Winter Cover

[Coldbrew]

Looks great! Nice pitch. Everything should slide right off.

[trucky]

The Kover Klamp system looks fairly well thought out but there's a lot of cutting and fitting plus extra parts to buy... tarp clips, EMT, tarp, etc. It all adds up. Then there's the Navigloo system. It's a pretty solid looking complete arrangement, maybe more professional than the Kover Klamp but more expensive. I see several members who have made PVC frames and wood frames, along with rope tie downs. I wonder about the longevity of the PVC as far as sagging, bending cracking...?

So maybe the most durable and least cost winter cover might be the wood frame? I have a factory custom cover but I've had two seasons where the snow load has collapsed the cover when I wasn't there to sweep it off, probably due to the low pitch. The pitch of the home made and commercial versions seem like the ticket to be able to shed snow without failure.

I'm looking at a home on Hartwell with a very nice covered parking perfect for a pontoon. Until that happens tho I still need to protect the investment. To those who have made the wood frames how many seasons are you getting out of that system? Do you use tarp clips or grommets to tie down with?

[Tim in Michigan]

I think shrink wrap is the way to go in areas subject to snow and ice. (Michigan and such).
A local guy wanted $235.00 to shrink wrap my 24' Bennington. Closer to 30' when wrapping the engine and bow outside the gate. I decided to explore doing it myself.

Last fall i purchased a shrinkwrap kit online. $500@ Boatshrink.com
Kit included:
Roll of 120' x 17' 5 mil wrap. Enough to shrink wrap my Pontoon 3 times.
400' roll of 1/2 inch strapping.
4 top vents.
Heat gun with 25' of hose that attaches to BBQ 20lb propane tank.
Video instruction disc.
Video shows how to build 3 support posts (front, center, and rear. Very easy and reusable each year )out of 2x4's. Run some strapping from front of boat (playpen rail), staple to support posts and tie to back rail.
Staple 3 straps to supports across boat side to side, tie to side rails.
Put a 5 gallon bucket with four or five inches of ice melt in it and that absorbs any moisture.
Pop four vents in top for circulation after shrink is completed
I was a little nervous about getting a flame next to my brand new boat, but it turned out fine and was really pretty easy. Do it on a calm day so the the wrap doesn't blow around. Two people are best.
Just buy another roll of wrap as needed. Lots stronger than mooring cover, which i do not leave on under the wrap.

Getting ready to do it again in the next week or so.

[Coldbrew]

[quote]To those who have made the wood frames how many seasons are you getting out of that system? Do you use tarp clips or grommets to tie down with?[/quote]

I can't imagine the wood frame every wearing out. It's just 3 2"x4" 's bolted together. As far as attaching it....in my pictures it shows mine attached with bungees, but the following weekend I change that to "stitching" the tarp with clothesline rope so with a lot of weight on the tarp it would be supported by both sides. I just went back and forth under the boat and through the grommets in the tarp.

[martys]

I have already winterized so there's no pics but I am using the Kover system. Since I'm an electrician, I bent my elbows and bought the 3/4" emt at Home Depot. I improved the cover strenght by using shrink wrap that comes on a hand roller (5"w x 1000', Home Depot.) Starting on the first bow rib to the the last stern rib I basically wrap them to create one solid flat surface (same concept on other side.) The cover will not sag in between ribs when the snow comes. This shrink wrap is only $8.00, easy to use and goes a long way. I have been using the same Harbor Frieght silver cover for 5 years. I also wrapped the ridge pole using "fun noodles." Buy them anywhere for about $1.00 a piece. The noodles insulate the cover from the ridge poles.

[ralph]

I bought the Kover Klamp system as I mentioned earlier on this thread. Here are some pictures from this weekend when I built it.

[MH Hawker]

i used to do this, now its this

[zoraduntov]

We had 10 inches of wet snow yesterday. All the snow slid off of my cover. I am very happy with the performance. If it can handle the wet snow I expect it will also work well once we get colder weather and fluffy snow.

[jefflw]

I gotta thank you guys for this thread.
A trip to HD and HF and we got the toon covered for less than $100. And we will be able to use this set up again next year.
It seems to be doing a great job so far. A lot better than our storage neighbors.
We used 2" pvc to make a center frame and some ratchet straps to hold it in place. A 20x30 tarp, bungee cords and some rope finished it off.
We did have one catastrophic failure a few days after putting it on. We had some 50mph winds and the PVC came apart. Ended up with about 8" of water caught inside the cover. We fixed this by cementing the horizontal pvc joints. We left the vertical joints unglued so the frame can still come apart for summer storage.