Cover boat with mast up??

[mdistel]

I will be leaving the mast up on our Catalina 22 stored in Cleveland OH. Does anyone have any tips/pictures of how to cover it? Seems tricky with the standing rigging in the way. Laying next to the cradle was a curved 1/2" pipe that the previous owner must have used as an arch. Thanks for the help

Mark

[TrueBlue]

I fabricated a custom galv metal EMT frame and cover with shrinkwrap each winter - both masts are stepped. I do remove the mizzen boom, the main stays, along with all standing and most of the running rigging.

The shrinkwrapper uses lots of shrinkwrap tape and plenty of vents, but very little water (if any) finds its' way onto the decks. Here are a few photos showing the installation:

[Giulietta]

Having to do that to a boat must be hard on you...I feel sorry for you people with the snow...

TB you gotta move here....best sail is in December/January

[TrueBlue]

Alex,
The vast majority of sailboats at our marina, remain uncovered through the winter. I could never do that - allowing snow and ice to accumulate is not good for any boat.

Wish I could migrate to warm climates during the cold northern months, but I'm just not that priviledged.

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by TrueBlue

Alex,
The vast majority of sailboats at our marina, remain uncovered through the winter. I could never do that - allowing snow and ice to accumulate is not good for any boat.

Wish I could migrate to warm climates during the cold northern months, but I'm just not that priviledged.

Hey, why don't you come over during winter??? Spend a week here?? do some racing??

Bring the wife...I'll cure the fear of heel, guaranteed.

Giulietta can take her shoping for Dior, YSL, Gucci etc...she'l love it here....

[TrueBlue]

Thank you for the gracious offer - I would love to take you up on that, if I could convince my better half that is.

[Giulietta]

Let my wife talk to her...she's pretty convincing...at least with me....

The problem is that once your wife got a go in my boat, she wouldn't want to go back in that TAXI of yours...ehehehehehehe

But think about it...if you have vacation time...you'll be my guest...and can admire my paintings and the exquisite arquitecture of my house ehehehe

[TrueBlue]

Thanks again Alex - I will let you know.

[sailingfool]

If you are leaving the mast up, my personal opinion for most boats is to just put a tarp over the boom to keep snow and ice from accumulating in the cockpit. This gives you the critical benefits of a full cover without the related cost and risks. Size the tarp to fit from the backstay forward to the mast, and then tie the edges to the toerails, not over the lifelines and stanchions. You can make the fit extra neat by trimming to fit the hull shape and then hemming and grometting the edges. Cut a small hole for the topping lift. Your tarp top should end up steep enough that it will not collect snow and you end up with a cover you can use year after year at a fraction of the cost of annual shrinkwrapping.

A full shrinkwrap like TB's has two issues. The first is that shrinkwrapping is expensive and needs to be repeated annually. We paid around $600+ for our 36. The second is that a full frame running over the stanchions needs to be pretty sturdy, as the top of the cover ends up fairly flat and will need to be able to carry the weight of a heavy snowfall, and transfers a lot of weight onto the stanchions. Most boats don't have the sturdy stanchions/handrail construction that TB's has. The last time I had my boat covered with a full sthrinkwrap, the cover bent four stanchions.

We are now back to storing our boat with the mast out, and made a full length deck tent by trimming a 40' plastic tarp to fit over a light ridgepole frame made out of wood straping. I paid a sailmaker $125 to hem the edges, I installed grommets every 18", and I connect the cover edges to the boat's slotted toerail with plastic cable ties. It atakes aobut two hours to put this cover up, and two to take is down.