How To Store Your Inflatable Boat Over Winter
How To Store Your Inflatable Boat Over Winter: Boatworld UK
With winter approaching, here at Boatworld, we thought we would compile some tips on “How To Store Your Inflatable Boat Over Winter”. Improperly stored boats can cause all sorts of problems from mould and mildew to rodent damage.
Inflatable boats will be made of either PVC ( Boatworld boats and most other boats) or Hypalon (expensive so you need to look after it). Both of these materials are fabrics and are somewhat delicate if improperly treated.
How To Clean Inflatable Boats
When you have decided the summer is over and it is too cold to take the boat out for a few months. You need to know How To Store Your Inflatable Boat Over Winter. A good clean is the best way to start the storage process. Boatworld sells a number of boat cleaners from August Race (linked to the Boatworld site) which are perfect for inflatable boats. The best overall product to use would be August Race Liquid Rib UV. Have a look at the picture below which shows before and after use of August Race. The results can be staggering. (pictures can be found on our website)
However, there are cleaners that you should keep away from your boat. Never use solvents, acetone, bleach, ammonia or any highly alkaline cleaners ( anything with a PH greater than 11) on the tubes of your boat as this could cause irreparable damage. As well as not using the cleaners above you should also not use abrasive scrub pads or steel wool to clean your inflatable. All of the above products will weaken, damage and discolour the fabric as well as attack the adhesive glue which holds your boat together.
Soaps and detergents leave a sticky residue on your boat which attracts and holds dirt. Soap scum is food for mould and mildew so if you want to look after your boat properly make sure you spend a little bit extra on some boat cleaners. This will save you money in the future and improve the longevity of your boat.
Washing Inflatable Boats
When you are washing your boat a hosepipe with a bucket of warm water with your prefered boat cleaner in is all you need. No matter how dirty your boat is, do not use a pressure washer. Pressure washers can cause massive destruction to inflatable boats by ripping the seams off the boat. No matter how tempted you are, do not use a pressure washer. This could seriously damage the seams.
Store Your Boat
Firstly make sure your boat is dry after being washed and cleaned. Make sure you store your boat in a clean and dry place that has no dramatic temperature fluctuations. When choosing a place to store your boat, somewhere like a shed be careful of rodents (Rats and Mice). They like to have a good chew on fabrics. If you are worried about rodents set some humane traps in the storage facility a few weeks before you put your boat in just to see if you catch anything.
Another preventative technique would be to leave the traps set while your boat is in storage. Make sure you put something tastier than the boat as the bait and you should be fine.
In Conclusion
The best way to protect your investment is to follow the steps above. Keep checking on your boat while it is in storage. If the worst does happen and you discover a puncture or hole in your boat they usually can be fixed. Stormsure Boat glue is what we use, the best way is to buy an adhesive patch. Then use some extra glue just around the edges of the patch. You can also usually take your boat back to where you bought it from, and they will give you a professional patch job, but obviously, that won’t be free.
We hope this has helped you with storing your boat. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.
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