got any boat cover ideas?

I would like to cover my P16 when not in use.

It will be stored on the trailer.
I was wondering if anyone has found it to be effective to buy a single large tarp and cover the mast,boat and trailer with one piece.

I found a tarp grommet kit and took a small tarp and cut it down to fit the front of a single hull - and popped some grommets in the part that I cut to tie it.

seems to work ok but i would like to be able to cover the boat quickly...

Ideas?

Are you storing it with the mast up?

My advice is to just cover the trampoline with a tarp. The tarp is only for sun protection, not to keep the boat dry. Cut a bunch of holes to let the water run through. If you don’t 100s of lbs of rain water will collect on the tarp. Keeping the sun off your lines and tramp will greatly extend their lives. You can just use an 8’x8’ blue tramp with bungee cords. Put it on after trailering or when you are done sailing.

If you really want to cover the whole boat, you can get a custom cover made out of a fabric like sunbrella. It is costly. my club has boats that have sat in the sun for 25 years and are ok. You can use regular car wax to protect the hulls from the sun, if you like. If you use a tarp just make sure water does not pool on it. It gets really heavy quick.

Good luck.

storing it with the mast down. when i got the boat the hulls were very dirty. i would like to keep them clean...

There are 4 or 5 places that sell full covers, but most are not for use during transportation. Give automotive wax a try and quickly hose down the boat after each use. We were out in 15-20 knot winds on Sunday and I guarantee the boat was completely clean after the pounding it took.

Got this idea from a guy that worked on my power boat - he gets FREE covers by going to the local billboard advertiser. Many billboards are made from tarp material - once the ad is dated, the tarp comes down, gets folded up and sits in a storage yard. Call your local Lamar rep or check the yellow pages. I'm waiting for a Corona cover right now. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

After the next hurricane these excellent vinyl boat covers will be hanging off billboards all up and down I-75. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

And I'll bet Lamar doesn't try to glue or repair them, just add 'em to the landfill.

There is a chap here who picks these up and puts them on our version of eby...generally 30 bucks for 12 X 6 metres of excellent fabric. Here is a cover I had made for my Windrush......yes, there is a woman in a bikini laying on a Windrush form a travel advert! Excellent fabric. If you wanted to make a full hull cover it would be very easy. Just lay it over the boat and cut away what you don't wan't. Generally takes my sail maker half to one hours to put tape around edge and reinforcing for grommets and I put my own grommets in. Genereally $25-$50 a cover.

From the US eBay site:

G35 Vinyl Billboard

A bit on the expensive side here, Mate.

You might find he is seeing that as a groovy big picture of a car rather than water and UV proof cloth. We go a Chrysler Crossfire image for my nephews bedroom. Looked great and he loved it. $50 for kick butt 12 year olds decor and some boat cover cloth besides.

I've found that covering my boats not only keeps the hulls and trampoline in top condition, but also REALLY increases the resale price.

I originally used a tarp but got tired of it blowing all over the place, water pooling, etc. It also looks messy and isn't a good solution for mast-up storage.

I ended up having a custom cover made by a sailmaker that fits the boat like a glove. The cover works for trailering and mast up or down storage. The custom cover fits around my trapeze lines, spinnaker pole bridles and it even covers the hulls underneath the trampoline.

Great tip, thanks John <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I'm going to Lamar tomorrow morning to pick up ours! Sure it will vary from city to city, but the other major sign folks didn't even reply. Learned that Lamar sends the old ones to a recycling company who grinds them up for carpet padding.

My daughter's photography teacher in high school had a source for the stuff. She sewed on a couple of handles to make a great music bag for me and beach bag for the wife-pretty neat looking-

John

I keep this cloth on hand all of the time. This is my Nacra foil bag I designed and had sewn. Closed cell foam in between sheets of the fabric drawn and cut to shape by me. Sewn by my sailmaker. This, another bag for my Taipan and other bits took her 1 and 1/2 hour. note the polymer suitcase handle. I bought a dozen for $2 each. Making a great beach pulling bridle using those.
Total cost for what you see under $20.