New Englanders: clean off your boat!

[mahalocd36]

This is one of those times I'm thankful the boat is in our backyard. I out back late yesterday afternoon getting firewood and catch Mahalo off the corner of my eye. EEEEKKK! (well not exactly but that is the family-friendly version of what I said).

The Fairclough cover had collapsed over the front half of the boat
down onto the deck.

For pictures they are here: http://sailmahalo.com/coverCollapse/large
Rich posted smaller versions --- scroll down to the next post...

We've gotten a LOT of snow here in NH over the past 2-3 weeks. Without any melting in-between. I guess that's what's different, we never had any problem before. In previous years snow wouldn't really accumulate on the cover.

Inspection and cleanup today showed No damage to the boat! Yay! For those of you with Fairclough covers, the frame itself bent at the bend in the metal pipes that go to the center beam. The metal just kinked and collapsed. Too much weight.
The fabric itself did not rip - strong stuff. Nor did the wood strips break. In fact the wood strips and the fabric held all the weight off the deck itself. We could crawl under the cover from the back to the center zipper....we tried to push the snow/ice off from below the collapsed part but that wasn't working so we bit the bullet and unzipped it and shoveled it from the top.
Needless to say we got all the snow off the back of the boat which hadn't collapsed yet, as well.

And then there was the trip to Lowe's to get a bunch of wood and screws to build a new frame for the front half, tomorrow's project.

There's not a roof rake to be found in New England either, for future cleanup. But they were "making" them at lowes from pipe and wood. Definitely have to keep an eye on it if we continue to get pummelled with snow.

[bottomscraper]

Here are the reduced size pictures:


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[Dean Abramson]

This is our first year with a Fairclough cover. I was very surprised how the snow kept piling up on the cover. On my old cheapo plastic cover, the snow would generally slide off, and that homebuilt frame was less pitched than the Fairclough.

I was concerned about it, so twice so far this winter I have climbed inside the cover and given each section a shove from within, which did make the stuff slide off. It is not that much work, really. My wife thought I was nuts (although she thought it was perfectly sensible for me to shovel off our porch roof...), but suddenly the skipper is looking smarter.

Maybe it was the particular chronology of winter events this December, the snow and thawing and freezing and more snow, less wind. I don't know. But I would definitely encourage New England sailors to go check their boats!! Our boat is in our front yard, and I swear, it seems to me that every bit of snow we've had just stayed on the boat until I did my thing. None slid off. It is a pain to deal with this, but Melissa's is a cautionary tale. When I think of the combined weight of all the snow I pushed off in my two runs at it: man, it added up to a LOT!

I hope that Melissa's and Rich's unfortunate situation will serve as a wake-up call and head off trouble for others. Thanks, Melissa.

Dean

[Ron M.]

I don't care what type of a frame/cover system you use, (unless it's designed for snow load) you must get any build up of snow off ASAP or your asking for trouble. I'll go up on the boat when 4" or so accumulates and push up on the cover from the inside....at that stage it slides off easily. It may be a pain in the butt but takes only a few minutes. My boat is in my yard so I can keep an eye on it. Even so, a few times when clobbered by a big storm I have had similar results. I'd love to have a barn
big enough to get her inside for the winter........Hey after tonight the days are getting longer..........
________
Iolite vaporizer review

[Neil Gordon]

I was sure this thread was going to be about the warm front that's here today. Oh well.

As for covers, I have no snow buildup with the shrinkwrap. All slides right off.

[ronkberg]

Rich and Dean, have you considered adding a light weight green and black plastic tarp over the Fairclough cover to make a slippery roof? It could be held in place with bungee cords and thus the majority of the snow load would not stick. Hamilton Marine has the green and black tarps at a reasonable price. That is what I use to cover my Typhoon and the 30" of Maine snow is mostly piled up beside my trailer.

Ron

[Dean Abramson]

Ron,

I did actually think of that once I saw the snow building up, and I may look into it.

One problem is that once you have paid for a Fairclough cover, one is not really in the mood to go tarp shopping! Also, that would cover the zippered door, and I do like being able to climb in there for various other reasons. Another issue is that the Fairclough tarp has vents, and those would get covered up.

