. Simply leave your kayak under the sun for a day, everything would be back in place.

2. Ensure all the hardware works well :

   Hardware is what keeps your kayak together. So be sure to carefully check if the perimeter lines, bungees are good. If your kayak has long exposure under the sun, UV radiation could damage the above hardwares. Do not forget the pedals, cables and pivot too.

3. Replace those faulty accessories

   During a trial-run of your kayak , take a note of what is bugging you. Maybe, the seat is loose, the pedal got stuck somehow. Inspect every detachable part that looks out of place or is too old. Prepare the new one to replace them when the time comes.

Useful Pointers for your kayak

• Using a Kayak Cart

  Kayak cart is a good addition for your beloved kayak. When you drag your kayak on the ground, bottom part can get scratched and prolonged scratching would make it thinner. Sometimes, prolonged scratching also leads to a crack. Well in that event just use a drill to make holes at the start and end of crack. After that just heat the cracked area and apply fabric tape on it.

• Let your kayak shine

  If you put your kayak in the sea for too long, the salt could corrode the hull and the mold could grow. Washing your kayak would prevent this corrosion. Kayak wash doesn’t need to be complex too. Simply spraying water everywhere in the kayak would be enough. Once in a while, a thorough scrub with mild soap water will do wonders for your kayak in the long run.

• Use a Kayak Sunscreen 😀

  Your kayak does need protection from prolonged exposures. The colours on your kayak will fade and the exterior plastic might deteriorate from longer sun-exposures. A very simple solution is to use Protectants after every session.

Conclusion

With proper care and maintenance, your kayak will last very long. If you have taken some steps to buy a well-researched kayak then do make sure to put some minimal effort into its maintenance as well. Just follow the very basic pointers laid out above for an enjoyable and fulfilling kayaking experience  every season.

This article is brought to you by Jimmy. Jimmy loves tools and tinker with various both personal and professional projects. He documents his experience and reviews about tools at his blog Air Tool Guy.