Preparing to store your boat for winter

speed boatWhen summer is over and you’re not planning on using your boat over the winter, you need to look at storing your boat properly. This not only protects you from theft and vandalism, but also from mechanical and other issues arising from storing your boat incorrectly. If you are going to store your boat in a secure facility like Big Box self-storage then there are a few steps you can take to make sure your boat is in the best working order when you’re ready to use it again.

Rinse and flush your boat

Rinsing and flushing your boat is really important if you are taking your boat out on saltwater. Make sure you thoroughly rinse the outside of your boat as well as the boat trailer. Salt is also likely to build up around the wheel hubs, brakes, and leaf springs, so make sure you rinse them well. This is because these parts are submerged in water when you launch your boat.

You will want to clean and flush pretty much anywhere that saltwater can get into your boat or trailer and cause damage. This includes flushing the cooling system of your boat with fresh water before storage.

Preparing fuel tanks

When fuel sits, it can go bad (yes, fuel has an expiry date) and so you will want to add all fresh fuel to your boat before storage. You can also help the fuel out by adding a special ‘fuel stabiliser’ to your tank. This is something that can easily be overlooked, especially since we don’t always see petrol as having a ‘use by date’ (FYI, fuel can start to go bad in as little as 30 days).

Storing batteries

If you are storing your boat for the winter, you might want to disconnect your battery and keep it on an appropriate battery charger in your shed or garage. This will help maintain battery life and mean you won’t turn up at the start of the next boating season with a flat battery!

General clean and dry

Send your boat into storage looking the way you want it to look when you take it out. Give it a good clean and make sure your boat is dry before covering it up.

Store your boat in secure facilities

Once you’ve done all of that, you can bring your boat to our secure storage facilities. When you store your boat with us, you can leave it over a long period of time (if you won’t be using it over the winter) or come and get it and bring it back as you please. Contact our team to learn more.

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