Boat Cover Support Pole Placement

J

jhwilson

New member
Fellow Brats,

I just received a full boat cover from Angola Canvas (Indiana). This is the first winter with the boat which sits outside. We live at 5,000 feet elevation and usually get over 100 inches of snow. The material of the cover is Aqulon which is lighter than Sunbrella and less prone to stretch (according to the manufacturer).

In order to keep the cover from sagging under the weight of snow I believe I need to install support poles both from the rear of the cabin to the transom and from the front of the cabin to the apex of the bow rails. I have purchased 1.25 inch wood closet rods for this purpose and I'll cut the poles to the right length and round off the ends.

My question is how to locate the poles to the boat cabin so that they stay in place and not do damage to the boat surface. My initial thinking is to tie a line from the pole to the sides of the boat (vertical hand rails in the cockpit and foward cleats for the front pole) and place a buffering material between the pole and boat. The cover has a pole sleeve near the transom and I will secure the bow pole to the bow rail with line.

I would appreciate your comments on my thinking and better ideas. Thanks in advance.

Harper
 
I received my Angola cover in Sunbrella a few weeks ago and it has braved it's first of many snow storms. Have not had any problems with sagging in the bow as that is pretty tight to the bow rails. In the cockpit area there is a sewn in reinforcement in the center. I did not put any support in that area as of yet. I know the snow will build up in that area and eventually drain out. I know some others have the same cover and are in snow zones. If you do a search and type in Angola some pics will come up of snow covered canvas. Am very pleased with the fit.

I did seperate motor covers as I have twins and will eventually replace the string ties with elastic ones.
 
Harper,

Two ideas:

1) get a piece of PVC slightly larger than your pole, and create a stand (with an 8-12" baseplate) for the pole to sit in.

2) use your 1.25" clothes pole as a ridge pole (versus a tent-like center pole) and fix it in place with cord or bungies

I'm sure other folks will have other ideas as well.

Best,
Casey
 
Harper-

I hope I'm visualizing this right.....


I'd get two PVC pipes, Schedule 40 (for strength), 1 to 1-1/4" or so in diameter, and lay them front to back from the bow rails back along side the long hand rails on top of the cabin, then backward to the transom, using the handrails for support with a spiral wrap of bungee material. Wrap the tubing for scratch insulation as needed.

At the rear, I'd add two 90 degree elbows and connect the two pipes together, both for added strength, and to round off the corners.

Then I'd also add a vertical support back there, either at the very rear, or somewhere forward of that, by incorporating a "T" fitting between the two pipes, then extending that downward to the cockpit or motor well. The fore/aft position of this will depend on both where the support is needed and what you can conveniently tie into for pole/post support.

The PVC pipe takes on gentle curves nicely and will follow the curve of the width of the boat gently from the narrow bow pulpit back to the max width at the cabin top, then gradually taper back together at the transom, where you can control the width with the cross-bracing of the two 90 degree elbows and the cross piece.

Cross pieces could also be added at the middle of the forward and aft spans in front of and to the rear of the cabin as needed to give added support and rigidity. If I did so, I'd not cut the long pieces there to insert the T's, as they would be stronger uncut. Instead, I'd use oversize T's, slipped over the uncut pipes, and use sheet metal screws to fix them to the pipes and just glue in the correct size cross piece between the larger T's.

I love working with PVC pipe and fittings for projects like this, it's kind of like having giant sized Erector Set to play with again! :lol:

Good Luck and have fun!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
This may not work for you but it's inexpensive to try. I just take a non stretch heavy rope from one rooftop handhold down under the outboard and back up to the other handheld. In the front I go from the handhold over the bow rail around the bow anchor roller and back up to the other handhold. Cover goes over. This forms 2 small downward angle triangles. It does a good job for non-ponding of water, although I don't have to deal with deep snow conditions (but I suspect it would hold a pretty good load).

Maybe a wooden "T" support that attached to the ropes over the cockpit in the center would provide additional central load bearing?
 
Harper - Here in White Suffering Springs, Montana, at a similar elevation to you in North Carolina, but subject to much colder temperatures and wind, I found that my King full cover was subject to too much chafing from the wind plus it dumps snow into the well which can easily turn into ice which can't help anything. Plus snow is difficult to remove from the well with the hoses, etc. in the way. King also made a cockpit cover for me which does a good job of keeping snow out, but not out of the well.

So I decided to use a different approach this winter. The full size cover went into storage, the cockpit cover snapped on, and then I added another cover which is designed for a 22" skiff which covers the cabin brow, the side windows and walk way, the cabin roof , and extends across the cockpit and over the engine and lazarettes lids, eliminating snow and water from collecting in the well. The engine has its own cover. too.

The only place snow collects is on the front deck and the Bomar hatch. I take a soft bristle broom and brush the snow off after each snowfall.
The skiff cover cost $120, and I believe it will do service for several winters. It can be kept taut to keep from flapping and doing chafe damage. While it looks a little bit cobbled up, it is doing the job so far, plus it keeps the full Sunbrella cover from undergoing unnecessary wear
from wind. I have found the full cover exposes too much area to the wind. The front railings make excellent tie down points using soft nylon cord so the extension over the brow keeps everything snug. The skiff cover has numerous lash down points along the sides, and I run nylon cord across the bottom at these points.

