Boat cover

[slash2]

When I finished my Pocketship a year ago i knew I needed a cover for it. I wasn’t ready to make one so I bought a mid-grade plastic tarp from Lowes. It didn’t even last a year. Luckily I finished a ‘real’ cover just in time.

I keep my boat at a state park on a trailer and can keep the mast up. My initial thought was to make a cover that went from mast to stern to protect the mainsail and keep leaves and rain out of the cockpit and cabin. But this leaves the jib unprotected from UV. So I would need to add UV resistant strips to the jib or make a cover for it. At the same time I wanted a full winter cover as well. I thought I could make the ‘summer’ cover with zippers at the for end and add a cover for the bow for winter. This started to seem over complicated and I realized that lowering the mast after each sail is really not a big deal. So I decided just to make a full winter cover and use it year round . I followed the directions from Sailrite for a Quick Winter Cover. I simplified it even more by not making as separate skirt piece. For a novice sewer and poor craftsman, it actually came out ok. I added boots to cover the bowsprit and mast top. The cover is made from Top Notch 9 fabric. Hopefully it will far outlast a year.

Pocketship full cover

IMG_5405.jpeg (116.99 KiB) Viewed 104 times

[dbeck]

Steve,

did you consider ventilation below the cover or in the cabin? Is the cover open towards the stern and the (dorade)vents permanently open? Or is venting the boat not an issue?

Also: I never manage to have everything dry when coming home, anchor rode, one or two docking lines and fenders are usually wet. Do you have the same issue? And where do you keep the things until dry? In the cockpit below the cover, maybe?

Dietrich

[slash2]

Good questions.

One nice thing about the full cover is I can keep the companionway open.

Generally the boat is pretty dry when I’m done. I usually don’t anchor, but if I did i would need to contend with all that wet line. There is a lot of open space under the cover and it’s not airtight, so I imagine (hope) that air is circulated enough.

I may add some vents in the cover at some point. For now I have zippers at the bow and stern and can leave them partially open.

I generally leave my dorades off and have the cover plates in. I worry about wasps building nests in there.