winter cover

[sluggo]

Iam looking to purchase a winter cover for my 28' TE
Albin is not listed on choices of manucturers listed on line can anyone tell me if they have ordered canvas for their Albin and from where? any info is much appreciated

[zinbaad]

For my 31 I had a half canvass done by a local canvass guy out of City Island. Back drop from roof under radar arch to stern with 2 side zipper openings and one one stern for swim platform entry + 3 snap panels to cover all glass. Ran me $1200 buying off season in Nov last year, arrived day before we had first snow. On land now and might just cover the bow to glass with a Home Depot blue tarp. Worked out real fine last year as deck remained bone dry. Good Luck.

[johnmurray]

I purchased a "semi-custom" winter cover from Quinte Canvas in Kingston Ontario. They sell rectangular covers, mainly for sailboats, in a wide variety of sizes and materials, and they also manufacture custom-made covers for almost any type of boat. They have a website at http://www.topshop.on.ca
The cover I purchased is made of a heavy polyster material. It started out as rectangle 35'X22', but I had one end tapered to avoid bunching under the bow and I also had the cover split into two unequal sized sections with an overlapped zipper to connect them. The zipper is located so as to facilitate an entry point into the cockpit during the storage season and also to make it easier to install because the whole piece is very heavy. There are numerous eyes and nylon tape loops for tie-down purposes. The whole thing cost me Can$775. and has survived its first season very well. Canvas is available at the same price as polyester but it is heavier and is said not to shed the snow as well.
As the snow loads in this part of the world are very heavy I have a arrangement of well-supported ridge poles made of 2X6 PT lumberthat the cover rests on. These provide a sloped roof that is steep enough to shed the snow and avoid ice accumulation. I can post a couple of photos if anyone is further interested.

[Froggy]

Hi all,

I decided last year to move away from shrink wrap due to cost ($585 a year plus disposal) and the environmental issues. I figured, geez, how much could a cover cost? The answer from Fairclough was "$4000+ but we don't like doing power boat covers". Why don't you call us in January? Huh??? The next guys on the Cape were really very pleasant but they wanted something like $6,000. That made no economic sense. A local guy in Providence was $3500 if I did the frame myself.

Given the above, I started my own search and found the following great sites:

http://www.framemakerclamps.com/clamps.htm Keith owns a Chinese restaurant but also sells the clamps on the site. Super guy to deal with. THey're designed to work with 3/4" EMT conduit but will work fine with 1". His site is basic but he shows some good pics of boat frames.

http://www.mytarp.com/boat-covers.aspx These folks are about the only ones I could find that sell tarps made from cotton/polyester. Most tarp places selll either the plastic ones (don't breath) or canvas (not water resistant and generally too heavy). I ordered two tarps and am going to overlap them over the radar arch and my frame.

The total cost of the project will be in the $1000 range but I think I'll have a solution that will protect the boat, breath and last a few years.

I'll put up some pics when I get the project underway (hopefully this coming weekend).

Carl

[RicM]

Several years ago I made a ridge pole setup out of 3 inch PVC from Home Depot. The ridge pole ran from the bow rail to a vertical support on the cabin roof, pilot house roof, engine box, and transom. I then used 8 ribbon straps, 4 on each side from the ridge pole to the bow rail at the cabin roof, pilot house, then a rod holder, and he stern cleat. When the ribbon straps are drawn tight the whole thing is very rigid structurally. The whole thing cost about $70 and is reusable. The major trick is the splices where 2 pieces go together. To make them strong but flexible an 18" piece of the next smaller pipe (2.5"?) is secured in one end of the splice with sheet rock screws after wrapping with enough duct tape to keep it neatly centered in the 3" PVC. The other (protruding end) is wrapped with enough duct tape to let it slip into the other piece of the pipe. It is then secured with 2 sheet rock screws. I will take some pictures tomorrow. I could put the whole thing up or take it down in less than an hour. It's very sturdy and re usable year after year, and held shrink wrap up easily. If the canvas proved too heavy one or two additional vertical supports could be added.

[KathyN]

Our new-to-us 1997 '31 TE will be hauled for the winter tomorrow, so we're working on figuring out a cover. We don't want to shrink wrap if possible. Would love to see any pictures folks have or can take of possible solutions.

Many thanks!

KathyN

[johnmurray]

Winter Boat Cover 001.JPG

[johnmurray]

Winter Boat Cover 002.jpg

[johnmurray]

Winter Boat Cover 003.jpg