AdvancedElements.com

[jvnig026]

My first two outings with my Advance Frame Convertible were pretty messy. The kayak had quite a bit of sand and mud in it afterwards. Honestly, I couldn't manage cleaning the kayak out by myself while it was assembled. I found that the dirt would get stuck between the outer cover and the main tube and there was no great way to drain the kayak afterwards. The water and dirt would just slosh around as I tried to maneuver it out of the kayak. Once I learned how to completely disassemble the kayak, giving it a thorough cleaning was much easier. Most of the time was spent waiting for the individual parts to dry because it was not sunny. On my next outing, however, I will make a better effort to keep debris out of the kayak since I don't want to disassemble the kayak every time. For example, I will rinse my feet in the water or dry them with a towel before stuffing them in the cockpit. Next time, for the inside, I might forego the hose in favor of a dry towel like you all have recommended.

The one thing that helped me that I don't think has been mentioned yet is a wet dry vac**m. Since there are no drain plugs, fill the outer cover with water to loosen the dirt and suck it all up at once. Cleanup using the vac**m was an absolute breeze.

PS I hope it's okay I circumvented the spam word filter; I couldn't think of a synonym for vac**m (suction machine?)

[davedomingo]

Great tip on the wet-dry vac. I have one!

For my last outing, I laid two bath towels between the inflatable floor and the hull of my AF Convertible before inflating everything. The idea was to have the towels absorb water so it wouldn't slosh into those stiffener pockets in the bow and stern. (I'm obsessed with keeping water out of those things!)

It actually seemed to work pretty well. The towel below me was wet; the towel below my young son stayed almost completely dry, I guess because all the water ran downhill to the space under me. Very little water anywhere else.

Next, I might try sewing larger towels into sleeves that wrap all the way around the inflatable floor -- top and bottom. (They wouldn't cover the whole length of the floor, just two sections approx. 2 feet long each.) That way, more water would be caught on the top side before it could get under the floor, and in theory some of it would evaporate. It would also be easier to keep the towels in position if they were sleeves.

[JCOOLEY]

Good ideas.
Here at the office we also use a wet/dry vac to get out any dirt and debris. Typically we will lay the kayaks out, pulled apart to let them dry out first and then we will vac out any sand, dirt etc that remains. Usually we will leave them out for a couple of days in the warehouse, even in cold weather, to let them dry. It definatley helps if it is sunny outside because they will dry out in an hour or so and we just wipe out any remaining water with towels.
Another way to keep out the water, if you haven't done so already, is to have the zip on deck along with spray skirt/s. This eliminates the water from coming in. Most water that gets into the kayak is from drip off of the paddle so a good splash ring on the paddle is also helpful along with a paddle that is of proper length, 230-240 cm, because you are not lifting the paddle as high as you do with a shorter paddle.

jeremy