Storing To Stay Calm

4 Steps for Preventing Dry Rot While Keeping Your Boat in Storage

20 September 2016

Lois King

If you are placing your boat into storage during the off-season for the very first time, it is high time to learn about the risk of dry rot. Despite its name, moisture actually encourages the growth of the rot fungus that causes dry rot to spread through your boat's structure. As the fungi attacks the wooden components in your boat, the structural integrity of your vessel steadily declines. After dry rot begins, you may notice your boat components turn gray and brittle as they disintegrate into dust. Eventually you will also see cottony or mushroom-like growths in areas with accelerated decay. To keep this problem from destroying your boat in a single storage season, complete the four following preventive steps.   

Step 1: Dry Your Boat

When you initially pull your boat out of the water, you must thoroughly dry every nook and cranny. As water hits the deck surface, it tends to drain through the floorboards and flow into the bilge. You must open up the hatch in the floorboards to access this area and manually remove the standing water. Take a close look at the flotation foam in the hull as well. If the foam looks wet, use a shop vacuum to pull the water out of the foam material and leave the bilge completely dry.

Step 2: Install a Bilge Drain

Any bilge water you may have missed will need to drain out on its own during the storage period. If your boat remains exposed to the elements while in storage, the rainwater accumulation will also need to drain out as it pours into the bilge area. To facilitate drainage and keep the fungal spores from thriving, you will need to install a bilge drain in the lower section of the transom. The drain plug keeps your vessel seaworthy as it traverses the waterways and allows for continual drainage while in storage.

Step 3: Apply Anti-Fungal Agents

Although antifreeze has been a long-standing favorite for boat owners trying to prevent dry rot, it is difficult to clean off the boat's surfaces and is highly toxic to humans and animals. Due to these reasons, boat owners have been turning toward purposely formulated anti-fungal agents in recent years. The most popular anti-fungal agents used to prevent dry rot are borate salt solutions and copper powder coatings. These coatings also help pull moisture out of the wood and create a shield that blocks the future absorption of standing water or humidity. Since rot fungus prefers wood with moisture levels higher than 30%, these products are highly effective at preventing dry rot.

Step 4: Raise the Bow

For an extra layer of protection, make sure your selected storage facility utilizes platforms designed to keep the bow raised higher than the stern. Keeping your boat at an angle allows moisture accumulation to actively flow out of the bilge drain throughout the storage period. If you missed any application areas while applying the anti-fungal agents, this step will help ensure your boat's wooden components do not absorb moisture at the levels required by the rot fungus.

Returning to Your Boat in Storage

In addition to performing the above steps at the beginning of the storage season, you should visit your boat once a month to check for the signs of dry rot and remove any moisture you may find. These routine visits allow you to stay ahead of fungal growth to keep dry rot at bay. Without these visits, you could return to a vessel in serious need of repair right at the start of the boating season. Since dry rot causes the wood to decay into brittle shards and dust, there is little you can do to rectify the problem once it begins. Instead, you would need to perform a full overhaul of your boat to make it seaworthy once again.  

Talk to a company such as Sentry Mini-Storage Inc for more ideas. 

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