# Boats exposed to the weather?



## Waterwings (Nov 23, 2007)

Just wondering how many keep their boats outside during the "bad" weather months, and do you cover them, or are they exposed to the elements?

My Tracker stays outside (won't fit in garage), and it stays covered unless it's being used. The Lowe boat has been forunate to be in the garage since I bought it, however, with winter here, it's soon to be outside and covered also. The wife's new car will be taking the boat's place in the garage during the winter.


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## Jim (Nov 23, 2007)

I think if you cover them and winterizes them you will be fine. A buddy just leaves his outside half coaverd. He washes it and vacuums it in the spring and goes.


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## Waterwings (Nov 23, 2007)

One of the things I like about having the Lowe jon is..............no outboard motor to winterize! \/


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## dampeoples (Nov 23, 2007)

I've never had a garage to store mine in, I had one of those freestandign garages with just a roof once, and mine's been fine. I keep it covered most of the time. There's really nothing to go wrong, honestly, the paint might fade, and the plastic consoles and such might get sunbleached, but that's about it. Mine has wood in it, not even treated, but I treated it myself with Thompson's Water Seal, been holding up for 10 years now


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## bassboy1 (Nov 24, 2007)

On my 12 footer, the outboard comes inside, and sits on its handy stand (see below), and the trolling motor gets wrapped in a small tarp, and the drain plug is pulled, but that is about it. Unfortunately, we don't get to fish much, so I let it fill up with leaves, and empty it before we go. 

The Alumacraft is sitting outside, uncovered, on foam blocks, as it is stripped to the bare aluminum. 

The Lund is sitting under 2 leaky tarps. The first one is one of those stupid gray tarps, and it is rapidly disintegrating, leaks, and has a couple holes. It has a second blue tarp, which is made of a better material, that sustains UV wear better, over a couple of the large holes. It still leaks a lot, but seeing as we aren't finished, there isn't any carpet yet, and I don't _think_ it does any other damage, as the nose is tilted up, and the plug is out, but it hasn't come uncovered in almost half a year. That is what happens when life takes over boating time.

EDIT: Stupid idiot here forgot to put in the picture.


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## Captain Ahab (Nov 25, 2007)

My boat stays in the Boatel - it is stored on a dry rack system at teh Marina except when I am using it. 

Sea Gulls tend to drop clams and then clam dropping on any uncovered boat!


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## Waterwings (Nov 25, 2007)

Well, it poured rain most of the day, so I didn't get out fishing at all today. Instead I spent the afternoon in the garage removing stuff from the jon boat and prepping it to move outside. Removed both trolling motors, both batteries, lifejackets, and worm binders. Had to go to Walmart to get a boat cover support pole, then got home and started putting the cover on. Took an old closed-cell foam sleeping pad and cut it into pieces to wrap around sharp corners before cinching the cover down. 
As soon as I pickup a pack of the tarp tie-down thingees (insert fabric through hole and attach outer ring, then tie-down) and add them to the cover she'll be ready to go outside. The boat cover only has 3 loops on each side for tying down, which is hardly enough to keep the wind from getting under it and causing some major flapping. We get some pretty good winds here and I learned the hard way on the other boat, and had to replace the cover due to a good tear from the tm prop.
Oh here's a tip I learned by trial-and-error. The rounded tops that come with the boat support poles will slide under the cover, so I bought a roll of the inexpensive shelf non-slide liner stuff ($1), and cut enough of it to wrap across the top and around the sides of the domed top. Then wrap around the excess below the top with duct tape to secure it. The shelf liner material grips real well against the cover fabric, and I haven't had a support pole slip since.  

Go to Hot Deal forum for tip on a cheap way to keep your boat windshield from rubbing the boat cover :wink:


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## Captain Ahab (Dec 20, 2013)

Both my tin boats remain outside all year round.


In the winter I remove everything but the OB motors 


I love Tin


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## Country Dave (Dec 20, 2013)

_We're pretty fortunate down here in South FL in the sense we don't need to winterize,

But the summer sun will dry up, tear up and bleach just about everything if its exposed to the direct sunlight for any length of time. A "Good quality" cover works great if you don't have a garage, carport or overhang. _


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## PSG-1 (Dec 20, 2013)

I usually have my johnboat with the outboard at the dock about 300/365 days a year. My jetboat sits on a trailer in the yard, but is usually not covered, unless I park it under cedar trees, then it gets covered immediately, because cedars have got to be the most filthy tree on earth, especially around February-March when they start dropping pollen. I keep all my vinyl seats wiped down with 303 protectant (that's some good stuff!) 

