Storing and Care Of Your PDRacer Hull

As you can see from the hundreds of ducks built, and the thousands of other homemade boats, that plywood is a top choice material.

The biggest enemy to plywood boats, is standing water, and freeze / thaw cycles. This one didn't make it through it's first winter for that reason. The chine wasn't sealed, no cover, snow sat on her side then melted, soaking water into the edges, then it froze (with the water in the edges of the ply) and thawed a couple of times. After a long winter of freeze / thaw cycles, the plywood fell apart. Notice the nails are still in the chine, and pieces of ply are still glued to the chine.

*** This is not a total loss -- you could repair this by pulling the nails & bottom off, sand down and install a new bottom.

Seal the edges

Sealing the edges of all the plywood really helps stop water from penetrating. Best is to use fiberglass cloth soaked in epoxy. See the BucketEars essay series for more info.

If you don't want to use fiberglass, then atleast apply epoxy or glue along all edges and try to get the glue to soak into the edges of the plywood, so it plug it up, so water won't get in.

On trailer - Flip Upside Down

If you must store her outside, then flip her upside down and cover her. This will make the snow and water roll off the bottom and you won't have standing water.

On the side, in the garage

One of those super neat hidden features of a flat sided boat, you can store them on their side.

Keep her off the ground (off the dirt)!!!
If left on the ground, the bacteria that grows in the dirt will infest your boat and cause cancerous rot. You can use a couple of blocks or saw horses to keep your hull off the ground.

Stand her Upright In Corner

Just like on her side, she can stand on her stern transom. Joe Holtz keeps his PDRacer #28 standing upright near the front of his garage. Notice the blocks on the ground, they protect the gudgeons from being bent up while it is standing there.

Hard Cover

I made a hard cover from a piece of 1/8" paneling that my neighbor threw in the trash. I cut the cross beams under it with a little curvature to stiffen it up a bit. It works pretty good, when I am done sailing, I just put the cover on top of the boat and I am done.