New Englanders: clean off your boat!

[Dean Abramson]

Jeff,

The Fairclough cover has aluminum athwartship supports that start outside the lifelines and loop up. The lifelines are left in place. On each side, outside the aluminum, are two lengthwise wooden furring strips; one is at lifeline height, the other between there and the peak. I think I have about seven athwartship supports too. Maybe you need more fore-aft runners. Or remove the lifelines and stanchions.

On my old 25D, I removed the lifelines and stanchions each fall; my homebuilt wooden frame was a series of A-frames, connected by stringers and a ridge. In that case, the tarp's slope went right down to the toe rails. It was easier to build the framework since it did not have to be on legs which brought the whole rig up to stanchion-top level.

It is snowing heavily now, and I am about to climb on the boat and do my push-out routine. Ron's "uber-tarp" idea is looking better all the time.

Dean

[John Ring]

I made mine from pvc and a green plastic tarp. It has shed over 30" so far this season without any problems. The key is the steep pitch - the snow never gets over 1" high before sliding off. Stantions and life lines are removed to prevent pockets from trapping snow/water/ice.

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You can see how I built it here: http://www.yachttantalus.us/Winter%20Cover.htm

Holiday Cheers,
John
CD28 Tantalus

[Watermark II]

Our ketch is stored by the lake in NH. We use 1x3 strapping for the frame. The ridge pole is level from bow to stern and there are straps running fore and aft outside of the life lines supported at 6-8' intervals by uprights from the deck. Between this and the ridge are straps about every 18". At the widest part of the boat and shallowest slope it is still quite steep and sheds the snow readily. We have used this method for about eight years with no problems.

If I can figure out how to do I will pics.

Andy
N1ZXD

[jbenagh]

Thanks! It sounds like removing the stanchions & lifelines is the key. That's where I am trapping water. I will try a couple more pieces of PVC first since that seems like less work.

Jeff

[Dean Abramson]

Well, I just did the push-out thing. I am going to look hard at the over-tarp idea. This is a pain doing this each time.

It seems that I will have to get it totally cleared off and fully dry before I put the other tarp over it. Otherwise, I am concerned about trapping miosture and creating a mold culture on the canvas tarp in the spring.

Dean

[Watermark II]

This is what it looks like almost all assembled. Before the tarp is put on!

[Carl Thunberg]

Hi Jeff,

I modified John Ring's PVC frame in a couple ways, so I could keep the stanchions and lifelines in-place. Here's how I modified John's basic design.
1. First, I fastened two rows of 2x3s (top and bottom) on the outboard side of the stanchions. I fastened them with stainless steel ring clamps which were attached directly to the 2x3s by a piece of flat steel fastener that I got at Home Depot. They're cheap.
2. Pre-mark the 2x3s at 18 inches on center and drill a pair of holes at each mark of sufficient diameter for a wire tie. This is where the ribs will be fastened. Yes, that means the final spacing of the ribs will be 18 inches on center.
3. Even though the 2x3s are installed on the outboard side of the stanchions, you'll install the ribs on the inboard side of the 2x3s. This allows the ribs to stay in compression.
4. I changed the ridge pole diameter from 1-1/4 in. to 3/4 in. so I could bend it in a fore-and-aft arc.

Other than these minor modifications, I followed John's design. The success of this cover depends on everything staying in compression. The ridge pole absolutely must be in compression. On the CD25, I started at the stern rail fastening it with both electrical tape and wire ties. The bow pulpit on the CD25 is difficult to anchor the ridge pole. I stuck the ridge pole down the hawse pipe. It kept the ridge pole in compression, but it left two small depressions in the tarp just aft of the bow pulpit that I had to continually clear out. If you find a solution to this problem, I'd love to hear it.

Of course, none of this will help you this year. Realistically, you're probably stuck having to keep clearing the snow off this year. If you play your cards right, you could mooch off your brother's beer and pretzels for the playoffs right through the Superbowl on the pretext that you had to clear the snow off the tarp

[mahalocd36]

Mahalo is finally uncovered, what a long winter that was!

Called Fairclough today and I very nicely explained our situation and asked about replacements for the part of the frame that collapsed. Sure, for $605, they'll send us the replacement legs. We were told that "We are the only ones whose cover had collapsed" and "We must have installed it incorrectly.". While I don't believe either of those things is a true statement, I will concede that it had a higher snow load on it that it could handle (obviously). No warranty after the first year BTW.

So, we are deciding whether to get the legs from them or some other source (build our own frame).

FYI: I mentioned that a big problem is the way the snow sticks to the cover and doesn't blow or fall off easily, especially the wet snow we got this year - and that we were considering putting a tarp over it next year and he said to absolutely not do that. That the fabric needs to breathe and that the cover will mildew and deteriorate quickly.
He suggested making sure the boat was in a more "windy" area next year so that it would blow off easier. (BTW, It's not particularly sheltered where it was. Lack of wind was not the problem).

[Dean Abramson]

Melissa,

What's the problem? When the wind shifts, you just scoot the ole CD36 around to the other side of the house.

Makes sense to me...

;-)

Dean

[Clay Stalker]

Melissa-

Sorry to hear of that response from Fairclough....I actually would have expected more from them. Their product is good but expensive, and I know they sell a lot of them (I bought one for my Shannon). You would have thought they could cut you some kind of deal.....I guess customer service just isn't the priority it used to be.....

[Dean Abramson]

I agree. I was expecting much better from Fairclough.

Pretty dumb of them. For relatively small actual cost to themselves, they could have been spared the negative press on this board, and the resulting word of mouth.

I mean heck, they are a New England company. We get snow here...

I know that Melissa and Rich did not assemble it wrong! Sheesh. Actually it would be kinda hard to assemble it wrong. Pretty lame.

[mahalocd36]

Thanks. Yeah, I asked them if they could cut some sort of deal - just charge me the cost. We need 8 pieces of pipe bent. The cost of materials is < $100. I too, asked how the heck could you
assemble it wrong? They want $60 apiece per leg.
Said that I must of parked it somewhere where it got "extra" snow on it. Yeah, that would be NEW ENGLAND. The suggestion to move it to a more windy area had me laughing. Why not just suggest I move it to a warmer area while we are at it.

Anyways, Rich is going to engineer something himself. I don't blame them for what happened but I was hoping for a more reasonable response from them. I would have been (pleasantly) surprised if they sent me some replacement legs, I wasn't really expecting that. I would have appreciated at least some break on the price, and not a totally "you stupid customer" attitude.

[Tod M]

Hi, Melissa

When you say, "Why not just suggest I move it to a warmer area while we are at it", you just may be on to something there!

[chase]

Man that's a lot of work to store a boat up there over winter! I'm planning to sail northward next year and haul out in Maine. Surely it'll be worth it but all the money and time.....

Melissa, I sent them an email. Anyone with reasonable skill can build a good product but standing behind it is the real test. $500 is too damn much.

Happy Spring, New Englanders!

Chase

[Clay Stalker]

Melissa and Rich-

Please contact me by PM or cell 603-209-3535. I have some pleasant news for you from Fairclough.