Huntsville Marine Muskoka Boat Storage

HUNTSVILLE MARINE PROFESSIONAL CARE BOAT STORAGE...BEST PRACTICES ONLY! (Why Huntsville Marine)
 
At Huntsville Marine and Recreation our Professional Muskoka Care Boat Storage Program is an comprehensive 6 to 8 month care and maintenance program designed to protect your boating investment the whole storage period long. The competition may think that it is simply good enough to shrinkwrap the boat and leave it out in a field or drain the motor and put the boat in a barn.  At Huntsville Marine we have learned over our 40+ years of experience in the marine business that this simply will not protect your investment and your boating enjoyment for the years to come.  While so called discount storage operations may offer the potential opportunity to save your family a couple of dollars initially, what we have learned and encompassed into our program will save you significant repair costs, increase reliability and maximize your resale value in the long run!  Over 700 Families in Muskoka trust Huntsville Marine and Recreation with the service and storage of their boating investment.  The marine business in Ontario amoung the major marinas is very competitive environment.  Huntsville Marine provides outstanding value plus best pricing and programs amoung our competition.  Huntsville Marine has been recognized as The Best Marine(a) in the Huntsville and Lake of Bays region for both 2010 and 2011. 

Professional Boat Storage starts when your boat arrives at our facility.  Either you bring it to us, or one of our courteous truck drivers will pick it up for you.  You can be worry free about our towing equipment as we use, ministry of transportation certified late model towing vehicles with class IV hitches, and late model trailers that are serviced regularly and sized to fit your boat.   Once your boat is in the capable and caring hands of one of our five full time factory trained technicians we move to the next stage of our program and that is the winterization.   Huntsville Marine does not utilize part time or part trained personnel to winterize your marine investment.  Todays complex marine engines require regular factory training of mechanical personnel to ensure best practices are carried out completely and correctly each time with no shortcuts.  Any fuel left in the boat is properly stabilized using best ethanol practices with the important step that your boat is put in the water and run (dryland marina's can't run your boat  (they may only put stabilizer in the tank) so the stabilizer can be completely moved through the fuel system including vital internal engine areas .  Your engine in then winterized, where a customized special blend of storage lubricants is run through your engine to keep vital internal components lubricated and also moisture free for the storage period according to OEM standards. The boat then receives a full chemical handwashing of the bottom and sides to remove any biological or hard water or iron deposits that may have accrued during the summer.  A complete inspection of the running surfaces is also completed at this time.  Your boat is then either shrinkwrapped and stored in our secure storage facility, or put into one of our new owned buildings where it will rest worry free for the winter in proper controlled conditions necessary for the protection of your equiptment. 

Huntsville Marine's Professional Best Care

At Huntsville Marine we provide a level of storage service that encompasses best industry practices to ensure your marine investment is winterized, maintained and delivered in the spring which provides you the peace of mind you deserve.  Many of our storage customers have been with Huntsville Marine since the year they purchased their family boating investment.   At Huntsville Marine we do not just offer storage services....we provide industry best care since 1962!

1.  Huntsville Marine provides a comprehensive storage system to protect your marine investment throughout the long winter months.  Our programs are not based on Southern Ontario or even further south winter conditions.  Muskoka during the winter months is cold sometimes very cold and frequently has high snow loads.  Proper best care practices are a must to ensure the overall continued appearance of your boat plus doing all that is required to maximize its structural lifespan in combination with providing mechanical integrity.    

2.  Huntsville Marine utilizes its own storage facitlites only.  We do not rent barns, farmers fields,  areas of high salt contamination or in other words...places your marine investment  should not be!  We provide 50,000 square feet of specialized inside storage space with areas designed for both trailer and non trailer boats.  Are facilities are secure, monitored year round and yes we are open year round! 

3.  Huntsville Marine utilizes only full time fully factory trained staff to protect your investment.  Unfortunately many storage operations use minimum wage part time staff with only limited training to winterize and store your investment.

