Custom Winter Cover

[gradyfish22]

Had a custom winter cover made for my 265 Express. We got tired of wasting money on shrink wrap so this is what we came up with. The canvas was made of Top-Gun material and is super strong!! We used the existing enclosure track from the hardtop and used the same snaps for my enclosure along the windshield. Snaps were added along the gunnels to hold down the canvas, a small trade off in looks for functionality. It goes on and off very quickly, allows enough air to keep mold from forming, but keeps everything dry and clean. It is also nice and warm inside, but not hot and moist like shrink wrap is, so I will be able to get inside and prep the interior and cockpit all winter to save time. Price was comparable to about 3 or 4 years or shrink wrap and everyone we talked to with this product has gotten 10+ years of use.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice ! BUT , make sure that transom area is sealed up. You can be sure of cats. rodents and the nice smell of urine if it isn't !

 

[gradyfish22]

Yeah I thought about that but nobody in my marina has had that issue that I talked to. I like the air flow in there, unlike shrink wrap which suffocates a boat and isn't exactly the best for it. It would be pretty hard for most things to climb in, almost nothing but smooth surfaces to climb on.

 

[seasick]

I made a cover for may 208 using Top Gun. I found a supplier of Top Gun 'seconds but to be honest I couln't find anythink wrong with it. I had to buy 50 yards and used about 20 to 25 yards for the cover, Yes it is a large cover. I can stand under it on the rear deck and it covers the entire boat (no hardtop and bimini is folded down. I made a removable frame out of PVC tubing. The cover is very heavy and quite large so I made it in two pieces zippered together. The zipper allows me to unzip it partially and climb in if needed. This is season 2 and it shows no wear yet. I did 'redesign' the motor area this year to make the cover more toghtly fill in the transom area (as mentioned).

Cost was about $850 but that included a used industrial sewing machine ($450) that I have used several times since. This winterI am redoing my cockpit bolsters, One is done and one to go. The cost of material for the bolsters is about $350 including a cheap air stapler, new dry core foam, OEM Grady style and color pleated vinly and misc supplies.
I will post some pics of the bolster redo if anyone is interested.

 

[gradyfish22]

Would love to see the picks of the bolsters when done, I may need to redo mine, that was the only thing the previous owners did not take great care of and showed some wear. We have maintained them to stay like they were when we bought the boat, but the corners are wearing through a little and will need attention to them soon.

 

[BobP]

Nice cover, I do the same setup with the original beat set of full canvas and a white poly tarp down the back. I cut the tarp to fit and use ropes at the sides all the way under hull and around, and down stern.

If you can check up on boat after heavy wet snow, or snow turned to rain turned to ice, make sure it slides off back side, I propped a 6 ft ladder under middle area since ropes didn't take the belly out of it. And I use additional fasteners on poly - cheap alum grommets good for little.

If the wet snow doesn't slide off, not good. Been there done that!
Good thing for me poly tarps are cheap, and my boat is in driveway at house !

 

[gradyfish22]

Bob, thanks for the tip. I was told the topgun material allows snow and ice to slip off easily, and there is not much of a belly at all, it is very tight and has a good angle, but after the first snowfall I am going to go down anyways to see if it does what my canvas guy claims. Also it will be a good test to see if the snaps handle the weight if any accumulation does stay on it. It's already withstood 50mph winds without anything coming loose. So far I'm pleased, I was sick of all the other ways we covered the boat, after doing this I wonder why we waited so long. Its practical, easy to put on and will outlast and end up being cheaper then most other methods. As you know I like to take care of my boat and keep it in as good of shape as possible, I feel this will meet my expectations. The only modification I plan to do this weekend is to put some rubber hosing over the back tie down ropes since they wrap around the lower units, this will prevent wear on both the engine and ropes.