How to cover.
Hi Barry, This is a topic that is often discussed and you should find lots of info in the archives. And there are just too many answers, even if you know all the questions. What are you trying to protect? How much money do you have? Do you have the rigging off? Do you have leaks? Etc., etc. I use two eight foot sections of 6-inch drainage pipe with a 2x3 in them to keep them straight. I lay those on the deck in front of and behind the mast. Then a small frame of 2x4's between the companionway back to the aft rail. Over this I use cheap tarps doubled with sandbags holding them down. The pipe and the frame is just to provide some pitch so the rain and snow will run off. The run off goes onto the deck. I'm only protecting the cabin, winches, portlights, teak, and cockpit(pedestal, instruments, lockers). And I'm cheap. In our marina you find half the boats with no covers or just a tent thrown over the boom. The other half are a real mixture: blue shrink-wrap, custom covers with the boat rigged(lots of zippers), custom covers with the mast horizontal as the spine and no zippers, and lots of variations of blue tarps. One fellow uses PVC and creates an elaborate framework that he can work inside. But his covers are blue tarps.
