That time of year has come again, and my last few weekends at the cottage are spent getting ready to close up the cottage. I don't drain the pipes and turn everything off until after thanksgiving, but September is generally spent doing more chores than enjoying the lake on the seadoo. Which is just as well, since it can get pretty chilly in the water after the hot summer sun has gone. It's a great time to get all the end of season jobs done so there's less to do in the spring.
Once it becomes too cold to really enjoy the seadoo out on the lake, I take them out of the water for good and start to get them ready for storage. Of course I leave my favorite one in the water just in case of a warm day for one last spin out on the water. Once they are out of the water I do a complete washdown and scrub all the dirt and algae out of any nooks and crannies. This cleaning also gives me a chance to see if I have to fix or replace any pieces or nicks as well.
After everything is all shined up and fixed, now is the time to get out the seadoo covers and get them ready for storage. I store my pwcs inside for the winter so I can keep them like new as long as possible. My favorite part of coming to the cottage is riding our pwcs, so I take extra special care of storing them so they won't age prematurely. We have a few other boats, like a canoe and peddle boat, that don't get such special treatment - they are both washed off and stored upside down under the cottage so they get a little protection from the ice and snow.
Another job that I enjoy is finding and splitting deadwood. We don't use a lot of firewood to heat the cottage but we do have a wood stove and the first few weekends of the cottage season (just after Easter) can be chilly. It's nice to open up the cottage and have some ready wood to throw into the woodstove. We don't often come up during the winter but if we do the wood is ready.
I also like to chop back any perennials we have like hosta and flowering phlox. At the cottage we have what could be referred to as an English style wild flower garden. It doesn't take much care and tends to self seed. However, if the large hosta leaves are allowed to lay on the ground over winter they make great bedrooms for slugs and other undesirables. By getting rid of the hosta leaves in the autumn the garden will be ready to re-sprout in the spring.
I never find any shortage of jobs to do in order to get the cottage ready for the winter, but it makes me happy knowing that the work I do at the end of the season means less maintenance and cleanup work that I will have to do in the spring. First thing next year I'll be able to bring out the pwcs, unpack the seadoo covers and head straight out to the lake.
Once it becomes too cold to really enjoy the seadoo out on the lake, I take them out of the water for good and start to get them ready for storage. Of course I leave my favorite one in the water just in case of a warm day for one last spin out on the water. Once they are out of the water I do a complete washdown and scrub all the dirt and algae out of any nooks and crannies. This cleaning also gives me a chance to see if I have to fix or replace any pieces or nicks as well.
After everything is all shined up and fixed, now is the time to get out the seadoo covers and get them ready for storage. I store my pwcs inside for the winter so I can keep them like new as long as possible. My favorite part of coming to the cottage is riding our pwcs, so I take extra special care of storing them so they won't age prematurely. We have a few other boats, like a canoe and peddle boat, that don't get such special treatment - they are both washed off and stored upside down under the cottage so they get a little protection from the ice and snow.
Another job that I enjoy is finding and splitting deadwood. We don't use a lot of firewood to heat the cottage but we do have a wood stove and the first few weekends of the cottage season (just after Easter) can be chilly. It's nice to open up the cottage and have some ready wood to throw into the woodstove. We don't often come up during the winter but if we do the wood is ready.
I also like to chop back any perennials we have like hosta and flowering phlox. At the cottage we have what could be referred to as an English style wild flower garden. It doesn't take much care and tends to self seed. However, if the large hosta leaves are allowed to lay on the ground over winter they make great bedrooms for slugs and other undesirables. By getting rid of the hosta leaves in the autumn the garden will be ready to re-sprout in the spring.
I never find any shortage of jobs to do in order to get the cottage ready for the winter, but it makes me happy knowing that the work I do at the end of the season means less maintenance and cleanup work that I will have to do in the spring. First thing next year I'll be able to bring out the pwcs, unpack the seadoo covers and head straight out to the lake.
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To learn more about cottage life visit this blog which talks all about life with a cottage, including how to store and take care of your seadoo with seadoo covers.
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