Cleaning a sit inside?

[stuartredman1]

What is the best way to clean my streak kayak which is filled with leaves. I now will be storing it in a shed instead of on location. Anyway It has tons of leaves and stuff in it.

Also there is styrafoam (excuse my spelling) in the nose and rear. Is that needed because it is very annoying.

Thanks in advance.

[rcurry]

One of my kayaks also has those Styrofoam type water displacement inserts. My particular boat has a single screw on the topside that helps secure each one in place. The screws can be backed out so the inserts can be removed and cleaned very easily. Personally I wouldn't leave them out as they are installed for a safety reason and are part of the boats design.
I usually wash mine out while it’s at a convenient height on the back of my truck. (No bending over, standing on my head)
I remove all gear and large debris like rocks, leaves and trash so my drain plug doesn’t get clogged. I usually wash the kayaks with the same stuff that I use to wash our vehicles with. A long handle car wash brush makes it easy to reach the inside of the boat. If the kayaks have been in some really nasty water and had muddy feet funk up the insides, after the initial rinsing the bulk of the gunk out, I will actually fill the boat partially and use it like a wash bucket. I also like to use scented kitchen and bath cleaner to get that fresh smell back. I really hate to paddle a stinky boat. I park my truck on an incline with the boat’s drain plug at the low end so rinsing and draining the boat and my truck bed is easy.
Another little clean tip: I keep one of those thick chunky 4x6 inch $1.00 car sponges in my boat. I just stuff it under my seat handy for quick clean ups of tracked in sand, mud and water that come into the kayak from getting in and out when swimming. I've even used it in place of hand bilge pump before. When finished paddling a lot of times I use the sponge to wipe down the waterline of the boat while it’s sitting in the water right before I load it to go home. Those sponges are cheap, can be stuffed almost anywhere and come in handy. Maybe some day I’ll even get one of those real kayak sponges…lol

[kingsbay]

Welcome to the community stuartredman1, like rcurry said, they are there for flotation and should be kept in the boat.

I can't think of anything else to add rcurry's process, except maybe get your kids to help ... mine would't clean it the way I would on their own ... but having some help is always nice.

[keith]

In my experience there is no really easy way to get large debris (like leaves & small sticks) out of a kayak. However, since leaves generally float, you might try flooding the boat and hoping that most of the leaves flow out. Unfortunately, the odds are that you'll still be left with some leaves that you'll need to remove by hand.