NYC XYZ wrote:

: Ah, sorry...I'm a near-complete noob to this sport!

: If it was hardshell plastic, I wouldn't bother. But being that it's an
: inflatable I have...I don't want a hole to develop one day -- on the
: water, no less!

I have a inflatable with a foam floor that I take with on vacation because
it's lightweight... once I pumped it up and was about 100 yards out on Lake
Michigan when I started really getting wet... water temps had dropped enough
that the air was condensing... made a quick path for shore (and before I got
there, the side tubes were solid again).

I use 303 on my hardshell stuff as well... I think they spend as much time
on the roof of the car facing the sun as they do in the water (I store them
in the garage, so there isn't sun there). I have 5 hardshell kayaks and 3
hardshell canoes in addition to the inflatable (which I won kinda by accident
in a auction... I was always being outbid, so I'd bid low every time I saw
one... and eventually won... nice foam floor whitewater kayak...)

If you take a camping tent, set it up and leave it up for about 3 years...
see how the material feels afterwards... UV is hard on stuff...

--
John Nelson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Area Paddling/Fishing Page
http://www.chicagopaddling.org http://www.chicagofishing.org
(A Non-Commercial Web Site: No Sponsors, No Paid Ads and Nothing to Sell)