The history of inflatable boats

The history of inflatable boats

The history of inflatable boats goes back to 880 BC, when King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria ordered his army to cross  a river, making use of animal skins that were greased, and were inflated continuously to keep them floating. During the Ming and Sung dynasties inflated skins that were made airtight, where used for that same purpose.

The first inflated boats

In 1839 it was the Duke of Wellington, who was the first to test inflatable boats, similar to the way we know them today and in 1840 it was the Englishman Thomas Hancock, who designed the first inflatable craft, as he describes in “The Origin and Progress of India Rubber Manufacture in England”, which was published a few years later. Lieutenant Halkett designed a round shaped inflatable boat in 1844, which served explorers well during several Arctic expeditions. The French had their own version of an inflatable boat designed by Clement Ader. Inflatable water vessels were devised by several pioneering individuals, building up to 1913 where the German Albert Meyer came up with a new, and better design. His company called and marketed it as “pneumatic boats”, which were used by the German Army.

Modern Inflatable boats

Great Britain, holds paternity of the first inflatable boat. In 1919 Reginald Foster Dagnall tested inflatable’s at a lake in England and improved upon it until well in the 1930s. This device was the basis for the inflatable life raft. In 1934 Pierre Debroutelle of France came up with a similar craft.

Rise of the inflatable’s industry

Pierre Debroutelle’s boat was the first to be certified by the French Navy. This sparked the military inflatable boat industry as well as its civil counterpart. The boat as designed by Pierre Debroutelle was designed in a U-shape and connected by a wooden transom, that was patented on the 10th of August 1943. This model was the direct ancestor of today’s pleasure boats.

Today’s inflatable boats

Ever since, new models have hit the market from countless manufacturing companies. The time that an inflatable boat was a little feature on a pleasure yacht is long since history. Today’s inflatable boats can range up to 45 ft, or even longer. Fiberglass and aluminum now make up the hulls, and luxury parts like cabins now are part of the designs. Some so called inflatable boats are not as inflatable as the name would suggest. They are normal vessels with the only thing inflatable on them is the collar around it to keep it afloat.

Inflatable boats are becoming more popular every year, we surely have not seen the last of them.

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