Does anyone have a winter cover for mast-down storage out of water? If you do, what make do you recommend?
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Winter Cover
- Thread starter Aircooled
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When you say winter cover, do you mean a factory made cover specifically for a boat? Something made of canvas? A friend of mine had one made for his O'Day 22 in Canada, I think. I'm covering my O'Day 222 with a heavy duty 18'X30' Polytarp. The tarp cost me about $53.00 last year.
I've been covering my boat for years, and the tarps never lasted. They were always getting ripped. I never had any luck with tarps until the last 6 years. What I did was; I took my stays, spreaders,and antenna off my mast and used some old pieces of long poly tarp about 2' wide to wrap around the mast and taped it. I used extra pieces on both ends of the mast. I placed the mast on my boat's mast holding crotches and tied it down to both of my bow and stern rails. Then, I picked up an 18X30 foot poly tarp and stretched the tarp evenly over the mast which I'm using as a ridge pole, and gathered the tarp around each end of my mast and tied a 3/8" rope around it good, on both at both ends. I always tie a clove hitch with half hitches for securing the tarp to the ends of the mast, and there's no way that tarp is going to blow off that mast. Then I took a 3/16" X 100 foot line and tied it off to my boat and threw the rope over and under my boat in a spiral, and tied it off after pulling all the slack out. Where the tarp comes together at the bow, I took a 4' piece of 2" strapping and rolled the two ends of the tarp together on to it and used a spring carpenter's clamp to keep it that way. I tied the back of the tarp to my Gudgeons and left it open a little so that air can circulate into the boat. The results that I got was; no more ripped tarps, my boat stays dry in the winter, and snow and rain slides right off the tarp because of the pitch of the tarp. It's really not that much work. I also take my lifeline stanchions off my boat and store them inside the cabin along with my stays. I store the boat on my trailer next to the house with the trailer jacked up off the ground for the winter. But where I take my boat off my trailer and put it on boat stands next to the house, or leave it on the trailer, I cover it this way every year and I haven't found a better way than this.
Joe
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Winter Cover on OD22 and OD23
I have a very nice winter cover on my ODay 22 from "Top Shop" in Canada. It is called a "Mast Tarp", but is fitted around the bow. Check out their web site. I built a simple A-frame out of 2x4s with the "ridge pole" in three sections,easily carried, and easily bolted together. The cover is then put over that ..and extra lines can ge rigged inside if you want to avoid "sag" in the snow. "Top Shop" was very nice, and handled my order to CT very easily, at low shipping cost. I also used the identical setup on a previously owned ODay 23. Take a look at the photos, and be sure to email me if you need more information!
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Re: Winter Cover on OD22 and OD23
Sea Drifter. Ironically I had just looked at their website this morning before checking in again here and seeing your post. I think I'm going to go with their cover.
How many years have you had theirs?
Sea Drifter. Ironically I had just looked at their website this morning before checking in again here and seeing your post. I think I'm going to go with their cover.
How many years have you had theirs?
Winter Cover on ODay 22
This is my first year with the cover, although other boats in the yard have had theirs for quite a few years, and they are doing very well. It is fairly heavy (45 lbs - for my size), and very solid material "Arctic Guard". In the photos, you can see how it is tapered and laced in the bow, and in the winter photo (Christmas Wreath!) you can see that I had tightened the cover and added etxtra "anti-sag" lines in the bow. The snow and ice is mostly off. I dealt with "Dave" at Top Shop, and he was very helpful.
One of the reasons I went with this, is that many boatyards and marinas in the NE (including mine!) are requiring either "shrink wrap" or "custom fitted" covers for insurance purposes. They will no longer accept the blue "poly tarps" from Home Depot or West Marine which are much less expensive, but only last 1-2 years at best.
This is my first year with the cover, although other boats in the yard have had theirs for quite a few years, and they are doing very well. It is fairly heavy (45 lbs - for my size), and very solid material "Arctic Guard". In the photos, you can see how it is tapered and laced in the bow, and in the winter photo (Christmas Wreath!) you can see that I had tightened the cover and added etxtra "anti-sag" lines in the bow. The snow and ice is mostly off. I dealt with "Dave" at Top Shop, and he was very helpful.
One of the reasons I went with this, is that many boatyards and marinas in the NE (including mine!) are requiring either "shrink wrap" or "custom fitted" covers for insurance purposes. They will no longer accept the blue "poly tarps" from Home Depot or West Marine which are much less expensive, but only last 1-2 years at best.
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Two Schools of Thought
There seems to be Two Schools of Thought on covering. I know some owners who believe the covers cause more damage than being left open due to the movement in the wind of the covers and any dust/dirt that gets between the cover and fiberglass.
I personnal use a tarp as I always seem to end up with a small leak that I haven't been able to find when I pull the boat late in the fall. I figure it's better not to have any water getting into balsa deck sandwich.
There seems to be Two Schools of Thought on covering. I know some owners who believe the covers cause more damage than being left open due to the movement in the wind of the covers and any dust/dirt that gets between the cover and fiberglass.
I personnal use a tarp as I always seem to end up with a small leak that I haven't been able to find when I pull the boat late in the fall. I figure it's better not to have any water getting into balsa deck sandwich.
Polytarps are OK to use if they are secured in such a way that you're not depending on the grommets to hold them in place. I've used polytarps for years and I've even tried using plastic 1 gallon milk jugs filled with water attached to ropes in these grommets, and the end results were rips and holes in the tarp on the first year. My last 18'X30' tarp was used by my son to cover his car, and it was almost like new when I bought it off him. I got about four years more out of it, and all it had, was normal wear with small pin holes that were starting to develop in it. The only real significant thing that I forgot to mention about polytarps, is that they are flammable. If I owned a boatyard I would deny my customers from using them for that reason, alone. Outside of that, the pros of using polytarps are that they are cheap, and they protect against harmful UV rays, as well as keeping out rain and snow.
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