Inexpensive boat cover supports

[Tim Murphy]

Dear Board,

Other people probably did it another way but I found an inexpensive and easy way to support the "will fit" boat cover that came with my recent boat purchase.

The cover did a great job of keeping water out of the boat but when it rained heavily the water pooled and puddled in the cover really badly. I wanted an easy and reliable way to make it so I didn't have to bail out my boat cover every time it rained.

For $ 5.00 at Home Depot I bought 2 sections of 10' schedule 40 3/4" PVC pipe and 4 individual 3/4" unthreaded T connectors. Here are pictures of how I rigged things up. I cut up one of those jar opener pads to hold the pieces in place on the boat but I'm sure the old lady will notice that it is missing so I'll just buy a half dozen new ones and put 4 on the boat and 2 in the kitchen drawer. I might get up to $ 10.00 total once I do that.

Rear support

Opposite side of rear support

Front support

Opposite side of front support

Cover battened down for weather

Like I said I will get new jar grippers to hold things in place by pressure fit but otherwise I think it looks good and should work. With rain in the forecast I'll probably know how successful I was by morning.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[nlester]

Looks good. I did not glue mine together so I can take it apart when it is not in use. I like your feet.

 

[Tim Murphy]

Dear nlester,

I didn't glue anything together either. I had scrap pieces left over from cutting the main pieces to length and used them for the feet on the forward support. The rear support stays put with just the t-connectors because it sort of locks in to the rear bulkhead along the sides. The front definitely needs the feet though, it's just not stable enough to stand there on just the t-connectors. I'm going to get 4 complete jar gripper pads to use to hold the feet inplace against the painted inside hull, they really help.

We got about an inch and half of rain this afternoon and when I arrived home from work I discovered that the water did not puddle at all. It drained off the cover into the rear splashwell and out of the boat perfectly.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[SDHawgs]

Thanks for the idea! I have been looking for a way to support it, and i have the same cover. Greatly appreciated.

 

[nlester]

I a problem with the PVC coming apart in a couple of places, so I used a self tapping sheet metal screw to hold things together but I can still take it apart.

 

[JMichael]

Someone posted this a while back. I'm not sure if you guys have seen that or not but another useful idea they posted was this. If you cut the arches in the middle and install another T, you can connect the front and rear supports to each other with a straight section and they stand up much better even without the feet. The piece that connects the 2 supports also acts as a support like the ridge of a roof. I found out it's better to let your arched pieces sit in their bowed position a few days before you cut them to install the center T. It puts less stress on that center joint.

 

[TNtroller]

I've used folding lawn chairs before, worked good

 

[parkerdog]

I used 2 1/2 inch pvc and stuck them over the seat posts on each end with a pipe running front to back with two legs down in the middle and feet on that post to keep it from moving side to side. No glue or screws.