Winter outdoor storage of boards

[ittiandro]

I live in area where winter temperatures are below 0 Celsius for 4 months, often dropping to 15-20 below ( Celsius) .
Usually I store my board in the living room for the winter. However I bought a 2nd board ( an old 12 'Mistral longboard ) and I have no room inside.
The only place is in the back yard, under the deck. It would be under a wooden roof ( the deck floor),but the area would be opened on two sides, completely unheated and subject to snow drifting from the outside. I usually keep my kayak outside and I never had any problems, but I was wondering if there could be a problem with the boards, perhaps due to their material. Can they crack? The best I can do is to store it wrapped in a SUP bag, but this is all. Can I do it safely?

Thanks

Ittiandro

[rswabsin]

I've been storing my sailing gear in an unheated garage for over 20 years with never a problem from freezing temperatures (and it regularly drops well below 0 Celsius for at least 2 months). So as long as your boards don't have any water inside, you should be fine. BUT... the biggest problem you may face are field mice. They can get inside you board bag and eat away the entire padding inside the bag and may even go after the foot straps. So you may want to remove the straps before storing away and maybe use a cheap tarp to wrap you board in (instead of a good SUP bag) just to keep it clean and sort of water/snow proof during the winter.

Rob

[DelCarpenter]

Ditto what rswabsin said, especially about protecting the board from water getting in. A friend's old Windsurfer was totally ruined by water that got in before below freezing weather.

The temperatures where we live frequently get down to -23 Celsius (about -10 degrees F) while -29 C (about -20 F) is not rare. My boards are outside under a tarp on a trailer all winter. A couple of years ago we had about -36 C (about -33 F) which was a record.

[isobars]

Kept my boards outside but under an open roof blocking rain and direct blazing sun, on and in my dedicated WSing van, for many years. Temps ranged from > 100F to < 20F (New Mexico desert heat to heavy snow and frost), got sailed in warm water many of those same days (e.g., giant hot tub in January blizzards), never touched the vent plugs, never had any problems.

YMMV.

[ittiandro]

[Sailboarder]

Make sure there is no water in it, here in Quebec.

My old 84 board is filled with water, and it delaminated and cracked on the side over time from freezing. I repaired it and replaced the wet foam areas in it a few years ago. There is still water in it since it's almost impossible to dry, but it's more humidity than water. The board is still heavy. But it didn't crack back nor does it seems to delaminate.

So I guess a little water is probably not a big problem, but it's a gamble.

My cousin has the same board. His was stored outside every winter since 85 and it held up perfectly.

[DelCarpenter]

ittiandro, NE Iowa about 75 miles south of MN is where I live.