I don't winterize any of my boats, or jet skis, just make sure to blow all the water out of the PWC engines by revving them, and anything that sits over winter, at least once a month, I crank it and run it for a few minutes, just to circulate fuel through the system, and distribute some oil in the cylinders, as well.

Now, for my boat that sits in the water nearly year-round, at least 3-4 times a year, it gets hauled out, flushed, and the lower unit lube gets changed. While it's out, I check the zincs, as well as the bottom paint, and address anything else that may need attention. Also, at least once a year, whether I think it needs it or not, the water pump gets changed in the OBM.


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## BigTerp (Dec 20, 2013)

Kept mine uncovered for the first year until I got done with my modifications. Now it's covered with a heavy duty, UV resistant tarp on a makeshift support system. By makeshit I mean 2 sawhorses, a 5 gallon bucket and some 2x4's. Works well though. Allows me to keep my seats, decoys, hunting chairs, etc. in the boat when not in use.


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## lckstckn2smknbrls (Dec 20, 2013)

My boat is used for water fowling and stays outside year round in northern Illinois. At the end of hunting season I remove the blind material and cover the boat with a tarp using the blind frame for support.


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## JMichael (Dec 20, 2013)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6835#p6835 said:


> bassboy1 » 24 Nov 2007, 20:57[/url]"]On my 12 footer, the outboard comes inside, and sits on its handy stand (see below),


Is that one of those older model "walkers" you modified? :lol: Very creative. =D>

My boat stays on the trailer in the weather year round. Some times it's half covered for a short time until the next high winds blow the tarp off.


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## Stumpalump (Dec 20, 2013)

Leaving it outside is one of the main reasons I keep going back to a tin boat. Fooling with vinyl, teak, carpet, rot and boat covers gets old. I put a coat of wax on the engine cowl and call it good.


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## Downtown (Dec 22, 2013)

on my tracker v-14 I take the 9.9 off and hang it on its stand in the shed and flip the boat upside down.
my tracker griz 1648 gets the motor winterized and covered with a cheap boat cover, then it gets wrapped in a 20x20 heavy duty tarp.


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## BloodStone (Dec 22, 2013)

* This is a (admittedly petty) pet peeve of mine. I see these guys with absolute gorgeous fishing boats I'd almost kill to get my hands on & then the dimwits leave them outside UNCOVERED! :shock: They can spend booko bucks on a new boat but, can't afford a lousy $20.00 for a tarp-SERIOUSLY?? [-X 
Anyway, I have 2 boats (for now :roll: ). The 15' Meyers semi-v that I finished modding out last spring (& have yet to post pics-busy busy busy!) is stored at my fishing buddy's barn. We made a deal, I help him fix his barn (aka add supports & closing up the ends etc..) & I get free winter storage. The boat still has a tarp on it though (bird crap, mice, racoons etc..). I taped up clumps of dog hair all inside the barn & placed shallow cups of moth balls under the tarp to discourage any 4 legged squatters from taking up residence. I'm not worried, his place is LOADED with cats. My other boat is a 12' aluminum Feathercraft that currently sits upside down (with a tarp draped over it) on a 4'x8' flatbed boat trailer that I take it to the lake with. The trailer doubles as a boat trailer & as a utility trailer (works out nice). The smaller outboards I own (outside of the 25hp on the Meyers) are all stored inside my garage on a single heavy duty steel constructed mobile outboard motor stand.*


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## RStewart (Dec 23, 2013)

Mine was in the garage for the first year. Then I wanted my workshop back so I moved it outside under an old bass boat cover. When that thing finally got too many holes in it, I went to academy & bought a pretty nice body cover for $50. It worked well for a couple years until the chickens started getting up on the boat & they tore it up. Then went to a cheap brown tarp I had lying around. It shredded easy cause it was in bad shape. That was about 4 months ago. It's been uncovered since then. I don't like it & I'm a moron for not getting another cover for it. I had planned on redoing the decks this winter is part of the reason for not getting another cover yet, but that may not happen. I will be getting another cover from academy for it.


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## lovedr79 (Dec 24, 2013)

I put the TM in the garage and cover the boat. battery is in the garage on a battery tender. made make shift supports for cover. she sits in the yard until spring.


