Sweet (Cheap!) Boat Cover Supports!

[SVOMike86]

Hey guys, I just saw this was on the homepage! AWESOME! wow, I think I blushed a little bit when i saw it. Haha. The cover was a link that I found HERE for an Odd-lot cover sale from IBoats. I paid $50 for it, its around $150 from Basspro, so it was a good deal. I'm pretty sure the supports were Bobberboy's idea, with all the cool stuff he does, I wouldn't doubt it, so I'm giving him the credit Have fun soakin up all the bedding season while I'm gone

 

[Hanr3]

Nice job.

That boat is really, really blue. :mrgreen:

 

[00 mod]

Did this today! Works like a charm!
Jeff

 

[batman]

SVOMike86 ,where did you find pvc on a roll,local stores only seem to have straight lengths.
DanD

 

[RivRunR]

SVOMike86 ,where did you find pvc on a roll,local stores only seem to have straight lengths.
DanD

I just did mine this weekend with 1/2" and it was plenty flexible enough even tho' it wasn't on a roll.

 

[oldmandan]

Thankx MIke for ur post.Tried so many things and ideas but always got some puddles or water in boat.Whoevers idea it was,great one.Bought parts yesterday for four braces and all was less than $6 bucks at Lowes.Can't wait to build them.

 

[Oldgeek]

Thanks for the post, I've been using a lawn chair in the middle of the boat to keep some slope on the cover for drainage. Great idea at a low price!

 

[clarego]

hey guys i got a heads up Dont use pex i dont think the fittings work with it. i had some laying around and got half inch fittings and tried to glue them and didnt work. now i have to find the rolled pvc :wink:

 

[bobberboy]

If you get very heavy rains you'll find that the PVC bows will creep apart as the weight of the water being captured in the boat cover push them apart. Eventually they will collapse and you'll have a lot of water in the cover or in the boat. What I found I had to do was to connect a cable from front to back that went through the PVC and with stops that kept them in place. Once I did this, the cover would even support a snow load. This is a really cheap and effective way to support the boat cover and I wish the gunnels on my new boat would work like my Lowe did. The PVC T's work best on tubular gunnels as they are able to center themselves on the arc of the bow. I tried on my Tracker and it didn't work. I'm on my 4th attempt to make something work for the Tracker.

Cable with a stop on both sides of each bow keeps them from moving under the cover when rain or snow loads pressure them apart.

A bungee on each end of the cable ties the cable to the boat and tensions the cable. The bungee also gives some spring to the cable and flex to the entire cover system to avoid over-tightening and possibly ripping the cover.

 

[clarego]

bobberboy cool idea! i ended up getting cpvc and gluing them on work good. i wonder if i stick t's in the center of each bows and make a straight piece all the way to the end ill get the same support

btw i had them collapse on me without gluing them with the pex

 

[bobberboy]

bobberboy cool idea! i ended up getting cpvc and gluing them on work good. i wonder if i stick t's in the center of each bows and make a straight piece all the way to the end ill get the same support

btw i had them collapse on me without gluing them with the pex

I tried using T's on my Tracker and it was kind of a disaster. Depending on how many bows you create, once you glue the thing together with the T's in place, you either get a spider or an insect that's about 12' long and impossible to handle.

So...you get the idea. Imagine wrestling one of these guys at 12 feel or longer.

It also doesn't store well when you're not using it and without being connected to the boat at both ends it will still collapse if enough water collects on it. The system I made for the 1236 with the cable worked perfectly. With opposing tension at the ends, the frame didn't collapse and the cover stayed taut. The key to success is to keep the cover taut. When it's tight the rain sheds off and none collects. Once the rain starts to collect it makes larger and larger puddles until the weight of the water collapses the whole thing. However you make it, the support frame for your boat cover needs to act like a self-supporting tent. The tension in both directions keeps the thing (mostly) rigid and that allows the cover to stay tight.

