I have! All 5 kayaks done, baby! B)
I sold the ski boat earlier this year, so this is the first fall in quite a while that I don’t have either a sailboat or power boat. We had our typical pre-winter snap about a week ago where it dropped to 24 for a couple of nights. We’re now back into the high 30’s to low 40’s, with beautiful mid 60’s during the day. Perfect boat weather! I can now take out any of the current boats without a care in the world of whether it will freeze over night. 
So, what exactly do you do to “winterize” a kayak? I paddle year round in Ontario, Canada and do nothing different seasonally.
It’s a slow day for some
I brush the leaves off.
I just winterized the two paddle boards, the Epic18 and the QCC -10 by putting them on the truck roof - Heading to the sunny Florida Keys Wednesday.
I’ll have to kiss the six canoes good bye, but they are tucked snug in their boat barn with three more yaks
@Sparky961 said:
So, what exactly do you do to “winterize” a kayak? I paddle year round in Ontario, Canada and do nothing different seasonally.
I can’t speak for others, but for me it involves cracking a beer, slowly walking around them, and appreciating the fact that I’m not in an engine compartment pulling plugs and hoses.
Sadly, I “winterized” one this evening, which meant taking it to the pool so I could be certain of getting lower level storage straps. The other one is getting acclimated to winter and I’ll paddle that till the ice forms. Then it will go to the pool and I’ll keep the 14-footer in the porch for river paddling, if Old Man Winter allows.
I put 3 kayaks in the garage on their rolling rack and the 4th under the carport roof. Each has a cockpit cover and has hatches closed. All can be easily mobilized, but it’s time for snow and ski season. In addition, I lay my hands on each kayak and sing a hymn that starts:
“A spider will die
if it comes nigh …”
Cleaning the boat and checking over the gear to be paddle ready when the snowbird paddlers arrive. The high temps and humidity has started to break.
Winterize? …………… sure I stripped the varnish off, patched the glass dings, just completed the second coat of varnish, and will re-rig tomorrow for a trip on Thursday. Good for six more months.
To “winterize” my boat,
I scoff the gale’s deprave,
I buff the scars on worn gelcoat
with icy fractal lathe,
I loosen screws and my loose screw
as gunnels grab the frost,
like Viking Eric read (Son of an Eckil’s dread!)
with once drysuit in wave I’m tossed!
I count the remaining days of open water that also have “open” status administratively. Due to the need for staffing AIS inspections, our season here is artificially shortened to late October or early November. 
Winterization simply means cleaning and storing the kayaks.
SPRINGization will, however, require that I replace old perimeter lines and bungies, and try again to adjust the skeg. It no longer retracts fully even with the slider in retraction position. Do skeg cables stretch like bicycle cables do? This one is 8 years old.
I tend to Summerize mine by keeping them out of the summer sun until ready to go to the water! Just what is winter? >:)
Winter? That’s the time you prepare (mentally) for the reality of lifting an additional 10 lbs of ice on your boat at the end of a paddle. The “ize” part is what you wear during the paddle. That’s all.
@pikabike said:
I count the remaining days of open water that also have “open” status administratively. Due to the need for staffing AIS inspections, our season here is artificially shortened to late October or early November.Winterization simply means cleaning and storing the kayaks.
SPRINGization will, however, require that I replace old perimeter lines and bungies, and try again to adjust the skeg. It no longer retracts fully even with the slider in retraction position. Do skeg cables stretch like bicycle cables do? This one is 8 years old.
Coincidentally, have been messing the skeg cable in my Mystic. I doubt the cable can stretch much, being a full 1/8" thick and nearly twice the diameter of a bike cable. Likewise, my skeg was not retracting fully. I unscrewed the machine screw in the skeg control knob and then pulled out the skeg cable. Turned out I had probably run aground without fully retracting the skeg on a landing. The skeg cable had a couple of to 25-30 degree bends. This was enough to create binding of the cable within the tube housing to preclude full retraction. Took two needled nose pliers to work the kinks out as much as possible. I reinserted the cable through the tube housing and was able hand pull the cable to fully retract the skeg. What I am struggling with now is actually re-inserting the cable through the control knob and then into another tube housing in the front of the skeg control box. I managed to kink the front end of the cable trying to get through the knob and the front housing. Now I have friction and resistance in the front of the skeg cable…
More fudging around tonight.
sing
@Steve_in_Idaho said:
Winter? That’s the time you prepare (mentally) for the reality of lifting an additional 10 lbs of ice on your boat at the end of a paddle. The “ize” part is what you wear during the paddle. That’s all.
Ice is something I put in drinks and sometimes use on sore muscles.
@sing said:
@pikabike said:
I count the remaining days of open water that also have “open” status administratively. Due to the need for staffing AIS inspections, our season here is artificially shortened to late October or early November.Winterization simply means cleaning and storing the kayaks.
