Inflatable boat
Encyclopedia : I : IN : INF : Inflatable boat
Visit Allianz Arena for the stadium commonly referred to as Inflatable Boat.
An inflatable boat is a light-weight boat constructed with flexible tubes at the gunwale. Often they are designed to be portable by being deflated and packed into a small volume allowing them to be used as liferafts for boats or aircraft or simply so that they can easily be transported to water.
Boats may have rubber floors, either plain or inflatable, or they may include steel, wood or aluminium sheets for rigidity. The tubes are made of rubberised, synthetic sheets of Hypalon or PVC to provide light-weight and secure buoyancy. The tubes are often constructed in separate sections, each with a valve to add or remove air, to reduce the effect of a puncture. Should one section puncture it is quite possible to repair it while still underway. More extensive inflatable boat repairs - due to pinholes, punctures, peeling, leaks or worn fabric - can be done easily and inexpensively in dry dock using new innovative two-stage synthetic rubber coatings (SRC).
Some inflatable boats have an inflated keel to create a "groove" along the line of the hull improving the hull's wave cutting and turning performance. Due to the weight, it is very easy to cause an inflatable boat to start hydroplaning, thus making it faster than the engine would allow when the hull is operating in displacemement mode. The rigid-hulled inflatable boat is a development of the inflatable boat.
Due to the speed, the portability and the weight, inflatable boats are used extensively in tendingoperations in port and at sea, recreational water skiing, commercial fishing, and in the military, for example, with US Navy SEALS.
Inflatables are commonly between 2 and 7 metres (6 to 21 feet) long and are propelled by outboard motors of 5 to 80 horsepower (4 to 60 kW). They are used as rescue craft, dive boats or tenders for larger boats and ships, luxury yacht tenders or for racing. Inflatables up to 6 metres in length can be towed on trailers on the road. Some inflatable boats may be 14 metres (45 feet) in length or more and may include inboard steering, luxury features and full cabins.
Subject to a great deal of wear and tear from the elements - both water and sun - inflatable boats are often simply replaced when they could be restored or even repaired. Products that aggressively adhere to the damaged Hypalon or PVC shell can fix virtually any surface damage through a unique chemical bonding between the undercoat and topcoat that permanently vulcanizes the two rubber coatings together to make the inflatable as good as new.
History
The first inflatable boats were probably animal skins filled with air.[[Citing sources citation needed]] In 1839, the Duke of Wellington tested the first inflatable pontoons.
In military use inflatable boats were used to transport torpedoes and other cargo. They also allowed troops to make landings in shallow water, and their compact size and storability made overland transport possible.
One of the models, the Zodiac, grew to be popular with the military and contributed significantly to the rise of the civilian inflatable boat industry, both in Europe and in the United States. After World War II, surplus inflatable boats were sold to the public. A version of this boat has been adapted by the Marine Mammal Center for use in rescuing injured marine mammals at sea.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.