4.  In addition to the owned storage facilities,  Huntsville Marine has the right heavy lift forklifts, tools, manuals and facilities required to do the job right and provide the care required in handling your boat properly each and every time.  In fact Huntsville Marine has over 3.0 million dollars invested in storage equipment, tools, equipment and facitilites.  Huntsville Marine has the factory trained staff to ensure any required service work is completed professionally and water tested before spring launch.

5. Huntsville Marine offers the experience and knowledge of providing best care since 1962.  Huntsville Marine was one of the first storage facilities to utilize shrink wrap and was involved in seting up best care practices some 30 years ago.  Huntsville Marine has not suffered one single mechanical winterization failure since 1962.  Huntsville Marine pioneered dry engine storage procedures that replaced the environmental poor and environmentally dirty glycol wet storage systems.  We use only best green practices for boat storage.    

Huntsville Marine's Top 10 Recommendations For Winter Storage

1.  Plan your boat storage period ahead of time.  Many families leave the cottage a Labour Day with the intention of returning for some great fall boating and perhaps to view fall colours.  This is great!  Make the trip and use the boat!  Fall in Muskoka tends to be wet and windy plus many lakes have reduced water levels.  If it looks like the fall schedule is not going to allow you to enjoy the boat make arrangements and have it stored.  Late September weather tend to be cold and wet and you may have to cross the lake plus take the dock out in low water conditions.      

2.  Try to have your boat in the driest condition possible before it is stored.  This is your responsibility not the marinas.  The good storage facilities will be handling significant number of boats, motors and trailers arriving every week.  Dropping your boat in when there is 50 to 100 in front of you and asking to be done right away is not going to happen.  Huntsville Marine normally sees up to 100 boats alone on the Thanksgiving weekend.  

3.  Remove all food, sweets, clothing, beverage containers and garbage.  These is very attractive for the pesky creatures such as ants, mice, squirrels and heaven help you racoons.  Remove all clothing, towels and leave the storage areas as clean and empty as possible.  Ask your storage company on what type of ground your investment will be stored.  If its is a grassy area (problems with mice and other criters) or right along side a highway say 11...go somewhere else.

4.  Leave the gas tank as empty as prudent.  In the Muskoka's with the low winter temperatures condensation is not an issue from October to April.  If you have been using road fuels, this fuel contains up to 10% ethanol.  Ethanol does have the unfortunate ability to absorb water over time.  More fuel in the tank means more ethanol to absorb moisture when the temperature rises in late spring.  Those who are filling gas tanks to the limit are wasting time and money as it is impossible to completely fill the tank.  You may marginally reduce the air water interface but there will be no net advantage.  Add to this that the shelf life for gasoline octane level is 12 days from the point fuels leaves the factory and you are not doing your boat any favour for the spring startup.  We recommend minimal fuel for storage properly stabilized then add as much fresh gas as possible in the spring before the first boat ride.  Use a good quality ethanol compliant fuel stabilizer which should be added and run through the engine for at least 15 minutes.   

5.  Clean the exterior of your boat before it is put in storage.  A good quality wax application is also a great idea for UV protection particuarly in shrink wrap applications.  Generally speaking red, yellow, copper, orange and green boats do not do as well under shrink wrap applications for mainatinaing hull colour with shrink warp.  Spend the time to carefully clean and inspect the running surfaces of your hull.  In many cases the hull will require an acidic hull cleaner.  These work well in most cases but require specific safe handling practices.  When in doubt have professional do it for you!  Do not use fiberglass hull cleaners (normally Hydrochloric base) on aluminum pontoons.   These require a different type of cleaner.  
 
6.  Carefully consider your storage options.  Ask questions and know what you need and what you should be having done and consult your owners manual.  Those who concentrate solely on price will be disappointed.  Having a boat storage sign does not make you an expert or provide a guarantee that the right processes will be done.   Those facilities only offering shrinkwrap are not necessarily doing you a favour.   At the end of the day the absolute best storage practice is inside storage due to increased ventilation, reduced snow loads, less weathering and reduced exposure to UV radiation.  Treat all storage boats with a mould preventative.

