Caring for equipment is critical for longevity (that’s long life like that really really old guy down the street).
Our products (especially our kickboards) are not necessarily the same as the ones swimmers are used to. This means that some special care should be taken to prolong the life of the equipment.
Different equipment requires different care. We detail our recommendations here, but these are not the only care tactics one can take. Feel free to be as gentle with your equipment as possible to make it last as long as possible.
Kickboards
General Care
Abrasion and color fade of the graphics should be reduced greatly due to the resin coatings and the UV inhibitors we use on most boards. Our proprietary processes ensure that the board graphics are not only sharp, but protected. Though numerous coats of protection ensure that your board will last years, these coatings are not full-proof. Boards slide numerous times along pool decks during workouts. These actions can wear the coats down.
As long as you use your kickboard for its intended purpose (kick sets during swim practice) and care for it, the board should last many years. (The company Owner’s original cheap spray painted Radioactive board still has clear and crisp graphics after over 15 years of pool use even lacking the resin coats used on all current model boards!)
While we hope you order many boards from us, we want those orders to be for variety not necessity.
Care starts with you. We try to do our part to prolong the life of our kickboards, now it’s your turn. The more you care for your board, the longer it will last. We want you to enjoy your board for many years of consistent training workouts. But *stuff* happens. And if or when it does we want you to utilize the easiest and least expensive way to maintain use of your board. For minor damage, contact us and we will help you with BoardCPR (resurrection of ‘your precious’), if possible.
Recommended Care;
– Keep away from extreme temperatures both hot and cold. NEVER expose to high temperatures or flame.
– Normal temperature range should be consistently maintained (-5C to 30C) for prolonged life. More hot-cold-hot-cold cycles reduce the life of the board. Materials can separate from prolonged temperature cycling.
– Keep away from UV exposure as much as possible when not in use to prolong the board’s life (Even enhanced UV Coatings degrade from overexposure. Just look at a boat hull that yellows.)
– Clean your board surface with clean (non-chlorinated) water. The glossy boards bead water off easily, but if required; dry with a cloth or towel.
– Even with enhanced coating and surface protection, your Radioactive Kickboard is susceptible to divots, dents, dings, and surface damage. Handle with care.
– Do NOT use your board in any other way than it was intended (for use during kick-set swim training). We do not warranty a board used for any other purpose, so don’t verify how many times your brother’s bike can run over it.
– Be careful to prevent impact! Don’t slam it on the pool deck (even if you are mad at coach for those 10×400 butterfly sets!). It doesn’t take a sharp corner, even blunt surfaces can damage your board. Remember, beneath the graphics and sheen coatings it is foam which (unlike your current board’s foam) easily dents.
Paddles
Only use paddles for their intended purpose; pull-sets during swim training.
The structural material of the paddles will last a long time, if cared for. Keep paddles from structural bending and flexing. The most important element of care is color fade which can occur if you reside in a very sunny region of the world and train outdoors. This is inevitable for most colored materials exposed to constant UV light.
Though the plastic is generally good for abrasion, extra care is required for mirror coats that can easily be scratched and damaged. Avoid surface scraping on these paddles.
General good care should enable your paddles to last many years.
