Opinions/experiences on leaving a Inflatable dingy in the water over the warm seasons?

[zar]

I recently bought an inflatable and tried to research it thoroughly beforehand but I'm constantly bombarded with accidental findings.

It's manufactured by Aleko, material is "Polyester reinforced and anti corrosive coated PVC" There's a lot of debate on PVC vs Hypalon on various forums which I didn't stumble upon until after I purchases pvc. I live by the water and planned to dock this thing and use the hell out of it this spring/summer before taking it out. So the problem comes with things growing on the bottom and degradation of material, preventing it and it's ability to be constantly sitting in the heat and I saw suggestions of painting it with some special inflatable boat paint.

I can fix the covering strategically to ensure water runs off the cover.

After more research I decided painting the bottom to the water line is probably a good idea. I've seen much debate.. some say do it and use a rubber thinner so the paint adheres to the boat (think of what they use when fitting PVC pipes for plumbing) which sounds like a terrible idea to me, to some suggesting several coats of paint to some saying "it doesn't matter pvc is crap" and even some suggesting a gust of wind can flip a inflatable boat easily and it shouldn't be docked? (anyways I planned to dock in horizontally to one piller and one cleat on the dock) And finally others suggesting their homemade remedies of hydrolic to citric acid to easily clean the barnacles off after season.. it's a lot of info and there doesn't seem to be much clarity/general rule about it other than a general discouragement of leaving them in the water. I figured somebody around here would have the correct advice for this situation from either knowledge or experience.

If it's just a matter of extending the life for as long as possible vs not, the convenience of docking really can't be beaten for me, my last fiber glass dingy took a good hour of prep to get everything reading, in the water, hauling a heavy outboard back and fourth because I was just pulling it out the water. Now on the other hand if your advice is that docking it would be catastrophic for longevity and risky based of experience I'll have to reconsider.

Anyways sorry for being all over the place, thanks for your responses in advance.

 

[GWguy]

Quick story: A friend loaned me his Zodiac for a trip to a lake upstate NY. Same deal, reinforced PVC, etc...

Left it tied to the beach overnight. Winds came up, rubbed it on the rocks. By morning there was a hole thru it. I doubt it would last more than a month or two the way you plan on using it.

 

[black dog]

Zodiac also owns Avon and bombard inflatables. Zodiac uses a material they call Strongguard or something like it, I don't believe that hyplon has been made by DuPont for a few years now.
I lived on a sailboat in the early nineties for a few years and I started with a Zodiac with a wood floor and a soft bottom. A few weeks of towing it behind me ( it didn't tow well ) and it just wasn't comfortable I traded it in on a 10' rib Zodiac and a 25 HP Johnson. About every week when I scrubbed the sailboats bottom I would scrub the dink also.
It was in the water when I was sailing near the coastline and up on the foredeck when in bluewater. I never painted the bottom.

 

[zar]

Quick story: A friend loaned me his Zodiac for a trip to a lake upstate NY. Same deal, reinforced PVC, etc...

Left it tied to the beach overnight. Winds came up, rubbed it on the rocks. By morning there was a hole thru it. I doubt it would last more than a month or two the way you plan on using it.

Interesting story, luckily I do not plan on storing it near rocks. I imagine rubbing against rocks all night would cause significant damage to most types of boats (I'm assuming they were decent sized rocks for erosion prevention).

I guess I should invest in something to tout my outboard around easily and keep the ding out of water. I've learned a fundamental rule of boating "always be prepared to spend a few more hundred dollars" and "when budgeting take the amount you think you're going to spend and multiply it by 3" I enjoy it enough to justify it though.

 

[zar]

Zodiac also owns Avon and bombard inflatables. Zodiac uses a material they call Strongguard or something like it, I don't believe that hyplon has been made by DuPont for a few years now.
I lived on a sailboat in the early nineties for a few years and I started with a Zodiac with a wood floor and a soft bottom. A few weeks of towing it behind me ( it didn't tow well ) and it just wasn't comfortable I traded it in on a 10' rib Zodiac and a 25 HP Johnson. About every week when I scrubbed the sailboats bottom I would scrub the dink also.
It was in the water when I was sailing near the coastline and up on the foredeck when in bluewater. I never painted the bottom.

Interesting, I got a similar story on reddit

When I lived on my sailboat, I had a dinghy I kept tied next to it. There was a strict rule about no dinghies anywhere on the docks, so it lived in the water 100% of the time.
Once every couple of weeks, I grabbed a scrubby kitchen sponge and cleaned it. I could haul it up onto the dock by myself since it was only a 9' rigid boat and just flipped it on its face and washed it down.
You'd be surprised how quickly that stuff grows. Definitely keep up on it whatever you do, but keeping it out of the water if it's an option is best. If not, invest in scrubby kitchen sponges.

 

[black dog]

I would also suggest covering the dink when you are not using it.

 

[GWguy]

Interesting story, luckily I do not plan on storing it near rocks. I imagine rubbing against rocks all night would cause significant damage to most types of boats (I'm assuming they were decent sized rocks for erosion prevention).

It was just the beach shore. My point was that it doesn't take much to damage those boats. The cleats are PVC/rubber and if you use them to tie off, the rope can cut thru with repeated wave action, unless you take steps to protect it. Any prolonged abrasion. Just something to consider.