Caring for Your Rowing Equipment – Part 3

While SSRS can help you with all your rowing storage needs, taking care of your boat and equipment remains very important. There are all kinds of hazards out there waiting to have a crack at your equipment, including buoys, pollution, rust and even novice rowers. This is the final part of a 3 part series on how to care for your rowing equipment and add years to its life.

Last time we looked at \’Pre-use tightening\’ and \’Transporting rowing equipment\’, Today we will be looking at \’Storage of rowing equipment\’ and \’How to deal with damage and repairs\’.

Storage

Storage is the most important part of looking after your rowing equipment. Your gear will spend as much time in storage, if not more, than it will anywhere else, so it is important to store all your gear in a safe dry place, away from the harsh elements.

When putting your boat onto the rack check all the riggers to ensure they are not touching the wall, the uprights or the horizontal rack. Any pressure on the riggers risks disrupting the rig pitch.

If you have to store your shell outside, make sure it is always tied down to something that will not budge.

Never pile stuff on top of equipment you have in storage and be careful when taking your shell, oars or any other gear in and out of storage. Rushing this can cause serious damage to shells and coxswains, don\’t let your crew talk while moving the boat this chatter distracts them and frequently riggers hit other boats and the doorway when their attention is not on the job.

Space Saver Rowing Systems have created easy solutions to help with storing gear, making the unloading and loading of rowing equipment from storage, a faster and safer task for all. Vertical oar and scull racking in a tight space is now easy if you have two meters of clear space inside your boat shed you can store 64 oars or sculls. For ideas on simple storage solutions, visit our store here.

Damage and repairs

If your do notice any wear and tear, cracking, loose bolts or any other problems with your equipment, the main advice I can give you is to fix it straight away. Don\’t wait to see if it\’ll fix itself, it won\’t. The quicker you act and make repairs, the longer your rowing equipment will last.

We have a system that anyone spotting a problem writes it onto a board immediately after the outing and puts a repair notice onto the boat so it doesn\’t get used while broken.

This was the final post in the \’Caring For Your Rowing Equipment\’ series. Check back next week for more quality information and free resources on how to keep your club running smoothly.