If you plan to keep the boat, or any boat, for more than a few years, you may want to consider investing in a shrink wrap gun and supplies.
The cost to shrink wrap our boat is less than a custom cover by quite a bit even when amortizing the equipment into the cost, yet it si done exactly how I want it.. I found my Shrink-Fast gun on Craig's list, during the off season, advertised as "
used once" but when I got it I honestly don't think it had ever been opened. I picked it up for over 70% off even the best on-line prices. I simply set a google alert and specifically searched in the off-season.. Initially I wanted a custom made canvas cover but I could not find a single company willing to build the cover I needed. I DO NOT cover the hull and the cover stops at the toe rail. Nothing touches our painted hull. Even Fairclough declined to build the cover I wanted.
The key with any cover is frame design and frame pitch, especially for those of us in close proximity to the water where the snow can be very wet and heavy. I have yet to see any snow stick to our cover enough to cause it to sag..
Tips:
* Search for a shrink gun in the off-season and you'll save big money.
* I buy my shrink wrap in bulk/wholesale and each roll gives me 5 years of shrinking at a total cost of about $48.00 per year for a 36' boat. Actual cover is closer to 39' due to vestibule design.
* The frame is simple & made of doubled up 1X3 strapping for the ridge pole & 2X3's for the uprights and cross ties.. Total cost of materials was less than $70.00 for the frame and screws but this frame is going on 8 years old now. I label it, store it, and re-use it.
* I use ceramic coated deck screws and they are re-used each year, the screws are going on 10 years use.
*The shrink wrap is 100% recyclable and I have a guy that picks it up each spring and recycles it. (I think he actually sells it to the plastics recycler for .XX per pound).
Cross-Ties (2X3's) & perimeter boards (1x3's) prevent snow load from bending stanchions:
Cross-tie end detail. This makes them 100% removable, from inside the cover for any deck work etc...
Vestibule entrance...
BTW this cover just recently survived the storm that took out power for 491,000 homes & businesses in Maine. Casco Bay is right on the other side of the hedge about 100' away. Our neighbor behind us lost a 125' tall pine tree in that storm.......