Storing your Skis or Snowboard for the Summer
Storing your Skis or Snowboard for the Summer
As the snow melts it is unfortuantely time to start thinking about hanging up the ski or snowboard stuff for the winter and dragging the mountain bike or wakeboard out of the basement. It is important to properly store your skis or snowboard so that it remains in great condition for next season. This includes some basic base and edge maintenance which will help save you a lot of money in the fall, as professional tunes can run as much as seventy-five dollars.
The most important thing to remember when packing up the gear is to make sure everything is dry. Some people throw their skis or board back in their bag at the end of the last day of riding and forget about it for the summer. The mositure in the bag and on the skis or snowboard can cause serious rust damage and corrosion over the summer. In this case, a professional tune is often required to remove the rust from the edges, and based on how rusty they are you can get charged extra for excessive rust removal. When you get home (or back to the hotel) you want to remove the skis or snowboard from the bag. Seperate your skis and dry them off with a clean shop (or hotel) towel. You don't want to use a nice towel as grease from the bindings can ruin good towels. As far as snowboards go, if you are really particular about your gear you may want to remove the bindings to make sure everything gets completely dry.
Ideally you would use a coarse waxing brush to remove any excess wax or dirt from the base(s). Some suggestions are brushes with bronze, black nylon, or white nylon bristles. Once the dirt and old wax is removed from the base you want to melt on a thick coat of wax with waxing iron. Some people use old clothing irons, but those with holes are not recommended. Also, do not use an iron that you still press clothes with, as the wax left on the iron will ruin clothes. The best type of wax to use is a warm temperature ski or snowboard wax like a Swix CH8 wax or One Ball Jay X-Wax Warm wax. These waxes are relatively inexpensive and will be fairly easy to scrape off in the fall. You don't want to scrape off the wax as it will protect the base(s) and keep the P-tex base material hydrated for the summer. If P-tex is left unprotected for the summer it will dry out and become chalky looking. When P-tex dries out or becomes oxidized, the only way to completely rehydrate the base material is to have the skis or snowboard stone ground by a professional wax technicain to open the pores of the base material.
Once you have finished applying wax to the base(s), I would suggest running the block of wax along the edges of the skis or snowboard to help protect them too. It is ok to put skis back together once the bases have cooled. It is recommended to store them in a cool, dry place in a vertical position. Do not store the skis or board in a bag, as it can create/trap unwanted moisture or hummidity.
In the fall give the base(s) a good scraping with a wax scraper and finish with a few passes tip to tail with the wax brush you used in the spring. At this time you can do more extensive edge work with various stones and files if you need to. By taking the extra time to put your equipment away carefully you can save yourself alot of money on tuning in the fall.
A great place to check for more information and tutorial videos about waxing as well as great deals on equipment you will need is on skiwax.com.
Suggested Tuning and Waxing Equipment:
* Coarse Bristle Wax Brush - Bronze, White Nylon or Black Nylon
* Waxing Iron
* Wax - Warm Temperature is recommended since its easy to scrape off.
* Ski or Snowboard Scraper
* Ski or Snowboard Tuning Vise
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