Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

The wife and I are proud owners of a 1972 Harris FloteBote, we have a great tandem axle bunk trailer and store the toon along the side of the garage. It came with a beat up snap cover that I am 99% sure is just worn out canvas that does nothing to stop any moisture from getting in and barely is stopping birds or debris from getting in. A new cover is pretty spendy and seems to be well out of the budget for now. What DIY systems have people been using to cover their toons between uses and during the long northern winters?

I was thinking some sort of tarping with a PVC frame to support it, like I said it is alongside the garage so I can easily brush off snow as needed and check on it daily during bad weather stretches, just trying to come up with a better working system. TIA

Try an Amazon search for "pontoon cover support poles." If nothing else, you might get a few design ideas for your PVC idea.

It's always hard to know what too "spendy" means since we all have different budgets, etc. but you can get a decent cover with poles, etc. for under $250. I've bought from Empire Covers before and been happy.

https://www.empirecovers.com/

I like using the heavy-duty tarps you can get at Walmart. Easier to get off and on, cheap and usually last about a year. Made a PVC frame for the center and a PVC I frame I put in the rear. Make sure you have enough angle in the tarp to shed snow and water.

Ordered a heavy roll of bungie cord and plastic hooks from Amazon to make custom lengths. Watch out for the metal eyelets. they' tend to slap in heavy wind.

Tie cord to the tarp eyelet then cut to length and attach plastic hooks. That should keep the metal eyelet from scratching your boat.

I bought a cover from Pontoon Stuff https://www.pontoonstuff.com/collection ... oat-covers

I added (4) Vents to it you can see here https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... over+vents

Bought (4) telescoping broom sticks at Lowes which fit perfect inside the vents from underneath to get a good pitch
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Ettore-4-7-ft- ... lsrc=aw.ds

This works great for me.

Good Luck

None of these answers addresses snow build up for winter storage. Every year I see covers like this caved in with the weight of the snow & water doing significant damage to the seats & console.

The OP has the right idea to build a tall PVC frame with a pitch that snow will slide off of.

If you go by storage lots where people have their pontoons shrink-wrapped & parked until spring you'll get a good idea what you should aim for in height & angles.

If that's somewhere where other people can see it, you should put a big bow and ribbon on top this year.

.

You don't have this issue in SC.




https://www.iboats.com/shop/navigloo-bo ... zIQAvD_BwE


I haven't found it necessary to use solid "rafters". I've been using ¼" rope but I plan to replace them with 1" ratchet straps to make adjustments easier.
I store the ridge pole in my garage up in the rafters & keep the legs in the corner.

Unfortunately I hear pvc has skyrocketed lately. Thanks Joe.