Inflatable boat
From Free net encyclopedia
An inflatable boat is a light-weight high performance 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 sheet and provide a large amount of 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.
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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 tending operations 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 commonly 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 easily be towed on trailers on the road.
Evolution of the Inflatable Boat
The first inflatable boats were probably animal skins filled with air. 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.
Since then, inflatable kayaks, sailing inflatables, inflatable canoes, sport boats, and belly boats have become available. Some inflatable boats run 45 feet in length or more and may include inboard steering, luxury features, and even full cabins.da:Gummibåd fr:Canot pneumatique no:Gummibåt