Leaving fishing gear in hot boat

[DDog1]

Boat is docked exposed to hot sun all summer and naturally gets really hot. What gear should you not leave on board? It's most convenient to leave it all but I imagine rods w line (not sure if its bad for just the line or rods too), some soft plastics, I really dont know. Or maybe I am wrong on those, what else/what do you all think? Anything you can think of please name it!

[813basstard]

Everything. 
 

 

[jbsoonerfan]

I leave everything in my boat year round.

[Avalonjohn44]

People say Z-Man soft plastics/elastech will melt, but I haven't had that happen yet, and I've left them by accident several times in the covered bed of my truck.  I have had one crankbait (megabass griffin) split down the middle at the seams, and I suspect heat was the issue after hearing others' stories about their cranks splitting in extreme heat as well.

[TnRiver46]

Crank baits and jerk baits will swell up and explode in there , I have a carport nowadays but I haven’t always and my hard baits used to explode out in the driveway at my old place 

[Columbia Craw]

I left a Twinkie in my boat for a year and it was fine.

[schplurg]

I wonder if leaving my spinning rod in the hot van for some days caused my mono to get "memory"? One day I got a few "wind" knots (no wind) when I usually never do. I could see the spiraling of the line as I fished. I don't usually leave them in the van, but I did for a week maybe this time.

[mrpao]

I had my monofilament get weak and brittle from the heat. But it was mainly the lower weights that i noticed it on.

The Z-man plastics will melt and loose its shape. I had to throw several bags away because they got deformed.

I try not to leave anything in a hot boat, if i dont have too. The sun will take its toll on any form of plastics. I have a Academy 5 gallon bucket in my Starcraft under a boat cover and the letters on the bucket have faded over two years.

[Spankey]

My boat is not in water year around. In the driveway covered/tapped. If I’m having back to back days out I’ll leave my stuff there for that time period. But tarp it when I get home. 
 

Some items I’ll keep in there year round but my rods and majority of my baits I don’t keep it it. Fortunately some soft plastics I have had in there year around have held up fine. 

[HaydenS]

7 hours ago, mrpao said:

The Z-man plastics will melt and loose its shape. I had to throw several bags away because they got deformed.

Email zman and they'll send you some new baits.

 

If it's in a rod locker or boat storage compartment, I'd leave everything, but the zman plastics.  If it's in direct sunlight I'd take everything and put it in the shade. 

[Bird]

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Crank baits and jerk baits will swell up and explode in there , I have a carport nowadays but I haven’t always and my hard baits used to explode out in the driveway at my old place 

Never heard that before, but believe it.

I left a plastic worm lay up on the dash in hot summer heat and it welded itself to the dash. 

Remnants of that worm was still there years later. 

[Spankey]

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Crank baits and jerk baits will swell up and explode in there , I have a carport nowadays but I haven’t always and my hard baits used to explode out in the driveway at my old place 

That’s a first for me also. I’ve never seen that happen. Don’t think I can remember seeing one crack unless I threw it up into exposed rock. 

[TnRiver46]

7 minutes ago, Bird said:

Never heard that before, but believe it.

I left a plastic worm lay up on the dash in hot summer heat and it welded itself to the dash. 

Remnants of that worm was still there years later. 

 

Just now, Spankey said:

That’s a first for me also. I’ve never seen that happen. Don’t think I can remember seeing one crack unless I threw it up into exposed rock. 

Here’s a video on the subject, I thought there were BR topics also but I couldn’t find them 

 

[gim]

If you are able to take fishing gear/tackle out of the direct sun for prolonged periods, I would do that.  Otherwise you risk potential problems that have been stated with line, plastics, etc.

 

If you have to leave your boat docked all season, put it on a lift and under a cover if you are able to.

[Randy Price]

I wondered about the heat and could it cause damage to my rods so I called St. Croix and they said no.  For you bowhunters out there heat IS bad for your bows though.

[TOXIC]

Electronics.  I have 2 units on Ram mounts that come out after every trip and before I cover the boat.  

[throttleplate]

back in the 90s i left some mister twister grubs loose in my plastic tackle box top tray and at the end of summer in las vegas after sittin in the heat the grub melted through the tray and left a melted looking hole.

[WRB]

Nylon (monofilament line) degrades rapidly over 105 f continuous temps.

I would remove anything of value if out in the weather under a cover.

Tom

[FishTank]

I am picky about my gear so noway I'm leaving them in the boat outside.   Too many things, especially line, can go bad or wrong.

[DDog1]

24 minutes ago, WRB said:

Nylon (monofilament line) degrades rapidly over 105 f continuous temps.

I would remove anything of value if out in the weather under a cover.

Tom

Even if rods were within a compartment? They are covered there but again the temp is super high in there, I was thinking rods probably on but line might form super memory or somethingm dunno

[Boomstick]

16 hours ago, Avalonjohn44 said:

People say Z-Man soft plastics/elastech will melt, but I haven't had that happen yet, and I've left them by accident several times in the covered bed of my truck.

I did manage to melt a couple half empty bags before (all I had left at the time) but I've kept them in the back of my truck during a week long heatwave where every day was in the mid or upper 90s and they survived.

[WRB]

54 minutes ago, DDog1 said:

Even if rods were within a compartment? They are covered there but again the temp is super high in there, I was thinking rods probably on but line might form super memory or somethingm dunno

Heat is different from UV (sunlight). Plastics are usually thermal insulators that require time in temperature to absorb the heat, usually a few hours. The temps in a closed car for example at 90f outside can be 130f inside do to the metal super heating the interior. 

Nylon mono will anneal and take a set on the reel spools creating coils the size of the spool dia. Fluorocarbon and braid and plastisol have a much higher transition temperature then inside car or boat compartment.

I would be more concerned with theft.

Tom

[NorthernBasser]

12 hours ago, Spankey said:

That’s a first for me also. I’ve never seen that happen. Don’t think I can remember seeing one crack unless I threw it up into exposed rock. 

 

I've only had one crankbait expand and burst at the seams, but it can definitely happen. And I don't store my boat outside. 6th Sense was nice enough to replace it for me.

 

 

 

[Jaderose]

If you got a jar of JJ's out there, do NOT open it if it's really hot.  trust me...lol

[schplurg]

9 hours ago, WRB said:

 

Nylon mono will anneal and take a set on the reel spools creating coils the size of the spool dia.

Tom

 

That answers my question!