7. Examine your trailer including the tires and load bearing surfaces to make sure they are adequate for the task at hand.  Your boat receives its best full hull support in the water.  All trailers provide less support than water.  Poor bunks, rollers and overall fit will damage your boat and perhaps significantly.  Roller trailers with few exceptions are not recommended for long term boat storage.  Having the cheapest trailer for storage is not prudent and remember if the trailer is on any road it must meet required safety standards or you risk heavy fines, liability and warranty issues.

8. Do not store your boat on grass, near long grass areas, near fruit or nut bearing trees or anywhere bird seed is close.  A hard bottom sandy or gravel area is preferred.  Normal boat tops are not designed for winter storage or snow loads.  

9.  Shrink wrap boats do not transport well and the wrap may mark the outer hull surfaces. If you are having someone wrap your boat make sure they know where the boat will be stored and how far you are traveling with it.  Shrink wrap has limited ability for snow load that is why it should be applied with a high peak on the boat.  The wrap must be kept clear and the area around the boat also kept clear for an area for the snow to falloff the wrap and onto the ground without building up on the sides of the boat.  Clear plastic wraps do not provide any UV protection.

10.  Remove shrink wrap absoutely by June and have additional venting of the cover starting in April.  When the sun and warm temperatures come, condensation is an issue and mould may be your worse enemy in a hurry.  Interested in reducing waste and recyucling?  First choose insice storage and if you are going to wrap with plastic...what happens with the plastic wrap after it is taken off?  It is cheaper to send it to landfill than recycle.  What are they doing?

Problems With Boat Storage...Frequently Asked Questions

I am the General Manager and the owner along with my wife of Huntsville Marine.  At the marina most days during the busy periods I spend considerable time on the phone with customers and prospects.   This keeps me in the loop with present trends and makes sure we are providing the type and quality of service our customers expect.  I also take a significant number of call each spring from boaters with problems they feel are originating out of storage when they have stored the boat themselves or use competitive services.  Our storage process are leading edge, detailed and designed to prevent problems before they occur.   In order to achieve our desired customer satisfaction level staff are instructed not to skip steps, take short cuts or use cheap inferior materials. Even with shrink wrap we utilize a higher grade and thickness than most of our competitors.   In all of my years in this business I have never had one person ask about the grade of wrap used or whether biological guards are used.  Here are most of the frequent conversations regarding self inflicted or cheap rate storage problems and solutions if they are available. 

1. Black Spots!  I have picked up my boat from marina X down the raod and I have a number of black spots on the vinyl and some localized discolourization of my boat top.  How Come?  In most cases these black spots are mould caused by trapping moisture against the vinyl or top when the weather and the sun raises the temperature inside the boat during Indian Summer or in the spring months.  A boat put a way in a wet condition really really is not a good thing.  This problem is common amoung the discount shrink centers as proper technique including the application of biological protection agents was not done.  Particularly prone to occur in shrink wrap proceedures where the canvas is left with the boat where the boat tops are normally folded up moist and placed over the vinyl without treatment.  This compounds the mositure against the vinyl are provides a great place for mould to grow.  Proper boilogical protection costs our marina about $15.00 per boat.  You pay for less you get less.   The fix to remove the spots is sometimes a product called Spray Nine.  Make sure you follow the instructions and do not ge this product in your eyes.  Sometimes a soluton of  hydrogen peroxide and water will also work.  The stains on the vinyl if left long enough and frequently on poor quality vinyls utilized to reduce costs on entry level boats cannot be removed.  Spot discolouring of boat tops particularly Sunbrella or similar materials cannot be fixed and will not normally be considered a warranty item.  Boats stored inside with proper ventilation rarely have mould issues unless the boat was in a moist inside partially heated environment.  Below zero temperatures inhibit mould growth.  Mould spores are everywhere...your boat has them now and always will have them. 