We get very few wet snows here - mostly powder snows at cold temperatures, and the wind usually keeps snow off the forward deck and edges. I realize that each region presents different snow and wind conditions. The important thing (to me) is to keep snow, rain, and ice out of the cockpit floor area and the well. John
 
cemiii":br87en34 said:
This may not work for you but it's inexpensive to try. I just take a non stretch heavy rope from one rooftop handhold down under the outboard and back up to the other handheld. In the front I go from the handhold over the bow rail around the bow anchor roller and back up to the other handhold. Cover goes over. This forms 2 small downward angle triangles. It does a good job for non-ponding of water, although I don't have to deal with deep snow conditions (but I suspect it would hold a pretty good load).

Maybe a wooden "T" support that attached to the ropes over the cockpit in the center would provide additional central load bearing?
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the input on this topic.

cemiii,

Your solution sounds lots easier and much better than mine, think I'll try it first. What type of rope is not subject to stretching?

Harper
 
I recently assisted my bother in law with winterizing his boat. He has a simple way of positioning the front support pole. It has a snap appropriatly positioned on the cover with female portion of the snap on the bottom of the cover and the male portion screwed into the end of the pole. There is a rubber foot on the other end of the pole to prevent moving. Appeared to be secure enough to handle a good amount of weather with no holes in the cover.
 
A little bit of stretch probably won't hurt anything. It doesn't really need to be all that tight either. If your line is stetchier you might want to tie the line together at the bow rail just so the load doesn't walk the line outward along the rail (if that makes sense).

I've been using some old 5/8 inch nylon anchor line that I had around from before I had to change out for a 1/2" windlass but I think I'd try almost anything I had laying around with a break strength over 500# rather than go spend a bunch on fancy rope. Thicker rope is probably a bit friendlier to untie knots. Just a couple half hitches will work and will untie easily.

If you have something substantial in the middle of the roof (like a radar support, that I don't see in your pics) you could also run a full length rope down the center line looping the support. But I wouldn't do that with something like the anchor light stand. I also leave my bimini up but I guess again you need to gauge it's strength for holding snow loads you might expect.

Chris
 
Thinking about it a little more, I guess you could tie a couple lighter lines across the ends of the rooftop handrails with a loop in the center that you could thread your centerline rope through. Probably overthinking this but 100 inches of snow scares me.
 
cemiii":3003m6th said:
Thinking about it a little more, I guess you could tie a couple lighter lines across the ends of the rooftop handrails with a loop in the center that you could thread your centerline rope through. Probably overthinking this but 100 inches of snow scares me.
Click to expand...


cemiii,

I think this might be a better idea even. It would provide a definite ridge so that snow would not collect on top between the two ropes.

Thanks again,

Harper
 
I don't have a lot of experience with boats and snow, but in Sequim on the Cal 46 we used the boom and the spinaker bole to make "ridge poles", then laced 3/8" line back and forth between the live line stenchon bases and across the boom. Put the cover on, than laced a second set of lines on top. Kept the cover from blowing and chafing, and allowed any snow to shed easily off.

If you want to use poles, I would get some water pipe insullation (that gray foam) and slide it over the area where ther may be chafe. I wonder if PvC pipe is strong enough to take the snow load?

As for ropes, the least stetch is soemthing like Spectra, but Dacron should work fine-nylon has quite a bit of stretch.

Learn the trucker's hitch, which allows you a 2/1 purchase for tightening up the line, and is easy to untie after.

Better yet, bring the boat down to Camp "Thataway" for the winter!
 
The guy who had my 22 before me ran a 4" PVC pipe )with elbows on both ends) from the rocket launcher to the transom and used that to suspend the canvas (not Sunbrella) cover. I haven't used it in snow yet so don't know how well it works. He was in Utah but I think he had the boat in a big garage.

Warren
 
Harper, I just had one more idea for a no stretch solution on this for you to throw on your list.

A piece of chain about 8 feet long, 2 carabiners and one anchor shackle and a 30' x 2" ratcheting cargo strap.

Put a caribiner at each end of the chain and the anchor shackle in the middle link. Clip one caribiner on each end of the chain to each of your rear cleats. Attach the long end of the cargo strap to the shackle and run it over the rooftop, over the bow rail and end the short (ratchet end) at the bow roller or winch cable. Crank tighten to desired tension. If it ever loosens up another crank or two and it's tight again.

Since nothing on this will stretch you shouldn't even need to tie it off to keep it centered. The 2" strap will bear flat and even on the rooftop and the whole thing would be very easy to put on and take off any time you needed.

Just an idea, Chris
 
Here's a photo of the Angola Cover after the first couple feet of snow.

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Joe,

Thanks for helping with the photo, maybe I'll figure the system out one day.

Toyman,

You are right indeed. We plan to do something about it, at least temporarily, when we can get her out.

Harper
 
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