Doug
Just catching up after time at Southampton and other projects.’Search’ is still an ongoing subject (and needs volunteer ‘Archivists’ to help index website entries – anyone interested you know where I am).
But I don’t think there is much on here. Stuff I can remember / find:
- A102 – https://atalantaowners.org/boat-cover-for-mary/
- Your own ‘Do I need a barn’ post https://atalantaowners.org/forums/topic/do-i-need-a-barn/
- Simon Garretts wonderful Stimson shelter – see the 2013-14 Bulletin
I thought that I had posted about my own ‘post-restoration-shed’ winter arrangements but find that I haven’t. So here goes.
Helene has fared very well since 2015 with the following approach (apologies for no photographs – unbelievably for me I don’t have any of the cover):
- Maximise ventilation through the boat
- Open ended cover – both ends – to let the wind blow through.
- Forehatch propped open at 30 degrees or so
- No washboards fitted
- Locker lids removed or propped open
- Remove as much (all) gear as possible to loft/spare room/shed etc
- Cover overhangs bow and stern by 18″ or so and comes halfway down boat freeboard
- Cover ridge pole is NOT the mast. I used to place the mast on supports at bow, mast step and aft end of cockpit and then have further supports above that which supported a ridge pole made of aluminium tube and timber
- Cover is heavy weight. Light weight tarpaulins flutter and tear. Although some might suggest a breathable acrylic (e.g. Sunbrella) to be ‘the best’ I think that a heavyweight vinyl cover is better. It is wind resistant, does not flutter or tear. It is true that it does attract some condensation on its inner surface but the ventilation and the slope gets rid of this. Helene’s cover was, I think, something like 650gsm vinyl. In one piece which made it fun to handle – better with front and back halves.
- One issue with my arrangement is that the heavy cover wears the varnish on the handrails and marks the paint on the deck ‘shoulders’. Some have created ‘stand-offs’ from wood which fit to stanchion posts to hold the cover off the boat nut I just topped it up each year.
A1 has a vinyl cover tailored to deck fittings a bit like A102’s but for the mast raised.
Hope that helps
Cheers
Nick