I wish someone would invent a tent-like thing that would have sleeves to hold fiberglass poles like a tent, open on the bottom and with some kind of ties to hold it to the boat. If the poles were inside the cover fabric they would stay in place. I should copyright this idea because someone might actually do it! You guys wouldn't believe the contraptions I made out behind the garage before I hit on the cable system. I tried hardwood slats, fiberglass tent poles, the crummy stands that come with the cover and all kinds of variations. I know the neighbors laugh at me but I get the last laugh when I pull out of the alley on my way to the lake.

...this gives me an idea! If you look at the spider and imagine a center-line going from left to right, the structure would be perfect to keep the cover up. Hmmmmm

 

[clarego]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
bobberboy

thanks for the advice i was lmao hahhahaha

 

[clarego]

to that end i might at the most get a daddy long legger what kind of spider is that ?

 

[Oldgeek]

This is a great and cheap way to make supports. For my Lowe, I needed one for every 4' of boat to give it good support. I used 1" x 3/4" T's and a roll of the blue pvc type pipe from Menards. The T's were 62 cents and the 25' roll of pipe was $10.50. I put screws in the base of the pipe through the T to secure it. The total cost was less than $20 and now I don't have to worry about rain and wind at all. With our recent weather it has been tested. My boat sits in my driveway all year so I needed something strong. I used a hacksaw to cut everything and the 1" T's clamp tight to the top rail on the Lowe. Great project! =D>

 

[BassNBob]

Very nice job guys.

 

[Mojo^]

I suppose it works well in some areas but in the southeast where summer daytime temps. can reach into the triple digits it simply didn't hold-up. I put five rows onto my 1542 using 1/2" PVC with 1" Tee's. Looked great and allowed the cover to pull down tight. One full day in the August heat under the tarp and the PVC turned into a distorted and twisted mess. I may try it again with 3/4" PVC but I'm just not sure it it'll hold-up in this heat. Perhaps I shouldn't have stretched the tarp tight and just let it hang loosely.

 

[nomowork]

Wow, what a neat idea! I think I'll copy that for winter storage. Thanks for the idea and be safe!

 

[nomowork]

I wish someone would invent a tent-like thing that would have sleeves to hold fiberglass poles like a tent, open on the bottom and with some kind of ties to hold it to the boat. If the poles were inside the cover fabric they would stay in place. I should copyright this idea because someone might actually do it! You guys wouldn't believe the contraptions I made out behind the garage before I hit on the cable system. I tried hardwood slats, fiberglass tent poles, the crummy stands that come with the cover and all kinds of variations. I know the neighbors laugh at me but I get the last laugh when I pull out of the alley on my way to the lake.

...this gives me an idea! If you look at the spider and imagine a center-line going from left to right, the structure would be perfect to keep the cover up. Hmmmmm

My fiberglass boat came with a boat cover similar to what you described. It has a telescoping pole with a soft pad on the top and has four adjustable straps that you position on the boat then drape the cover over it. It looks like a tee pee. I use this on my aluminum boat as it is quick to put up and sheds the water well but the PVC idea looks like it'll work better for the winter storage because of the multiple supports.

 

[nomowork]

I finally got around to trying this setup yesterday, although only did two ribs due to the heat.

I bought the black 1" pvc in a roll and used the regular 1" pvc T's. The roll pvc uses it's own type of connectors so had to wrap some duct tape on the ends so it would sit snugly inside of the T's. I made two ribs and spaced them about a foot and a half apart and it seems sturdy enough, even while applying some downward pressure on the tarp. I think I'll make about 5 ribs or more for the whole boat.

I used a table top vise and a regular hand saw to cut the slot in the T's. I find that a regular wood hand saw cuts the larger pvc pipes the best and fastest.

Thanks for the idea!

 

[nomowork]

Finally got around to finishing the boat cover. I used 6 ribs to try and keep water from puddling up. The front two ribs used Ts as well as 45 degree elbows to line up the side due to the curvature of the bow. Thanks again for the idea!