Why you need to clean your dinghy
So you want to clean your dinghy? Hey, Get your head out of the gutter, I am talking about your inflatable. Hey, wait, seriously, your tender, RIB, Dink, you know, your car if you live on a boat. If you have neglected your dinghy for a month or two, you know how fast that the surface can get nasty, moldy and stained. It shocked me at how fast that happens.
Ignoring our Dinghy
While we worked on the major boat’s refit, I didn’t do any of the standard stuff I typically do with the Dinghy. Because of that neglect, it looked gray and moldy as well. I attempted to clean it with soap and water and couldn’t get it looking good again.
after sitting for almost 7 months
Products for cleaning the dinghy
I bought some stuff online that is designed just for this task but in typical fashion, I stored the gallon container somewhere safe. So safe in fact, I can’t find it. 🙂 I still look forward to trying this product as it is designed for all kinds of inflatables and caters to the boating community and white water rafting community. It not only cleans but also acts as a protectant so when I do finally find and use this, I will certainly report on how it works also.
So I tried another method that I saw someone else do and it worked pretty darn well. After doing a bit of research on Hypalon and the MSDS sheets for certain cleaners, I have come to some conclusions. I wouldn’t use this method on a regular basis but a few times over the lifetime of the dinghy will be ok. At least from my research, I believe it to be. We use a general spray degreaser that you can order online (or frankly may be in some stores).
Alternative methods to clean Dinghy
We wet the surface, spray on the degreaser and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. Then we scrub with wet sponges that are made from melamine. Most people know this as “Magic Erasers,” but you can buy them in bulk and much cheaper. I went through about 8 of them doing the dinghy. At $4 per 2 sponges with the name brand getting these off brand ones are a great way to go. The off brand ones are only about $25 cents apiece. (Links Below)
We used these sponges and this degreaser but you can likely use any that you may have handy. Be prepared to use several to many sponges so getting the cheap ones are the way to go. They are also great for getting fenders and rub rails clean also. Well worth having a stash somewhere on any boat.
In the end, this worked really well as you can see in this picture. We could have even done a better job getting it clean. As you may have been able to tell from the pictures, our plan was not to actually clean the dinghy that day. It started raining while we were working on the steering so we caught some water in buckets and washed and rinsed it that way. Having a hose handy would have likely provided an even better result.
I hope you find this article useful and that it makes your dinghy shine again.
See another article on how to diagnose, troubleshoot and correct tight steering on your outboard. This do it yourself method will likely save you some money as well as keep you from replacing parts that you end up finding were not needed and you still have the issue.