How to store an inflatable SUP board?
When coming home from hour-long sessions with your inflatable SUP, it can be tempting to let the SUP be until the next time you want to head out. However, this can be damaging to your SUP board. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you dry your SUP, deflate it and then neatly fold it.
We recommend this as an inflated SUP lying in the sun can crack or in the worst case burst. The reason for this is that the air inside your inflatable SUP increases in heat and thus your SUP gets damaged, if it is left for too long. In addition, it can also hurt a SUP to lay things on top of it, and leave it for too long with the extra weight. This can cause your SUP to bulge, bend and generally become skewed in its construction.
Feel free to follow our short guide below for proper storage of your SUP
How to CORRECTLY store your SUP - Step by step guide
• When you have finished using your SUP board, dry it off.
• After drying your SUP, deflate it by opening the valve.
• With the valve open, you can now start folding your SUP neatly together for safe storage in a SUP bag or a dry place indoors such as a shed, a garage, basement, etc.
* Note
If you are planning a trip to the water within a relatively short time after your finished session, you can empty your SUP a bit of air and then store it lying in a dry place indoors. However, we still recommend following our instructions above.
How NOT to store your inflatable SUP
To better illustrate how not to store your SUP, we have a few pictures below with brief descriptions of why this is not a good idea.
As seen in this image above, two inflatable SUP boards were hung to dry on the side without being deflated first. In this case, the heat of the sun can increase the air inside the SUP and cause it to burst. Likewise, the two SUPs are clamped in a way that can damage their shape in the long run, thereby making their shape skewed.
In the picture above, a fully inflated SUP is seen out in the sun being held upright on the side using a paddle. As mentioned earlier, this can cause the air inside the SUP board to increase and create too much pressure, which will end up in the SUP crack or even worse burst. In addition, the paddle can also give a dent in the construction of the board and make it skewed.
For our last example above, we see another fully inflated SUP, which is laid out in the sun with a paddle on top of the board. This can also cause the air pressure to rise and have the SUP board burst when left for too long in the direct heat of the sun. The paddle may also contribute to a slight skew for the shape of the SUP board.