Many people, including myself, store their surfboards in their garages, but is your surfboard really safe in one?
Surfboards are usually made of polyurethane material which is sensitive to heat, but it takes temperatures above 130° before it becomes a problem. A typical home garage rarely gets that hot, so storing a surfboard inside one should not pose a problem.
Thatʻs not to say that a surfboard canʻt get damaged being stored inside of a garage. There are a lot of hazards inside of a garage, many of which can cause serious damage to your board.
So before you find some random corner in your garage to put your surfboard, letʻs learn how we can keep it safely stored so that it wonʻt get ruined.
Tips to Store Your Surfboard in the Garage
Keeping your surfboard in your garage may seem pretty straightforward, but I know a lot of people who have had their boards ruined while they were kept in the garage, mostly in ways that couldʻve been prevented.
A Surfboard Bag Will Save Your Boards
Most surfboard injuries happen because something “accidentally” fell on your board and caused a ding. Sometimes these dings are bad enough to keep your board out of the water until itʻs fixed. Which dings would cause that to happen? Read this post.
Surfboard bags are designed to provide protection against scratches and possible dings that may occur while storing your boards. There are a lot of high-quality surfboard bags available in the market that you can use to store your surfboard.
Some board bags are made with insulative, reflective material that will keep your board cool in hot weather. If you are worried that your garage may be a little on the hot side, store your board in one of these bags for added protection. The industry standard for board bags has always been Prolite Boardbags, which you can pick up here on Amazon.
Store Your Board On Racks
Getting specialized surfboard racks (like these ones on Amazon) to use for storing your surfboards in the garage can go a long way towards keeping them damage free. In fact, these racks can act as space savers at the same time, giving you more room in your already overcrowded garage.
By having your boards elevated in dedicated racks, “accidentally” dropping something on your favorite surfboard becomes a thing of the past.
Take Your Leash Off Of Your Surfboard
What does a leash have to do with storing your surfboard? A lot. I had my surfboard standing up in racks I built in my garage once. A nice safe place…usually.
One day I was walking along trying to get something, the leash of my boards was hanging out in the walkway, I get tangled in it and the next thing I know there are 3 surfboards on the ground with decent sized rail dings.
Ever since that day, I take my leash off my board and hang it in a special spot just for leashes. I also put a strap across the rack to act as a lock, for a little more added security of course.
How to Properly Store Your Surfboard?
Surfboards these days are not cheap. With many shortboards starting at $600 and longboards starting at $1000, learning how to store them so they could be well cared for just makes sense. Here are a few tips I learned along the way.
Don’t Leave Fins Attached.
If you do not use the board often and you have removable fins, then do just that. Take your fins out.
The thing I break most on my surfboards are my fins, usually out in the water at shallow spots, but a fin or two has been lost while storing my boards. Accidents happen. By not having your fin as a possible target, you minimize the chance of causing possible damage.
Don’t Leave It Against the Wall.
This is the worst. I know the longboarders at Malibu make it look cool by leaving their boards along the wall at the beach, but at home, it usually spells disaster.
Itʻs always just for a second too. “Iʻm just going to lay my board on the wall while I get the door open,” famous last words Iʻve told myself a few times. Sure enough, Iʻve had my boards fall over and get dinged up.
Try to avoid this.
Don’t Place Anything Above or Beneath the Surfboard.
Ideally, your surfboard has a dedicated spot where it can be stored away from other objects.
I put one of my boards in the shed the other day, right in the middle on the ground. A spot most people would consider safe.
Que the chickens, who got in the shed, made a mess of the place and dropped a few large items off the shelves and onto the deck of my surfboard, causing a few dings and scratches.
My surfboards get stored on racks that are above my head, where nothing can fall on them.
Store Your Board In A Dark Place
Surfboards hate the sun. Do not store them in a sunny location. A garage is a perfect place, but if all you have is someplace outside to leave your surfboards, be sure to read this post to ensure you keep your boards well protected.
The ultimate dark place would be to store your boards inside of a board bag. It is a lot harder for the sun or heat to ruin a surfboard inside of a board bag.
What Can Damage Your Surfboard?
Following are the things that can easily ruin your surfboard when you store it:
Heat
Make sure that the garage temperature or wherever you are storing your surfboard is moderate. Otherwise, it can cause the layers of polyurethane to dismantle and damage your surfboard. Using a board bag like this one can help mitigate the effects of heat.
Toxic chemicals
One thing that can be easily overlooked is the presence of toxic chemicals present in your garage.
To avoid any corrosion, you have to make sure that no chemical is placed anywhere near your surfboard.
That may be easy for most of you, but I do a lot of board repairs. One time I spilled some acetone on the deck of my board, it got inside of a ding and caused major delamination at the site.
Geez, now that I wrote this out, Iʻve had a lot of random things cause me to ding my surfboards. Who better to write this post then?