But looking at it just now, I see you are on to something: if the plastic tarp were only over the pitched "roof" part, the vents would be clear, and the door only partly covered. Hmmm.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Dean

[Carter Brey]

But looking at it just now, I see you are on to something: if the plastic tarp were only over the pitched "roof" part, the vents would be clear, and the door only partly covered. Hmmm.

Dean

In addition, you could spray the tarp with McLube sailkote dry lubricant to enhance its slipperiness.

Carter Brey
Sabre 28 Mk II #532 "Delphine" (shrink wrapped)
City Island, NY

[Steve Laume]

If I was bringing my boat home every winter I think I would put my money in a pole type enclosure with a roof instead of a Fairclough cover. My Typhoon sits under a barn overhang and is so happy to be there. It gets dusty and a few bird droppings but otherwise it is very happy. The CD-30 stays in the water but if she were coming home each winter there would be a simple roofed pole structure with some lights and outlets for working on her. It would be interesting to work up an estimate of how much such a structure would cost. Happy Christmas, Steve.

[mahalocd36]

If I was bringing my boat home every winter I think I would put my money in a pole type enclosure with a roof instead of a Fairclough cover.

Funny, as Rich and I were building a new frame today in the cold damp weather, praying for the predicted rain to hold off, struggling getting the soaked fairclough cover back on, we both looked at each other and said: Can you say "boat barn"? LOL

Our new property in Maine has room for one and we might look into it after this experience.

Anyways, I just hope my post encourages at least one person to go check on their boat. We are lucky to have ours in our yard but I know most people are at least 30 minutes away from their winter storage. Oh - and when you are getting a foot of snow at a time it's hard to clean it off after 4" of buildup

We were talking about something to "spray" on it to get the snow to slide off easier, the tarp idea might work. Got a roof rake at Lowes today. The new over-engineered wood frame is quite difficult to climb under with all the cross bracing.

Our next mission will be to see if we can get Fairclough to at least replace the unusable bent frame parts.

[Oswego John]

Like many other areas in the north, Oswego, NY gets record inches of snowfall (read feet) each winter. Blame this on the "Lake Effect".

Homes, barns and even boat shelters use gabled metal roofing on sturdy framing that is constructed on a 12"/12", or 45° angle or more. The snow slides easily off the metal

Just a thought. I'm wondering when you go to repair the bent framing, you could make the ridge line higher than original, thus creating a steeper angle for the Fairclough material.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays to all.

O J

[Neil Gordon]

Like many other areas in the north, Oswego, NY gets record inches of snowfall (read feet) each winter.

Hey, I thought the record was set when you were a kid and had to walk 10 miles through snow drifts, uphill into the wind, both coming and going from school.

[SeaBelle]

I stopped by the boat last Sunday and found one of the atwartships ribs had fallen and the tarp wouldn't shed snow in that area. I had neither the material nor enough daylight to fix the problem then. The pressures of Christmas pre-empted a Monday fix so I went early Christmas morning for what was to be a one hour fix and found the whole frame had collapsed. I took some time to straighten things up a bit but didn't have the time to fix anything. After an extended Christmas visit, I'll return tomorrow to fix it.

[Carl Thunberg]

I went to Great Bay Marine yesterday (Saturday) to check on my boat. Many frames throughout the yard had collapsed. Of the frames that collapsed, most of them were constructed of strapping. The strapping frames that survived were constructed with a very high ridge pole. Most of the boats with metal frames did just fine. The boats with PVC frames also seemed to do pretty well. Interestingly, many of the boats with no frame at all, but a tarp pulled taught also did well.

Jack, I must have missed you. I had the place to myself all afternoon. Charlie, if you're reading this, Carol Anne came through just fine.

[jbenagh]

After my second trip to clear ice off the tarp on the boat at my brother's house, I think I may have too few athwartship supports -- the snow/water/ice is puddling between the lifelines and the supports. I have seven total on my CD25. The spots not working well are the after part of the cockpit and forward of the cabintop. Although it's nice to visit the boat and my brother, I'd prefer to do it on my schedule than after urgent cover reports.

I fear if I add more, it may not be enough. Those using this method, how many supports do you use? Also, do you run them inside or outside of the lifelines?

Thanks & Happy New Year!

Jeff