Mold during storage

[Desdinova]

I was storing my boat on my property for three weeks until I was took it in for winter storage. I put the boats canvas cover on and then placed a larger tarp over the whole boat to prevent bleaching. When I opened up the boat this weekend, the fishing rods where covered in mold. No where else in the boat did I find any mold, not even the bait wells, which had some residual water in them.

This is a Lund Pro v with the center rod storage. I was able to clean the rods up pretty easily. Has anyone else ever experienced this? What would be a good way to avoid this in the future? Do I need to take the rods out every time I need to wrap it up for a couple of weeks?

I appreciate any advice/help.

Thanks,

Des

[PerchJerker]

I try to leave my rod lockers and storage hatches open as much as possible, whether my boat is in my garage or under the cover.

[tunrevir]

You can buy mold/mildew inhibitors from various boat/rv dealers that you place inside the boat during storage. That should take care of your problem. Put a few of these inside the boat prior to covering and make sure that the interior surfaces are as dry as possible before covering it for prolonged periods of time.

Tunrevir~

[marine_man]

make sure that the interior surfaces are as dry as possible before covering it for prolonged periods of time.

This is critical to avoid Mold during storage - let your boat air out for a couple days at a minimum with all hatches open and the tongue jack cranked up as high as possible with the plug pulled prior to covering the boat for the winter.

If you put it away with moisture in it, and your tarp seals it up pretty well there's no place for the moisture to go.

marine_man

[Deitz Dittrich]

I personally would not store my rod and reels in my boat during the winter.

[davesfriend]

A couple bags of charcole should help also, that way you can have a BBQ when you take it out of storage.