Winter Cover

[Klem]

There are some owners , also shipyard operators in my area, who slack off the shrouds and the stays a few threads before putting their ships under wraps for the winter.

Is this a common practice to ease off the standing rigging while on the hard or isn't it a good idea.? Anyone else do this?

Just wondering.

O J

Hi OJ,

I think that this is a holdover of the days of wooden boats when boats would change shape significantly as they aged. With those boats, you could actually see the stresses from the rig on the hull. The keel under the mast step often had a bit of a curve and the shear line near the chainplates was often off. For people on the east coast, a classic case was the J&E Riggin which they have worked to correct recently but used to look like the area around the chainplates had been pulled up 4". For these boats, there were very good reasons to slack off shrouds. On the other hand, it often made sense to keep the forestay tight and boom lift/mainsheet tight to help counteract hogging but you did need to block directly under the mast step.

In a fiberglass boat, there is none of the settling that occurs in a wooden boat so I would have no worried about long term damage to the structure. The rigging loads in the winter are quite constant so you don't need to worry about fatigue (slacking everything a lot and letting the mast whip around could cause fatigue and could also knock your boat over). Out of curiosity, I threw on a tension gauge after hauling once and didn't see a noticeable difference from the tension in the water. Personally, I can't see a reason to go to all the trouble and I suspect it could actually be worse for the boat to slack things off.

[David Morton]

Curious about how a canvas cover effects an Awlgrip hull? I know Awlgrip discourages prolonged contact with plastic or other impermeable materials. I had my shrink wrap cinched up just under the rubrail to minimize contact.

[Paul D.]

For those who cannot shrink wrap in their yard, I get it. I left a yard specifically because they stopped letting us DIY. In fact, that fall I came home from shrinking the boat and my wife looked at me and said, "My God was it you!" I said "What!" And she preceded to tell me the big news of a yard that had over $100,000 in damages that day from a DIY shrink-wrap fire in Minnesota. After that a bunch of yards including ours said no more. Anyway, my point is I fully recognize shrinking is not for everyone. My brother and I do it because we can. Also, we place a fire extinguisher prominently between our boats when firing up the propane torch!

For those looking at custom covers, I have seen a few of these now and would probably go this route when I can shrink no more. They are out of Duluth MN and a few boats in our yard have them. They look well made, are a good value and I think they will last.

http://www.shipshapecanvas.com

My only issue besides the canvas being darker than the shrink film is the fact that the it comes down to the toerail, thus making it harder to go forward underneath. Having said that, they do cover our teak toenails and God knows that's important!

[tjr818]

My only issue besides the canvas being darker than the shrink film is the fact that the it comes down to the toerail, thus making it harder to go forward underneath. Having said that, they do cover our teak toenails and God knows that's important!

That really is a problem. I can do anything I want in the cockpit or in the cabin, but when I had to low crawl up to the mast, and unzip a seam to tighten a slating halyard it was pretty claustrophobic!
The headroom is dictated by the use of the boom as a ridge pole. I suppose a different ridge could be set up, but we didn't think to do that. I can crawl all of the way forward to reach the fore peak, but I can't get much done when I get there. Light does not seem to be a problem. I can easily read a book while underneath the cover, even on an overcast day. This might be different on a larger boat, but on or 27 it is a tight fit foreward of the main hatch

[tjr818]

I know it is a bit early to be talking about winterizing our boats, but I just had an experience I wanted to share.
Six long winters ago we bought a winter cover for our CD27 from The Canvas Store, in Huntington, NY. It has been everything we hoped for, keeping Slainte dry and secure through these Mid-west winters.
Early this spring, when we uncovered I noticed that one tooth on one of the zippers was missing, probably due to my hurrying to uncover. I put the cover away thinking that I would get to it "soon". Well soon became later, and I finally called The Canvas Store last week to see I they would recommend a replacement tooth that I could crimp on. They quickly told me, that although such things are available, They were not very good and that they would much rather replace the whole zipper for me. Not only was there no charge for this, but they also paid for shipping, both ways I sent it to them using the prepaid UPS label that they sent me and I had the cover back in one week. When we opened the cover we found that they had actually replaced two of the zippers.

Service like that is hard to find, I feel that the girls at The Canvas Store deserve a shout out, WELL DONE!
They have templates for almost all of the Cape Dorys, so if you are considering a winter cover, I highly recommend them.

Here is a link: http://www.thecanvasstore.com

[moctrams]

Some folks use cord to secure cover. I've been using anti-freeze jugs filled with water. This winter I plan to use tent pegs to keep rain from running down the hull. My friend has a Hinckley and it worked well for him.

[gates_cliff]

Plus, seems like it would ensure airflow.

[tjr818]

Some folks use cord to secure cover. I've been using anti-freeze jugs filled with water. This winter I plan to use tent pegs to keep rain from running down the hull. My friend has a Hinckley and it worked well for him.

Tent pegs could work on dry land. We usually winter over in the water with a bubbler to keep the ice away.
If I could find some ten foot long tent pegs . . . .hmmm