SPRINGization will, however, require that I replace old perimeter lines and bungies, and try again to adjust the skeg. It no longer retracts fully even with the slider in retraction position. Do skeg cables stretch like bicycle cables do? This one is 8 years old.
Coincidentally, have been messing the skeg cable in my Mystic. I doubt the cable can stretch much, being a full 1/8" thick and nearly twice the diameter of a bike cable. Likewise, my skeg was not retracting fully. I unscrewed the machine screw in the skeg control knob and then pulled out the skeg cable. Turned out I had probably run aground without fully retracting the skeg on a landing. The skeg cable had a couple of to 25-30 degree bends. This was enough to create binding of the cable within the tube housing to preclude full retraction. Took two needled nose pliers to work the kinks out as much as possible. I reinserted the cable through the tube housing and was able hand pull the cable to fully retract the skeg. What I am struggling with now is actually re-inserting the cable through the control knob and then into another tube housing in the front of the skeg control box. I managed to kink the front end of the cable trying to get through the knob and the front housing. Now I have friction and resistance in the front of the skeg cable…
More fudging around tonight.
sing
Drat! I probably did the same thing, landed without the skeg completely retracted. Never did it with the skeg deliberately deployed, but I suppose even a little protrusion could cause kinking.
I had previously loosened the screw in the control knob but did not remove it entirely. I was afraid I would not be able to reasemble if the knob fell off. I’m going to hold off on further attempts until after the reservoir is closed. The skeg still works (with more resistance than it had years ago). I wonder if something corroded between the cable and what appears to be the metal housing that the knob is attached to.
Good luck, and post a follow-up here, if you don’t mind.
Thanks for the info!
@pikabike said:
@sing said:
@pikabike said:
I count the remaining days of open water that also have “open” status administratively. Due to the need for staffing AIS inspections, our season here is artificially shortened to late October or early November.Winterization simply means cleaning and storing the kayaks.
SPRINGization will, however, require that I replace old perimeter lines and bungies, and try again to adjust the skeg. It no longer retracts fully even with the slider in retraction position. Do skeg cables stretch like bicycle cables do? This one is 8 years old.
Coincidentally, have been messing the skeg cable in my Mystic. I doubt the cable can stretch much, being a full 1/8" thick and nearly twice the diameter of a bike cable. Likewise, my skeg was not retracting fully. I unscrewed the machine screw in the skeg control knob and then pulled out the skeg cable. Turned out I had probably run aground without fully retracting the skeg on a landing. The skeg cable had a couple of to 25-30 degree bends. This was enough to create binding of the cable within the tube housing to preclude full retraction. Took two needled nose pliers to work the kinks out as much as possible. I reinserted the cable through the tube housing and was able hand pull the cable to fully retract the skeg. What I am struggling with now is actually re-inserting the cable through the control knob and then into another tube housing in the front of the skeg control box. I managed to kink the front end of the cable trying to get through the knob and the front housing. Now I have friction and resistance in the front of the skeg cable…
More fudging around tonight.
sing
Drat! I probably did the same thing, landed without the skeg completely retracted. Never did it with the skeg deliberately deployed, but I suppose even a little protrusion could cause kinking.
I had previously loosened the screw in the control knob but did not remove it entirely. I was afraid I would not be able to reasemble if the knob fell off. I’m going to hold off on further attempts until after the reservoir is closed. The skeg still works (with more resistance than it had years ago). I wonder if something corroded between the cable and what appears to be the metal housing that the knob is attached to.
Good luck, and post a follow-up here, if you don’t mind.
Thanks for the info!
I just finished. It’s working like almost new. So, I couldn’t quite straighten up the cable in the front end of the skeg control box. The cable kept bending as it re-entered into that front housing tube and created enough friction that I could not push the knob all the way forward to retract the skeg. Finally, I reached inside the cockpit and cut about 5" off the 8" long tube. This reduced enough friction to allow the control knob and skeg cable to slide freely, restoring full range of skeg deployment/retraction. However, I had to glue and tape up a piece of the cut-off tubing to the end of the protruding cable (where the individual wires act like needles) to avoid getting any accidental impalement in the future.
Anyway, I am glad that I didn’t end up having to replace the cable, as it was not too badly kinked and/or frayed. A 7’ piece of skeg cable from Harmony is around $20. Looking around, I found a more cost effective option is which is to buy 100’ of the same type of wire for deck cable fences. It’s less than twice the price of the Harmony cable and offers multiple repair. You’ll have to get a good bike cable cutter if you don’t already have one.
Good luck with your repair. Pulling out the skeg cable from the aft end was not hard at all (for my situation). I just have to pull enough (about 4-5’) to expose the kinks right near the skeg connection and to straighten that out. I then lubed to pushed the cable all the way back into the housing. Silicone lube spray helped.
sing
Mine are on call 24/7 so there is no need to winterize!
We winterize by cleaning up the “open water” boats. Sun isn’t so brutal on the Gulf for the next four months or so.
