mwilson":2ar6fdsd said:
Joe just curious what's the purpose of the PVC pipe on your trailer? Michael
Michael-
The tubes you see plus some smaller ones, make a covered wagon like structure that you can stretch a tarp over and have a portable cover/rain shed that is self contained and is always with the boat.
There are 20 sets of matched holes going down the long tubes at about 14 inch intervals front to back. Ribs are inserted into the tubes you see.
Each rib is a 1/2" schedule 40 PVC pipe with about 9 inches of 1/2" Birch dowel inserted in both ends. The dowels insert into the vertical holes in the two horizontal tubes. Each rib and each matching hole is numbered to enable one to put the ribs in the correct order.
The ones up front are the shortest, with the ones to the rear getting progressively longer to cover the wider and taller sections of the boat. The last few at the rear taper down again to lower the roof over the cockpit gradually and close down over the motor. The cover is thus tapered to fit tightly just above the boat structure and hold the tarp described below above any sharp edges on the boat that would penetrate it from wind chafe.
When all the ribs are in place, a large blue plastic tarp is placed over the resulting covered wagon like structure and secured down with about 15-20 bungee straps.
When traveling, there's a large 6" diameter tube (shown below) that contains most of the 20 ribs that make up the bows. This tube lays along the outside edge of the trailer just inside of the wheel wells. Most of the ribs are stored inside this large tube for travel, but three bows are stored in each of the long horizontal ones you see that make up the side, as they all won't fit in the 6 inch tube.
I made the set up for use when leaving the boat in storage in an uncovered storage lot, and it works well. I'm not sure how much snow it will handle, as I've never encountered snow with it.
Since we moved to Redding from the Bay Area, I haven't really used it because the boat is either 1.) at one of my covered mooring spaces at the lake, 2.) on the road for a fishing trip, or 3.) at home in my RV barn.
I have the trailer home in the driveway right now to replace one of the rollers.
After I get home from a fishing trip tomorrow, I'll assemble the storage shelter taking photos of it in the process.
The structure can probably be made for $100-$150, but I'd have to set down and figure it out.
Hope you can visualize all of this from my description!
Here's a photo of the set up disassembled and stored on the trailer. The tarp and bungees are kept in the tow vehicle when underway and/or when the shelter is not being used.
Joe. :teeth