2. Pink Spots!  This was a common problem back in the late 80's and early 90's and has once again surfaced in the last couple of years.  It is associated with a particular mould and vinyl backing used by various manufactures most frequesntly in low end boats.  Unfortunately there is no fix once this has occurred.  It is most commonly found on seams and the older white vinyl boat tops.  Manufacturers are not normally offerring warranty on this problem.  I saw and spoke to a number of persons with a high end center consold boats with this problem recently on Lake of Bays where the manufacturer was admitting some fault.  Huntsville Marine has not seen or suffered from this problem on any boat line we represent since 1990.  The prevention is proper application of biological agents, dry boats going into storage and not utilizing shrink wrap on open style boats.

3. Chafing!  Very common on shrink wrap boats paticularly where poor technique is used or the shrink is not extended below the colour on the hull sides.  It is caused by the shrink wrap beating against the hull sides, wakeboard towers or windshield tops and/or decals .  This is one of the major drawbacks of shrink wrap storage.  Prevention is by limited movement of the boat after wrap, limiting windage over time on the hull when wrapped and the step almost always skipped placing protective materials under the wrap on damage prone areas.   The fix requires buffing of the damaged areas.  Almost with out exception no one asks how the boat is being wrapped or should it in fact be wrapped for storage.  Inside storage 100% eliminates this problem and about 85% to 90% with wrap and proper application tecnique.

4. My Hull is Aging Rapidly or the Finish Looks Dull!  Unfortunately common to shrink wrap boats as they recieve twice the UV radiation as boats placed in inside storage.  One is inside protected from the suns rays and the other is exposed.  Entry level boats are more prone to this dulling as they utilize inexpensive gel coats that may have little of no built in UV protection agents added during construction.  Purchasing higher quality boats and utilizing proper inside storage techniques throughout the life of the boat will reduce this problem.  Once it has occurred the boat has to be buffed or wet sanded and buffed to return to like new luster.  Buffing removes some of the gel coat so you can only go so many times to the well and a boat that has been buffed and sanded must recieve a high quality wax or equivalent application each year there after.  Entry level build quality boats such as Bayliner, Tempest, Tahoe should always be stored inside.  A good coat of wax on at least an annual basis helps too.

5.  Hull Damage!  I could write pages on this subject!  Most major marina's on the water on the major waterways have very professional staffs and here in Muskoka have been inoperation for decades.  Rough handling of customer boats normally only occurs where proper equipment is not available.  One of the key pieces of equipment is a marine fork lift with proper rubber protection applied to the forks in the areas that  may come in physical contact with the hull.  If the facility you are dealing with has a fork lift that looks like it participated in the Second World War...this is not a good thing.  Further if the facility does not have a fork lift...how are they handling the movement of boats without trailers?  People call and say they have damage at the back of the boat near the transom...some gel chips.  These are most likely caused by the forks working on the hull when it is lifted.  The forks must be coverd with rubber or equivalent and the fork lift must have forks that can be properly spaced to prevent this (side shift).  Boats are lifted by fork lifts from the bottom not the sides so damage on the hull sides did not come from a fork lift.  Boaters do not see the running surfaces of their boats when they are in the water.  The marina if it properly cleans the hull bottom does.

6.  Slugish Operation!  The stored boat will be out of running order for some six months.  On the fuel side this is why it is so very important that proper fuel management is in place as well as proper and complete mechanical winterization.  All boats and marine engines require annual service as detailed in your woners manual.  For a sterndrive/inboard outboard, true inboard, four stroke outboard or direct injection two stroke outboard a simple startup after winterization or just an oil change with Brand X Oils is not going to provide optimium performance.  Noraml service requirements are once per year or 100 hours which ever comes first.   On a Mercruiser or Volvo sterndrive a simple oil change with cheap oils will not maintain your warranty obligations...so if their is a problem...you are on your own!  Any marina that does not at least discuss service requirements with you...is placing you and your family in an unfourable situation.   You wanted the boat for family fun and adventure...have the fun and adventure when you want and for the maximum time by doing the required service at a place equipped to handle your boat and engine!       
 
For information about getting your boat out of storage, and to schedule your Out of Storage Appointment, please click here.