Today, I asked our executive editor what parts of winterizing are most often overlooked. Without hesitation, he said, “cookie crumbs!” I just laughed, but he was serious.
“I can’t tell you how many times you think you’re going to have one more weekend,” he tells me, “and then the weather turns. So you pull it out of the water and winterize it, but your kids left some half-eaten cookies or something under the seats. Winter happens, and mice are crawling around, just trying to survive. So they eat the cookies and nest in your seats. When spring rolls around, you’ve got to replace your seats before you can get her out on the water. It’s annoying and expensive.”
I jot down his story and then turn back to what our favorite winterizing products are. But he’s not done!
“I’ve got one more story for you,” he says. “And it’s a good one.”
Perched on the edge of my seat, I’m ready for whatever comes out of his mouth next.
“We were lined up to use a brand new, top-of-the-line tower boat for photos at an event. The owner was going to come with the boat but couldn’t last minute, so someone else dropped it off at the marina where we’d meet up with it in a couple days. It was just parked in the parking lot, so it had a cover on it. Well, turns out the guys that had it before us were on a fishing trip and didn’t clean out the inside … They didn’t leave any fish, it just smelled like fish! And after being out for a day, vultures, looking for fish, circled and tore through the wrap and the seats. When we got there, the boat was totally ripped to shreds.”
Moral of the story: don’t forget cleaning up the inside of your boat when you head out to winterize this weekend!
