canvas cover
- Thread starter carl1553
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Fairclough
Not the cheapest, but a great cover. Check out the boats at Barkers Island...some of them have Fairclough covers.
Not the cheapest, but a great cover. Check out the boats at Barkers Island...some of them have Fairclough covers.
not from the Canvass Shop !!!
There was a long thread on them a while ago. I for one had a real bad experience with this guy.
There was a long thread on them a while ago. I for one had a real bad experience with this guy.
Someone local
One of the guys mentioned a bad experince with a company which, as I recall from the previous thread he wrote about, was a long distance order and was fraught with lots of trouble for him. Getting a cover made for your boat will, in the end be a custom or semi-custom fit. My advice is to hire someone local. Some one you can talk to face to face about price, delivery dates, type of material(s) and other things you'll have questions about. A couple of winters back I had a custom winter cover made for my 28 O'day. With material and labor it came to $1,500. That isn't small change so you'll want to be able to talk to your canvas maker before, during and after the job is done. Find a local shop. You may be able to save some bucks on the internet or by mail order but long distance custom work can and usually does have many problems. By the way you'll love the cover. One person can install it in an hour or less. It covers nice and tight and will last 10 to 15 years with proper care.
One of the guys mentioned a bad experince with a company which, as I recall from the previous thread he wrote about, was a long distance order and was fraught with lots of trouble for him. Getting a cover made for your boat will, in the end be a custom or semi-custom fit. My advice is to hire someone local. Some one you can talk to face to face about price, delivery dates, type of material(s) and other things you'll have questions about. A couple of winters back I had a custom winter cover made for my 28 O'day. With material and labor it came to $1,500. That isn't small change so you'll want to be able to talk to your canvas maker before, during and after the job is done. Find a local shop. You may be able to save some bucks on the internet or by mail order but long distance custom work can and usually does have many problems. By the way you'll love the cover. One person can install it in an hour or less. It covers nice and tight and will last 10 to 15 years with proper care.
The bottom feeder's winter boat cover consists
of several lengths of 3/4" electrical conduit, some lengths of 1x2, some duct tape, scraps of carpet or other material, two tarps of different sizes (one forward of the mast, the other aft) and lots of line. Some people use PVC pipe instead of the electrical conduit. The carpet (or foam, canvas whatever) is used to protect the tarps from any sharp fittings that it will be exposed to and to protect your stanchions from the framing. You build a frame work with several bent (rounded) pieces of conduit that I duct tape to stantions with the carpet in between and a top cross member going from bow to mast (or stern if mast is down). The more frame work the better. Once the frame work is in place you unfold your smaller canvas and put it over the bow section and the larger one goes over the aft. Tie it all together at the intersection and use the same line to go from one grommet in the tarp to the other from stbd to port. We have done this for 2 years now on our ancient '67 Tartan 27. Initial start up cost was around $150 at HD + 1/2 day labor of 2 people. Of course you will have to store the tarps and frame work sections in the summer as you will a $1500 canvas cover but if it is broken or ripped by spring what have you lost? I expect to get about 2 seasons from each tarp but the replacement cost is minimal. I watched the yard guys build the frame work for shrink wrapping our boat one season and they use essentially the same materials (minus the electrical conduit) except that what I am using I can re-use and I have still spent less on the bottom feeder's variety than one shrink wrapping with a lot less going into the dumpster. I also hated the way the shrink wrapping helped to keep the humidity around the boat and I like the way the bottom feeder's tarp system allows enough air flow to keep the cabin and (most of) the decks dry and free of ice. Get the cover made if you are tired of doing all of this but don't be surprised if the Wisconsin winters eat it up pretty quickly. Tartans are great boats. Good luck with whatever you decide.
of several lengths of 3/4" electrical conduit, some lengths of 1x2, some duct tape, scraps of carpet or other material, two tarps of different sizes (one forward of the mast, the other aft) and lots of line. Some people use PVC pipe instead of the electrical conduit. The carpet (or foam, canvas whatever) is used to protect the tarps from any sharp fittings that it will be exposed to and to protect your stanchions from the framing. You build a frame work with several bent (rounded) pieces of conduit that I duct tape to stantions with the carpet in between and a top cross member going from bow to mast (or stern if mast is down). The more frame work the better. Once the frame work is in place you unfold your smaller canvas and put it over the bow section and the larger one goes over the aft. Tie it all together at the intersection and use the same line to go from one grommet in the tarp to the other from stbd to port. We have done this for 2 years now on our ancient '67 Tartan 27. Initial start up cost was around $150 at HD + 1/2 day labor of 2 people. Of course you will have to store the tarps and frame work sections in the summer as you will a $1500 canvas cover but if it is broken or ripped by spring what have you lost? I expect to get about 2 seasons from each tarp but the replacement cost is minimal. I watched the yard guys build the frame work for shrink wrapping our boat one season and they use essentially the same materials (minus the electrical conduit) except that what I am using I can re-use and I have still spent less on the bottom feeder's variety than one shrink wrapping with a lot less going into the dumpster. I also hated the way the shrink wrapping helped to keep the humidity around the boat and I like the way the bottom feeder's tarp system allows enough air flow to keep the cabin and (most of) the decks dry and free of ice. Get the cover made if you are tired of doing all of this but don't be surprised if the Wisconsin winters eat it up pretty quickly. Tartans are great boats. Good luck with whatever you decide.
Are you handy?
Hi Carl, Do you know anyone who sews? Perhaps a local Upholstery business could do it for much less than a canvas shop. The Marine industry has us owners over a barrel and boy do they know it! I guess it depends on how much you have to spend for this cover. I was gonna make one for our 37 Hunter Cutter after the season, not sure yet I might still give it a try. Many boats in our marina have Lippincott winter covers, their beautiful almost peices of art done in army green. I linked their website (I think that's them). Check it out, but I do agree to some extent hiring someone local that can fine tune the cover is probably the smartest thing to do. I advise to check around and get estimates from various canvas makers. Laurie
Hi Carl, Do you know anyone who sews? Perhaps a local Upholstery business could do it for much less than a canvas shop. The Marine industry has us owners over a barrel and boy do they know it! I guess it depends on how much you have to spend for this cover. I was gonna make one for our 37 Hunter Cutter after the season, not sure yet I might still give it a try. Many boats in our marina have Lippincott winter covers, their beautiful almost peices of art done in army green. I linked their website (I think that's them). Check it out, but I do agree to some extent hiring someone local that can fine tune the cover is probably the smartest thing to do. I advise to check around and get estimates from various canvas makers. Laurie
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