Boat cover support

[dvl2700]

I made a couple for the boat, two inch PVC pipe attached to a 2x6 or 2x8 at the base. Taped a tennis ball to the top with duct tape. put them in the middle of the boat so the heavy duty tarp is "tented" CRB (Cheap Rat Ba$t@rd) way of doing it with stuff from around the house.

[San Chan]

Originally Posted by dvl2700

I made a couple for the boat, two inch PVC pipe attached to a 2x6 or 2x8 at the base. Taped a tennis ball to the top with duct tape.

「thumps-up」

[Anonymouse]

Anonymouse took his cockpit canvas (cuddy model) into a canvas shop and had them sew on a 6" strip of matching fabric down the middle and a pair of female-half snap rivets (mounted on 4'x4' squares of fabric) sewn into the underside ($98).
Kewl beans, Anonymouse now has a darker green on green racing stripe on his cockpit canvas cover.

Then Anonymouse uses 2 extensible poles ($23.53 online) with male-half snap rivets to create 2 peaks, 1 down-slope of the other toward the stern, to facilitate runoff and avoid the inevitable sag that using only 1 pole ends up with & always causes a pool to settle between the 1 pole and the terminal end at the transom.
Even using 2 poles there is a very small area near the transom that likes to accumulate a small puddle but an old crutch popped in there as a 3rd and final support point takes care of that.
It's hard to get a completely puddle-free canvas, to shed 100% of rain or snow-melt, but it is possible if you dick around with multiple descending support points.

Thought about using PVC pipe with Y-legs to support the main ridge pipe but the "2-poles with snaps" system is MUCH easier to put in, button up, and tension/re-tension, to prevent puddling (2-3 minutes max, including re-tensioning after snapping the sides down).
Little bit of a pain in the rear to crawl back inside under a corner of the canvas to re-tension the poles but all-in-all, it works pretty nicely & the canvas sheds 100% of all water.
Rigid PVC pipe limits height adjustments, whereas cam-lock poles allow you to tension the heck out of the canvas & virtually eliminate puddling sags between support points.

When it's end-of-season, Anonymouse covers the entire boat with a heavy 20'x30' black/silver reversible tarp over the already tensioned canvas, tosses a couple of sized plastic pails on the cuddy deck to slope water away from that portion, and snugs it all down with 4 rachet straps over top & a combination of bungee cords through grommet holes underneath the trailer & twine/plastic zip ties through the grommet holes to sew up the I/O stern drive and bow ends.

[gbin]

I don't need boat cover supports as my cover works fine without, but reading this thread gave me this idea:

Has anyone tried using one or more collapsible spring poles such as are used in tents? I would think you could find some of a suitable length or lengths for a given boat, such that you would wedge one end of a pole on port and the other end on starboard, and the upward bow created between the ends would hold up the cover (you know, as it would a tent). I'm sure some additional fussing would be required at first to get the system down, maybe even a cross support would be needed to hold the pole(s) in position, but then you'd have something that's very lightweight but strong, gentle on the cover and easily stowed when not in use.

Just an idea...

Gerry

[Anonymouse]

Originally Posted by gbin

I don't need boat cover supports as my cover works fine without, but reading this thread gave me this idea:

Has anyone tried using one or more collapsible spring poles such as are used in tents? I would think you could find some of a suitable length or lengths for a given boat, such that you would wedge one end of a pole on port and the other end on starboard, and the upward bow created between the ends would hold up the cover (you know, as it would a tent). I'm sure some additional fussing would be required at first to get the system down, maybe even a cross support would be needed to hold the pole(s) in position, but then you'd have something that's very lightweight but strong, gentle on the cover and easily stowed when not in use.

Just an idea...

Gerry

Inna word - SNOW.
Crap gets H>E>A>V>Y and will pretty much collapse any spring-tensioned system.
They do sell spring-tensioned bows for canvas but personally Anonymouse has never seen one deployed around Madison or farther north.
Believe they are mostly for areas where it only rains.

[gbin]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

Inna word - SNOW.
Crap gets H>E>A>V>Y and will pretty much collapse any spring-tensioned system.
They do sell spring-tensioned bows for canvas but personally Anonymouse has never seen one deployed around Madison or farther north.
Believe they are mostly for areas where it only rains.

Ah. I store my boat in the barn over the winter, and so didn't think of that very good point.

Gerry