26x winter cover

[Whipsyjac]

Tarped up last year like Russ with pvc pipes and tarp laced under trailer. This year I changed it up a bit. Mostly rain here so I'm taking some risk to have more room for maintenance and mods. I may have to get a bigger tarp.

I pounded 5ft pieces of rebar halfway into the ground and used 3sections of pvc for hoops every 5ft along the sides. Lots of cheap line on diagonals and lots of cinder blocks for tie downs.








Let you know how it weathers the winter.

Willy

[Catigale]

Willy ....could you swag total cost on that just for fun. I love the functionality

[BOAT]

3/4 Inch PVC? Or is it 1"?

[Whipsyjac]

Catigale I've got to admit this shelter was North of what I feel is cheap($$$ wise, still cheap sturdy wise).

Rebar was $5.90/10ft so $41.30

PVC sched 40 3/4" pipe 21 pcs @ $5.69(Home Depot) $119.49

7 pcs 1/2" pipe(already had them) $3.89(Home Depot) $27.23

2 100' coils 1/4" line (cheap H.D.) $9.99 $19.98

Tarp (bought last year, guessing a bit here) $69.99

Used Cinder blocks could be gallon jugs with water. FREE

Total $277.99

At 30' I'm a bit snug front and back, I'll probably put the tongue of the trailer out so I have more room around the motor and masthead. I could've used another 8 pcs of 1/2" to make two more full runs end to end to take up play; this would make 5 runs end to end like the ridge line I'm tying in the pic. We drilled holes in the 1/2" and ran string through but no holes in the hoops. My ridge pipes are bent because they're my hoops from last year, straight new pieces would've tidied things up alot.

Mistakes: I tied ropes diagonally before tying on 1/2"pcs for stability, this threw off the centers/spacing and put some odd bends in every thing. Also pounded rebar with deckhands eyeing the line on the Port side, this threw the hoops out of line quite a bit.(starboard was laid out along a string, much straighter). 3sections together bend easily, could've used 1"($7.99ea at HD) for a more rigid structure.

My main idea is that the pvc is "noodley" and if I get alot of snow or wind it'll just bend all over but hopefully not break. The car shelters and temporary garages popular through Costco etc are either not long enough or not tall enough or very expensive $600+. My frame is roughly $200(could be shopped better). My father in-law had one of the 20x10 car shelters and of course we got snow that year and all the metal pipes were ruined.

With the amount of land I have I probably would've been better off buying lumber and building a greenhouse style shed. 3pcs of 10ftPVC makes a 30ft hoop, 4 8ft 2x4's cut at 30degrees makes a 32ft hoop. I could play with the angles to get a shape that clears the mast. I'll need more lumber 2x4 and 1x4 but the pieces are usually under $2 each, so per hoop I'm $8 instead of $17. 15pcs of 1/2" to hold spacing $58 vs 24 1x4s for $36. By the time I'm braced diagonally I'll still be the same $ or less for a much sturdier structure, however it'd probably fail in a bad way if we get a pile of wet snow(its the Pacific NW after all).

As with all of these projects, I'll probably spend double the next person who sees mine and makes some obvious improvements while avoiding some of my sillier mistakes. A 40x30 tarp would probably be ideal, closing it right in but airy enough not to rot the boat.

There's alot of room under there! And I can pull the trailer out leaving the boat on blocks(trailer needs tires etc, centerboard is choked up with eel grass!). It does make me feel alot more like modding when I can move about the deck.

Willy

[BOAT]

3/4Inch, really?

[Whipsyjac]

Yep, its printed on the pipe.

[BOAT]

I would have thought that to be too thin - but then as I recall the gray electrical PCV is schedule 40 and has a thicker wall than the white plumbing schedule 20 pipe. Good move - that gray will bend better too.

[Tomfoolery]

PVC electrical conduit is UV resistant, and can be used outdoors, where PVC plumbing is not. How much exposure the hoops get is another question, but it's something to be aware of at least.

[Catigale]

No UV in Rochester TK....George Eastman invented colour film just to escape the madness of the Grey city...

It didn't work - he still committed suicide....

[Tomfoolery]

Ah, yes - the looooong gray. And so it starts.

[Azzarac]

I got really lucky on my "cover" this year. My next door neighbor bought a 12X40 carport as an outdoor CCW (Missouri's concealed carry permit) classroom this spring but demand for the class quickly caused him to seek a larger facility. He asked if I would be interested in buying the port and I snatched it up.

Problem was, I had to raise it about 3 feet in order for the mast to clear. I dug down about a foot in an area in the trees and set galvanized fence posts to get the extra 2 feet in height. Since I had an extra 10 ft to play with, I built a "dock" at the back of the building to store "boat stuff" and am currently building a sliding gang plank to make boarding and transfering items very easy when Chameleon is backed in.

I even have enough extra sheetmetal to enclose the rest of the port should I choose. I plan on closing in the side you see here due to sun exposure. The other side is fairly shaded by the trees and I kind of like the idea of the airflow it allows.

[taime1]

Azzarac, that dock idea is absolutely brilliant! And it looks really good too. Now I'm going to have to do something like that whenever I build my MacGarage. Actually, I might build something smaller scale in the spring for the spring prepping season. Sure beats carting things up a ladder each time.

[jassr4848]

taime1, I would have to agree with you!

[Russ]

Nice cover and I love the simplicity. I'm curious how well it fares with wind. The winds here can blow 60mph and we have little in the way to slow them down. But I like the access you have under that cover.

--Russ

[Azzarac]

Russ,

Since I moved it over from next door it has seen two consecutive days of 50 mph wind when a large system rolled thru here this summer. I know of one day of 70 mph winds while my neighbor had it. So far there has been no problems with it. Except for that back wall, air circulates around and through it very well. I did add some cable anchors on the sides and also lag screwed the base to the "dock" which weighs several hundred pounds with all that treated lumber. I figured it couldn't hurt anything LOL!