Winter Cover?
- Thread starter pmf44
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pmf44
Member
Hello Rick I am most interested in just covering the deck, down to the gunwhales. What might you have available? Of course, measurements from the deck down would be pretty easy and straightforward to add on to the design for above the decks.--or so I would venture to guess. Any ideas???
struell
Stephen Ruell
Hi pmf,
I built a winter cover over the deck using a wood support frame, plastic conduit for ribs, and covered with a white tarp that worked out pretty well for our 382. I wrote it up as an article in Good Old Boat magazine, appeared in the September 2016 issue, page 24, "A Winter Cover for all Seasons". They improved the article quite a bit and did a nice job of the diagrams. A number of boat owners have told me since that they used the article and built covers like it. Some of them improved on it, sounds like. You can get past issues of Good Old Boat through their website but if you have trouble let me know and I can scan it.
There is a website for Stimson Marine in Boothbay Maine, http://www.by-the-sea.com/stimsonmarine/bowroof.html for plans for a bow roof shed that is pretty slick. I think Rick did this but I'm not sure, but I understand that he went a lot further and built a full shelter for his, much more of a boathouse that would allow work on the boat all year round. The cover I did only covers the deck and you cannot really heat it very well, nor work on the exterior of the hull. Depends what you want to do and how much effort you want to spend.
I built a winter cover over the deck using a wood support frame, plastic conduit for ribs, and covered with a white tarp that worked out pretty well for our 382. I wrote it up as an article in Good Old Boat magazine, appeared in the September 2016 issue, page 24, "A Winter Cover for all Seasons". They improved the article quite a bit and did a nice job of the diagrams. A number of boat owners have told me since that they used the article and built covers like it. Some of them improved on it, sounds like. You can get past issues of Good Old Boat through their website but if you have trouble let me know and I can scan it.
There is a website for Stimson Marine in Boothbay Maine, http://www.by-the-sea.com/stimsonmarine/bowroof.html for plans for a bow roof shed that is pretty slick. I think Rick did this but I'm not sure, but I understand that he went a lot further and built a full shelter for his, much more of a boathouse that would allow work on the boat all year round. The cover I did only covers the deck and you cannot really heat it very well, nor work on the exterior of the hull. Depends what you want to do and how much effort you want to spend.
rickdowe2
Richard Dowe
Hi pmf, Steve is right I built a shelter so I could work on the whole boat under cover. The plans were online from a university but I also looked at Stimpsons website. I modified the plans to fit my needs. The plastic I used was plastic/ fabric that is used for billboards. The system cost about $2500. Including groundwork.Rick
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pmf44
Member
Thank you all but I am not looking to build a shed or a frame. I am looking for specs for a cover for protection and not necessarily for doing any serious work. I am trying to avoid using plastic that or shrink wrap that goes in the dumpster. There is no market to recycle this stuff. I did it last year ad kep the boat in the water as I think it is more important to protect the deck and hardware and trim.
struell
Stephen Ruell
I was in that position last fall when waiting for the boat to go into the shop for engine work, I just wanted a month of protection and it wasn't real winter yet. I didn't want to transport and set up my full frame system which was at home, and tried to get by.
The trouble is the Morgans are pretty wide, the cockpit is too large to stretch a tarp over, plus there are all sorts of things sticking up, most notably the lifelines and stanchions around the perimeter. Without a frame to support it the tarp will end up being a 12 ft x 38 ft swimming pool liner filled with water (and then frozen ice where we live.) You need a frame to support the tarp above the lifelines and shed the water/snow or you are creating a swimming pool. I know in my case, just trying to do the minimum to get by a few weeks, just a couple of storms and the tarps I had tried to support with some lumber spanning the cockpit, it all collapsed and flooded, then froze. Not nice! I never did recover from it and the only way that it could be melted was to when they moved the boat inside in the heated shop.
Steve
The trouble is the Morgans are pretty wide, the cockpit is too large to stretch a tarp over, plus there are all sorts of things sticking up, most notably the lifelines and stanchions around the perimeter. Without a frame to support it the tarp will end up being a 12 ft x 38 ft swimming pool liner filled with water (and then frozen ice where we live.) You need a frame to support the tarp above the lifelines and shed the water/snow or you are creating a swimming pool. I know in my case, just trying to do the minimum to get by a few weeks, just a couple of storms and the tarps I had tried to support with some lumber spanning the cockpit, it all collapsed and flooded, then froze. Not nice! I never did recover from it and the only way that it could be melted was to when they moved the boat inside in the heated shop.
Steve
captpete
Member
FWIW Bringing my boat home by truck with mast on deck i have had reasonably good luck with heavy duty plastic tarps spread over the mast as back bone and some lines and or plastic conduit for support along the way. Sufficient support over cockpit can be biggest challenge. With morgans the stanchions are easily removed and spreaders lowered so you can get a good angle and tight fit to deck for snow to slide off and wind to not blow things around.
Justin Dalton
New Member
If it’s of any interest to you, I have a custom canvas cover for our 382 that I’m no longer using and would consider selling. Is that something you’d be interested in? It’s in great shape and has all the necessary openings to leave the rig up.
wild382
John
Justin...tell me about your cover. We are on Lake Champlain.
What condition?
How old?
Any pictures?
How much?
john@hulingmedia.com
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terry_thatcher
Terence Thatcher
- Justin, if John doesn’t want your cover, please email me at adavida38@hotmail.com. I am cruising right now but should be home in 3 weeks or so. Thanks.
Terry, John or others - we too have a full canvas cover for Zia that we would sell.
We've never used it because we sail through the winter. It looks pretty nice. It's got little sandbags to apply weight & is totally custom fit to the M38 hull.
It's made out of Sunbrella marine canvas, I think Pacific Blue. If I get time this weekend I'll stretch it out in our backyard and take some photos. We are in Portland, OR.
We've never used it because we sail through the winter. It looks pretty nice. It's got little sandbags to apply weight & is totally custom fit to the M38 hull.
It's made out of Sunbrella marine canvas, I think Pacific Blue. If I get time this weekend I'll stretch it out in our backyard and take some photos. We are in Portland, OR.
terry_thatcher
Terence Thatcher
Mark, I will contact you when I get home. It is blowing 35 off the coast from the SE and we are hunkered down for a few days.
wild382
John
I guess Terry beat me to it.
wild382
John
We keep it covered every winter but are looking for another cover system.John, I’ll ping you if Terry doesn’t grab it. It’s quite big & we live in the same town, which appeals to my lazy side