Usage

The first and the main point of using an inflatable boat is putting it afloat. It should be done carefully and the shore and water bottom must be checked beforehand, because shards of glass, snags or other litter that can damage the boat may be there. It is important to pay close attention while boating on rivers where the trees are floated or which become shallow in summer as well. It also concerns the way back, one should put the boat afloat cautiously as well as to moor.

Features of using inflatable row and motor boats.

While rowing with oars the rower should sit with his back towards motion, and while rowing with paddle he sits forward motion. He should hold the oar handle without strain. It is easy to operate inflatable boat - to know the basics of rowing in enough. As inflatable boats tend to yaw and adrift it is better to row with short paddles so that the boat glides on the water and its course-keeping ability improves. When the wind is strong or the flow is fast one should tie oneself to the end of the fore painter, especially when boating alone, and if the person falls overboard, the boat won’t float away.

Every owner of an inflatable boat knows that with one anchor it is unstable and setting of two anchors is quite difficult. But it is possible to make the boat stable with one anchor: pass the halyard through the side rings on the buoyancy tubes and tie it to form a triangle with one side about two meters long, on the untied side the anchor is fastened, move the halyard through rings until the wind or the flow hold the boat. It gives the opportunity to set the boat at any angle to the wind or the flow and to widen the area of fishing.

When building up speed on inflatable boats with engines of 14,7 — 22,1 kW (10-15 h.p.) the running pitch angle reaches 30° and it seems that the boat is going to capsize but soon it starts planning and the running pitch angle decreases to 1 °30 and the boat goes very softly.

When using motor boat one should consider that due to slight inertia of movement if the boat stops instantly, wave can swamp the boat through the aperture in transom. So stop the boat gradually decreasing the speed. Do not go directly towards big waves, it is better to place the sides at the angle to the waves. Turn the same way — gradually decreasing the speed — because the wave can saturate the boat through transom if the boat turns abruptly.

The speed of motor boat depends on its load, power and engine rotational frequency. Increment of engine power causes increase of the speed despite of the load. But the load changes influence only low powered boats. Load influences the speed of middle and high powered boats less because they are able to perform planning even when completely loaded.

Owner of inflatable motor boat should know how speed, fuel consumption, power of engine and haul are connected and should be able to choose the optimum ratio, that depends on the conditions and purposes of the trip. Increase of engine rotational frequency is not always proportional to the increment of speed, haul and fuel consumption.