We keep our boat out of the water and mast up in Maryland. After my wife and I walked around the yard and looked at all the boats we determined that some cover, some don't. Size and price seem to be no factor. Some cover jobs are very good and some very bad. What are the reasons for covering a boat? Thanks for your help. Our boat is shrink wrapped this year.
Joe Staples
jssfly@cs.com
winter covers, why?
Moderator: Jim Walsh
-
Neil Gordon
Re: winter covers, why?
I don't know if I'd bother except that I'm in New England. Without a cover, the snow cover is constantly melting and freezing on the decks and in the cockpit. The melt migrates to deck level as a layer of ice that just keeps freezing and thawing, freezing and thawing. Etc.
Regards, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
cdory28@aol.com
Regards, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
cdory28@aol.com
-
Bristol Bronze
Re: winter covers, why?
Dear Joe,Joe Staples wrote: We keep our boat out of the water and mast up in Maryland. After my wife and I walked around the yard and looked at all the boats we determined that some cover, some don't. Size and price seem to be no factor. Some cover jobs are very good and some very bad. What are the reasons for covering a boat? Thanks for your help. Our boat is shrink wrapped this year.
Joe Staples
Neither wet or cold by themselves will harm your boat but the combination of the two can really hurt her. If you live far enough south that you never get freezing temperatures then you may not have to cover your boat. I don't think that Maryland qualifies.
Rain or worse yet snow has a way of working itself into and under all those tight little places. In winter it will not evaporate quickly. If the temperature drops below freezing the water will expand. The expansion will do all sorts of damage. I have seen it separate a deck from a hull and a coaming from a deck. It can lift up hardware and make little cracks into big ones.
New England farmers used to split rocks in thier fields by this method. No need for dangerous and expensive explosives. Just cut a grove in a large rock, plug the ends with clay, fill the grove with water when the night would be below freezing and a big rock would become two smaller ones.
Your boat is not a rock but the expansion of water due to freezing can split things just the same.
rogerw@meganet.net
-
Larry DeMers
Re: winter covers, why?
Up here on Lake Superior we cover for at least 4 reasons;
1. Weather protection from the freeze-thaw process as discussed in another post.
2. Protecting the deck and topsides from a good portion of the UV radiation (but less than 50% for certain)it is exposed to each year. We all spend a good deal of valuable spring time cleaning and polishing the last inch of our hulls, looking for the "brand New" gloss, that is so elusive. By protecting the hull for 5 months of the year, we make the hulls jellcoat finish last longer before chalking forces us to refinsh with Awlgrip, and we leave the remaining wax on the hull and unexposed to uv.
3. Preventing rain/snow buildup on deck or in the cockpit.
This particular problem ruins more boat interiors than any other I know of. Snow buildup can exceed the bridgedeck and get into the cabin under the weather boards.
4. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, the cover leeps leaves, dirt and tree 'stuff' from the cockpit, and thus from the scuppers. Once your scuppers are plugged with tree leaves or pine tree needles for instance, your cockpit will fill with rain and snow water, again posing several problems with water below decks and also into cracks and crazing in the gelcoat.
Covering is a fall ritual usually, and is done to protect the boat from harm, leading to the zen-like belief that if you care for your vessel, it will care for you.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
demers@sgi.com
1. Weather protection from the freeze-thaw process as discussed in another post.
2. Protecting the deck and topsides from a good portion of the UV radiation (but less than 50% for certain)it is exposed to each year. We all spend a good deal of valuable spring time cleaning and polishing the last inch of our hulls, looking for the "brand New" gloss, that is so elusive. By protecting the hull for 5 months of the year, we make the hulls jellcoat finish last longer before chalking forces us to refinsh with Awlgrip, and we leave the remaining wax on the hull and unexposed to uv.
3. Preventing rain/snow buildup on deck or in the cockpit.
This particular problem ruins more boat interiors than any other I know of. Snow buildup can exceed the bridgedeck and get into the cabin under the weather boards.
4. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, the cover leeps leaves, dirt and tree 'stuff' from the cockpit, and thus from the scuppers. Once your scuppers are plugged with tree leaves or pine tree needles for instance, your cockpit will fill with rain and snow water, again posing several problems with water below decks and also into cracks and crazing in the gelcoat.
Covering is a fall ritual usually, and is done to protect the boat from harm, leading to the zen-like belief that if you care for your vessel, it will care for you.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Joe Staples wrote: We keep our boat out of the water and mast up in Maryland. After my wife and I walked around the yard and looked at all the boats we determined that some cover, some don't. Size and price seem to be no factor. Some cover jobs are very good and some very bad. What are the reasons for covering a boat? Thanks for your help. Our boat is shrink wrapped this year.
Joe Staples
demers@sgi.com
-
Jerry Axler
Re: winter covers, why?
I keep my boat in MD also and I cover it because snow can pile up in the cockpit melt then refreze and block the scuppers, then another snow or rain comes along and water could overflow into the interior of the boat. Another caution is to reopen your seacocks so they can drain water that was captured when the boat was in the water and the seacocks were closed. The water freezes and destroys the seacock by expansion. Sounds unlikely, but that is exactly what happened to me a few years ago. Cost to replace seacock was doubled because the boat had to be rehauled to install new seacock.Joe Staples wrote: We keep our boat out of the water and mast up in Maryland. After my wife and I walked around the yard and looked at all the boats we determined that some cover, some don't. Size and price seem to be no factor. Some cover jobs are very good and some very bad. What are the reasons for covering a boat? Thanks for your help. Our boat is shrink wrapped this year.
Joe Staples
Jerry Axler
Shana
cutter36@erols.com
-
howard
Re: winter covers, why?
The others all seem to have well reasoned, insightful posts, and no doubt their reasons are valid. However, I cover my boat because it gets awfully cold out there, and I want my poor darling to be comfy.
I also leave a teddy bear in the cockpit, and some hot chocolate.
I also leave a teddy bear in the cockpit, and some hot chocolate.
-
Brian
Re: winter covers, why?
I can tell you that on my 1965 Boston Whaler, not covering it for two seasons was a terrible mistake.
For thirty years the hull was in great shape. The wood console and seats however, had rotted at their bases (as result of water during the season from not having bilge pump-another mistake). So I ripped all the wood out and began recontructing it in the garage.
The winter cover used to be supported by putting our dink and old Snark sailboat on top of the console and rails. Witout the console in, there was nothing to support the cover without making a frame, so I let it sit outside uncovered while I rebulit the woodwork. Of course, the construciton took longer than expected, and the boat sat for two winters uncovered. From the snow and ice that accumulated in the hull, the boat suddenly got a big case of blisters. I had to sand, fill and Interlux the whole topside. lesson learned.
For thirty years the hull was in great shape. The wood console and seats however, had rotted at their bases (as result of water during the season from not having bilge pump-another mistake). So I ripped all the wood out and began recontructing it in the garage.
The winter cover used to be supported by putting our dink and old Snark sailboat on top of the console and rails. Witout the console in, there was nothing to support the cover without making a frame, so I let it sit outside uncovered while I rebulit the woodwork. Of course, the construciton took longer than expected, and the boat sat for two winters uncovered. From the snow and ice that accumulated in the hull, the boat suddenly got a big case of blisters. I had to sand, fill and Interlux the whole topside. lesson learned.