Leaving my kayak outdoors in the winter

[kevinfre]

This winter will be my second as a kayak owner. Last year I had access to indoor storage, but this year I'm not that lucky. Since storage lockers are fairly expensive, and since I don't want to leave the boat on my roof rack all winter, I'm thinking I might just wrap it in a few heavy tarps and put it in a spot in my side yard where it's at least partially sheltered from snow. When I'm heading to a pool session, I can just pull the snowy/icy tarps off and load the boat onto my car.

Is there any reason I can't leave a plastic kayak outdoors in winter conditions? I figure if people actually paddle in the ocean in winter, just leaving my boat outdoors in my yard shouldn't be an issue. I'll probably pull the hatch covers off so that the rubber doesn't get brittle. Can anyone see anything I missed?

Cautiously yours,

Kevin

[RogerPollock]

Kevin,

I have a plastic Tempest. It gets used hard and put away wet - every time. Stored outside, no tarp, totally exposed, three years through every season and doing fine.

Fading, scratches, dents . . . holes . . . all badges of honor to displayed proudly. Use your boat and enjoy it, and don't worry about the consequences. Worry about paddling and having a good time. If it gets "brittle" from exposure or otherwise wears out before you WEAR it out, you're not paddling enough.

Have fun . . .

Roger

[subaruguru]

Kevin,

I have a plastic Tempest. It gets used hard and put away wet, every time. Stored outside three years through every season and doing fine.

Fading, scratches, dents . . . holes . . . all badges of honor to displayed proudly. Use your boat and enjoy it, and don't worry about the consequences. Worry about paddling and having a good time.

Have fun . . .

Roger

Since polyethylenes are uv sensitive, and thus apt to craze with time, I'd recommend keeping it out of sunlight, and simply upside down, both for dryness and to avoid oil-canning. I keep mine sitting on a flattened lawn chair. Throw a tarp over it if it has to be in the sun all winter.

[Bill Gwynn]

Yup, throw a tarp over it. Don't wrap it so tight that condensation will accumulate and not escape, just cover it to keep it from getting too much exposure.

[kevinfre]

Since polyethylenes are uv sensitive, and thus apt to craze with time, I'd recommend keeping it out of sunlight, and simply upside down, both for dryness and to avoid oil-canning. I keep mine sitting on a flattened lawn chair. Throw a tarp over it if it has to be in the sun all winter.

Thanks to everyone for your tips. Ernie: Not sure what you mean by craze. I assume oilcanning is some kind of deformation of the plastic. Can you give more detail?

Thanks,

Kevin

[EEL]

I have seen it said that you should be careful not to allow water to accumulate in the skeg box when storing upside down as a hard freeze can result in the expansive force of the ice cracking the box/causing leaks in that area.

Ed Lawson

[subaruguru]

Thanks to everyone for your tips. Ernie: Not sure what you mean by craze. I assume oilcanning is some kind of deformation of the plastic. Can you give more detail?

Thanks,

Kevin

Kev,

Oilcanning is what it sounds like, concave dents or deformations caused by pressure and heat.

Most often a problem with longer plastic 'yaks left on roof racks, but I've got some on my thin layup KP Jet just from water weight.

Crazing refers to microfractures due to stress and time, leading to complete cracking...mostly a problem for pipelines. It is exacerbated by compromises in the plasticizer-ethylenes mix when breakdown proceeds more quickly than expected due to uv exposure. For us it means your plastic boat will become less "plastic" and tend to shred or crack due to brittleness over the years if left in sunlight. Coating PE with 303 before shaded storage is indeed good prophylaxis.

[bethany]

I tarp mine all the way around, having lost one foam seat to squirrels. . . .