All good things must come to an end. When the fun is done, the work begins. If your fun happens in an inflatable kayak, then you ought to learn how to dry it before packing it into your vehicle and heading home.
Fortunately, drying out an inflatable kayak is really quite simple.
To effectively dry your inflatable kayak, first determine when you will next use it. If you will use it soon, towel off the water, pack the boat in its bag, and away you go. If you are packing your kayak up for the season, be certain to remove all the water, and let it air dry. Then clean and vacuum it, seal it to keep the critters out and store it off the ground.
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When will you use your kayak again?
Before drying out your kayak and packing it into your vehicle, ask yourself when you will use it next. The answer to this question will inform how you approach the process. In brief, the longer your kayak will sit unused, the drier it should be before it is packed.
Drying your kayak until next weekend
If you are a heavy user of your inflatable kayak and hit the water most weekends during the spring and summer months, then you can get away with a quicker operation and less attention to detail. Here’s how I dry my kayak if I’m going to pull it back out in a week:
1. Remove your kayak from the water and bring it to a stable place on land. Keep it inflated.
2. Gather the two towels that you brought from home. (You did bring two towels, right?) Not your best towels, mind you. Rather, kayak-worthy towels.
3. Remove the seats, supports, subfloor and bags that are positioned and stowed in the kayak. If they are wet, use a towel to dry them off.
4. While the kayak is still inflated, use a towel to dry its outer surface.
5. If your kayak has an inflatable floor, deflate it. Then, tip the kayak on its end or on its side (or both) to drain any water that might have gathered inside.
**PRO-TIP. If you find the interior of your boat to be particularly wet, use your bilge pump to remove any puddles and avoid prematurely soaking through all your towels.**
When you have emptied the majority of the water from the interior of the kayak, attack the rest of it with your driest towel.
6. Deflate the walls of the kayak and towel down whatever remaining water emerges during this step.
7. If you have time, let your dry-ish kayak sit in the open air for as long as is practical. This will go a long way towards drying out the many nooks and crannies that could still be moist. This is a luxury and not really a necessity.
8. Roll up your kayak. As you do so, towel off the bottom of the kayak so that it remains as dry as possible. Pack your kayak in its bag. Can you pack it tight enough so the zipper closes? I can’t. Ever.
9. You now have a couple of pretty wet towels. Pack them in the waterproof bag (a garbage bag will do) that you have brought for just this purpose.
10. Speaking from experience, here: When you get home, remember to remove the bag of wet towels. If you forget this step, it won’t be long before the trunk of your vehicle begins to smell like a high school boy’s locker during his semester with phys-ed.
Drying and packing your kayak at the end of the season
If you are drying out your kayak and won’t be using it again until next season, or at least for a long while, then there are some additional steps that you probably ought to pay attention to.
During extended periods of inactivity, the key to packing away your kayak is to make sure that it is clean and dry everywhere so as to avoid the buildup of mold and mildew.
1. Vacuum the nooks and crannies. Over the course of the season, your kayak will have collected pebbles, sand and dirt. It can be surprising to see how much debris actually collects in the crevices of your boat. Some people don’t mind the mess. I HATE IT! There is nothing better than starting off a new year on the water in a fresh, clean boat. Before I pack my kayak away for the season, I use a vacuum with that long, skinny wand attachment thing to remove all of the pebbles sand and dirt that have stowed themselves inside the nooks and crannies of my boat.
2. Clean the exterior. While inflated, apply inflatable boat cleaner spray to remove any stains and skid marks. Start with a clean rag and wipe down the walls and inside floor. Then flip the boat over, grab a new rag, and wipe the bottom of the kayak. It won’t take very long for this to dry.
3. Make sure it is completely dry. Now is the time to make sure every square inch of your kayak is dry. It is the crevices and folds that are most at risk of retaining water. Get into every spot you can find with a dry towel. Switch out towels before the one you are using gets damp.
When you are done toweling, let the boat air dry by either draping it over your vehicle (on a dry day), or even draping it over a ladder. Give your kayak sufficient time to completely dry.
4. Storing your kayak. When your season is done and your inflatable kayak is clean and dry, store it in a cool, dark place that is off the ground. Moisture often finds its way into items that are in constant contact with the ground.
Critters also find their way into stored kayaks. Assuming that you pack your kayak in its zip-up sack, then that will probably be sufficient to keep out vermin. However, it’s often difficult to pack a boat in tight enough to do up the zipper. Sometimes we just get lazy and give up on the zipper. If this is you (to be fair, oftentimes it is me), place the entire kit inside a contractor garbage bag and seal it up. You might think about dropping in a couple of dryer sheets to help everything smell fresh when you open it back up in the spring.
5. Vinegar should clean up mold and mildew. If you find that you inadvertently packed a moist kayak and it now smells musty and has grown some mould or mildew, don’t fret. Gently treat the offending area with a little bit of vinegar and you should be good to go.
The right amount of dry goes a long way
I like to be thoughtful about the ‘extent of dry’ that my inflatable kayak needs. My rule of thumb is this: If I am planning on using my kayak next week, then I make sure it is quite dry before packing it away. If I am planning on using my kayak next season, then I make sure it is perfectly dry before it is packed. This has given my inflatable kayak a long and healthy life. (The downside is that my kayak has performed so well that it is difficult to make the argument that I need to buy a new one. I suppose that is another discussion for another day.)