Foam does not rot, does not rust and does not care about damp. It still wears out, and almost always for one of three reasons: ultraviolet light, a permanent crease, or being put away wet in a sealed box. All three are easy to avoid.
Pool water does not attack closed-cell polyethylene, but it leaves salt and chlorine on the surface, and that dried residue is what bleaches a bright noodle into a pale one. A hose down after the last swim of the day takes ten seconds for a whole pack. Stand the tubes on end to drain rather than stacking them in a pile.
Ultraviolet light chalks the skin. You see it first as a dusty finish that comes off on your hands, then as a surface that crumbles at the edges. A noodle that lives in the shade between swims will outlast an identical one left on hot paving by years, not months. White stock shows the chalking least; black heats up most in direct sun.
Hollow pool noodles nest. Push three together and a fifty-pack takes a shed corner rather than half the shed. What kills them is a bungee cord round the middle of a bundle, which leaves a crease across every tube in it. Solid core stock cannot be nested, so stand it in a bin or lay it flat on a shelf.
Warm water and a little dish soap on a cloth lifts suncream, grass and most of what a classroom leaves behind. Mildew spots mean the tube was stored damp in the dark; a dilute bleach wipe clears them, followed by a rinse. Do not use a solvent cleaner — anything that smells of acetone eats polyethylene faster than the sun does.
A noodle is finished when the skin chalks through, when a crease has gone permanent, or when the tube sits lower in the water than its twin. Up to that point there is nothing to service. Treated properly a favorite pool noodle outlasts the swimsuit it was bought with, which is an incredible return on something that costs less than a coffee.
Buying the bigger pack helps here too. Keep two tubes back in the shed and you have a replacement on the day one dies, rather than at the end of a delivery window in the middle of the season.
A premium foam tube that is rinsed and shaded keeps its quality for years; the same standard 48 inch pool noodles left on hot paving are chalk by August. Nothing about the care is clever — it is a hose, a shaded corner and no strap across the middle — but the difference in experience over three summers is incredible.
White tubes show the chlorine film soonest, which makes them a useful early warning for the rest of the pack. Check the approx. diameter of an old favorite against a new one: a tube that measures smaller has taken water and is finished.
Nest the hollow Oodles of Noodles stock three at a time, stand the long bundle upright, and keep a spare pack in the shed so a split tube does not cost you a weekend. Foam dries fast in moving air and slowly in a sealed box. Questions about one family's foam tube dimensions are on its own card, and the crafts lane will take any offcuts you cannot face throwing out.
Each one with the figure its listing is showing right now.
Not the foam itself. The dried residue bleaches the colour, so a quick rinse after the last swim keeps a bright tube bright.
Nest the hollow tubes three at a time and stand the bundle in a shaded corner. Never strap a bundle across the middle — it creases every tube in it.
When the skin chalks through, when a crease has gone permanent, or when it rides lower in the water than an identical tube.
How to choose a pool noodleDiameter, length, core and pack size: the four numbers that decide whether an Oodles of Noodles pool noodle works for you.
Solid core versus hollow foam pool noodlesWhy one Oodles of Noodles tube costs more than another that looks identical from the end of the pool.Pool noodle sizes in inchesA plain table of the lengths and diameters sold under the Oodles of Noodles name, in inch and in feet.
Pool noodle craft projectsCutting, gluing and painting Oodles of Noodles pool noodle foam for costumes, props, classrooms and wreaths.
Backer rod sizing for Oodles of Noodles foamPicking the right Oodles of Noodles rod diameter for a joint, and why the sealant fails when you do not.Open a listing and check the current price, pack size and colour before you order.
