Last year I had a 16 foot wood boat then I built a cover for out of three-quarter inch PVC pipe. I just took three links with two straight unions and bent them over the boat tying the ends to the trailer and pulling it into the trailer so that they were nearly vertical from the rub rail down. The bent in a beautiful arc over the boat. Used my sheets to tie them the length of the boat across the middle to keep them vertical and threw a tarp over it. It worked great here in upstate New York. If the snow got really, Maybe twice this last winter I would go out and bang on her to knock it off. When I was looking at Catalina 22's this summer I saw one with the cockpit full of water, the trailer was up in the air and the whole had been impaled by the boards from the trailer so I think it's pretty important to keep the cockpit clear of snow and water on Swink he'll versions when I was looking at Catalina 22's this summer I saw one with the cockpit full of water, the trailer was up in the air and the hull had been impaled by the boards from the trailer so I think it's pretty important to keep the cockpit clear of snow and water on swing keel versions. I put pieces of old carpet between the PVC and railing.
Winter cover ideas???
- Thread starter boblufkin
- Start date
dobro:
This is especially true with the early C22 with the 2 cockpit drains at the front of the cockpit that drain through two tubes into a single tube that runs out the keel trunk. They are notorious for clogging, which is why Catalina changed to the transom drains in the later boats.
I've seen a lot of sailboats with clogged drains, that had hulls (daysailers) or cockpits full of water. And that's not just boats that have been neglected.
Clogged drains + 2 weeks of heavy rain between boat visits = cockpit bathtub
I think one possible concern on the later C22 would be the plastic opening port on the starboard side wall of the cockpit. If the snow was above it, and the snow started melting, and a few freeze/thaw cycles occurred, it could easily cause a leak or crack it.
Of course, water would be much worse than snow, due to much higher weight by volume (depending on temps).
That's one reason why I cleaned snow from my old car tent/shelter in the spring, when the otherwise fluffy snow during the cold months, turns into a heavy mass of water+snow.
On my 16ft daysailor I just turn the hull upside down and put it back on it's trailer. It protects the brightwork and the hull.
Too bad we can't easily do that with the C22. hehe
The plastic pipe hoop method is used a lot for the aluminum fishing boats that are the most common thing on the water around here.
This summer I picked up a cover for a good price at Costco made by Classic Accessories. It would fit the boat perfectly if it wasn't for the pullpits and lifeline stanchions. Once I finish modifying it, I'll be using that for sailing season, at least.
While some C22 owners use a small cabin top cover to protect the brightwork, I need something that covers the whole deck. The boat is parked under 2 very large trees, so sap and black debris builds up on deck.
I also have a huge commercial tarp, that if needed, I can turn into a winter cover.
For this year I hope that the cockpit tarp and "snow inspections" will do the job.
Had the boat been stored some place with no way of checking checking snow load on it, a high peaked solid frame with a cover would be the only way to go IMO.
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Sorry guys I just read my post and I'm really not that ignorant, I used speech to text on my cell phone, and did not proof well my bad...
hehe. It did pretty well for speech to text. You should have seen some of the goofy things I sent in txt messages to people, when using a voice recognition app I was testing.