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## DanMC (Dec 25, 2013)

Our boat unfortunately sits outside,right now it's got easy 2" of snow on it !. Yes it's covered with two covers,one is the trailer/hiway type and the other is storage type boat cover but purposely oversized to go over the outboards (the Honda outboards are covered in their own two piece covers (soft padding made by Duck Marine right here in Canada). Battery is on trickle charger (in the boat), seats upright so in the spring water can run off, drain plug out so hopefully all i got to do in the spring is vacuum good,replace oil (upper and lower) with new synthetic ,wax the Hondas,ahe painted area on the Lund,grease what needs to be greased and good to go. I hate to leave the boat outside at -40 but the rest of the vehicles (Honda,Toyota,BMW) share the cold and heat equally....


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## lckstckn2smknbrls (Jan 6, 2014)

[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=336925#p336925 said:


> lckstckn2smknbrls » Fri Dec 20, 2013 5:32 pm[/url]"]My boat is used for water fowling and stays outside year round in northern Illinois. At the end of hunting season I remove the blind material and cover the boat with a tarp using the blind frame for support.


Update...
The amount of snow and wind have been too much for the tarp covering my boat. When it's not life threatening cold out I'll shovel out the boat and cover it up again.


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## Kismet (Nov 1, 2014)

Found this thread by doing a search. 

It's that time of year again. 

I got a surprise, this year's 'project boat'--on which I did no work this year--is an F-7 Alumacraft. Last year's project was an Alumacraft Model A. Over the winter, I just pulled the A boat and trailer in a garage stall at an angle next to the "good" boat, the model F. Fine and dandy, and I used the center space for the car in the winter.

Turns out, the F-7 and trailer are wider than the A boat and trailer were. So the car goes in nicely enough, but I can't open the doors once I'm in there. #-o :? #-o 

Grrr.

Right now I've got a rubberized canvas cloth on it, from a torn flat-bed semi trailer, but it doesn't quite reach. Under the canvas I put a sheet of that cheap blue plastic tarp, and underneath all of that, a 30 gallon drum to raise the level so the rain/snow will run off. 

I'm just wondering if I should just pull the darn thing out behind the shed, and take the F-7 off the trailer, and flip it onto a couple of blocks of wood. I'm old, so "flipping" is not as casual a decision as it once was, and truly, since I didn't work on the F-7 this year, there's not much rain and snow can do to it, but it just rankles to let it sit out exposed in the elements, you know?


Any other innovative Tin boat storers?

Thanks.


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## Bob E (Nov 1, 2014)

Simple and light makes storage easy.


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## juggernot (Nov 3, 2014)

here's how I store mine, 2"pvc and a cheap tarp.


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## BigTerp (Nov 4, 2014)

The above is pretty much what I do. But I use 2 old sawhorses, a bucket I had lying around and a 2x4 for my tarp support. The tarp is an extra heavy duty with UV protection I bought of ebay for $30. Has held up well. Unless my boat is soaking wet after fishing or hunting, it gets covered the instant it is cleaned up until next trip. If it is really wet, I usually let it sit uncovered with the hatches open to give everything a chance to dry out before it gets covered up. Being that my tarp provides UV protection I'm able to leave my seats, decoys and other gear in the boat without worry of things fading or getting beat up by the sun.

I spent WAY to much time and effort modifying/fixing up my boat to let her sit in the elements with no protection.


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## Kismet (Nov 4, 2014)

Thank you, Folks, nice work.

Since I didn't do any work on the F-7, and haven't installed seats, I'm going to use the tarps as described, and just because Wisconsin occasionally throws a foot or more of heavy snow, I'm going to top the tarps off with barnyard tin, 4x8 sheets of metal used to cover pole shed roofs. That should distribute any weight and still let the rain and such sheet off with the tongue of the trailer elevated.

I was hoping for some miraculous solution.  I don't think I'm going to keep on doing a project boat each summer, but were I to do so, I believe the easiest way to use the one "boat bay" in the shed would be to put together a scaffolding and get the neighbor to bring his skid-steer over and lift the second boat over the top of the first.

Enjoy Winter, as you can.

:mrgreen:


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## juggernot (Nov 5, 2014)

My bad, I used cheaper 1.5" not 2" pvc for my frame and only the T's on the floor are glued. The top Ts and 90s are just slip fitted so I can pull it apart and toss it in the yard when I take her out. I tried to make it tall enough to sorta clear the side console windshield and help rain and snow slide off. When snow/ice has built up on my setup I just slap it w my hand and it all slides/falls off. I imagine if it was taller-steeper pitch and the tarp pulled tight all around some snow would slide off by itself. I get about 3 years out of the cheap silver/uv safe tarps. I leave the front/back slightly open so air can circulate under the tarp.


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