With Memorial Day officially behind us and marking the ‘unofficial’ start of summer, we can finally say warm weather is here to stay and more days are going to be spent on the water. Whether you have a dock, summer home, or beach house where your boat resides, protecting it when it’s being stored away off-season and out on the water during the heat of the summer is essential for the life expectancy and proper upkeep of your boat.

We all have seen the fishing boats with rust marks on the exterior, and leather seats on the interior that are peeling and starting to rot away. At the beach and docking ports, you will also notice many boats sitting outside, tied to their dock with no cover to protect the inside from the sun. Oftentimes the inside starts to get covered with mildew and can become quite slippery. Many boaters keep their crafts out all season, leaving their boat exposed to all of nature’s harsh elements for three months or longer.

In this outdoor living blog, we are going to discuss the best materials for your boat and ways that these materials prolong the life of your investment on the water. Keeping these tips in mind will ensure you’ll be spending more time on the water than ever before.

 

Damages From the Outdoor Elements

You may not realize it at first, but boats endure a lot of wear and tear throughout the season, and even out of season if they are not stored properly. In many cases, your boat is constantly exposed to water, snow, rain, sand, salt, and other harsh elements from mother nature, potentially causing rotting, corrosion, splintering, and delamination.

Even if your boat sits in a boathouse that is covered, the water and/or saltwater can corrode and rust the sides of your boat, making an unattractive mark along its side. If your boat is not stored inside, the sun and UV rays can do significant damage in just one season, fading the interior and decreasing the life of your seating, flooring, and overall structural integrity of your boat.

Because Vycom®’s Seaboard® products are made of performance plastics such as HDPE or PVC, you no longer need to worry about rotting, corrosion, rusting, or splintering, since our materials are designed for outdoor use.

 

Vycom®’s Seaboard® Family of Marine Materials

So now that you know how damaging just water and sun can be to your boat, it’s time to talk about the benefits that Vycom’s Seaboard and family of other outdoor living products can bring to your next boat build! Seaboard’s entire family of products encompasses HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene), Grip-X®, PVC, StreamLite®, and Endurabond®. Each one of these have unique characteristics for different areas of your boat.

First things first, HDPE plastic doesn’t absorb moisture and is scratch resistant. Grip-X is used for creating a non-skid surface for those slippery spots on your boat where water and moisture can accumulate, while also having a superior UV package. Grip-X is also RoHS compliant. Seaboard PVC has great properties for structural support and surface adhesion due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, is insect resistant, and has optimal density for superior stiffness, impact, and fastening.

 

The Benefits of Seaboard

Wood and metal are known for rusting and rotting away, warping, and splintering…characteristics you don’t want for your boat, and surely don’t want to worry about when you’re enjoying the season.

Vycom’s HDPE plastic products do not rust, corrode, rot, delaminate, or splinter, making them ideal for the marine and boating industry. Time on the water is meant to be enjoyed, so having scratch-resistant and UV resistant materials for your boat is one major benefit to avoid these issues. For example, we often see wood hatches and covers being exposed to the sun’s UV rays and over time, you’ll notice some warping (they may not close properly) and fading over just a couple of summers.  Our Seaboard HDPE helps eliminate these issues.

Vycom’s Seaboard, Grip-X, StreamLite, and PVC stand above the rest in providing excellent performance where water, UV exposure and harsh elements out on the water are present. These materials are meant to withstand the toughest elements of mother nature and it is why they are the most ideal choice for boats and marine furniture.

Vycom’s Seaboard PVC, StreamLite PVC and Endurabond PVC also make great alternatives to wood substrates for your seat cushion backings.  Our foamed PVC sheets are ideal for the traditional wood backings, all of which can and will absorb moisture over time, causing the wood to rot and mildew to move onto your seat coverings.  Seaboard PVC foam sheets can easily be machined, and have great nail, screw, and staple retention for reupholstering. These products also offer the benefit of being lighter weight than traditional materials, yet strong and durable, lasting the lifespan of your boat. Our StreamLite PVC also makes great alternatives for consoles and instrument panels.

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of Vycom’s Seaboard HDPE as well as the other product families under the Seaboard name, and how they can make your boat; as well as the boating season, be a lot more relaxing and hassle-free. Summer is for spending time outside and for boaters, that means long days on the water and not repairing your boat’s interior or exterior from last season’s sun or water damage. It’s time to switch to Seaboard so you can spend less time worrying about your boat’s upkeep and the harsh water environment your boat is constantly exposed to.

To learn more about Vycom’s Seaboard, go to: https://www.vycomplastics.com/product-families/seaboard/.