Keeping the snow out

[Kent]

Unfortunately, I am not the proud owner of a garage to store my boat in during the winter. In order to keep the boat cover from tearing from the weight of the snow, I have been placing 2X6's across the boat, and running 2X4's on top of them -- running the length of the boat. On top of that I have placed a huge inflated rubber ball (don't knock it until you try it). I have put thin foam rubber on top of the outer edges of the 2X4's to cover the sharp edges of the 2X4's and the ends of the 2X6's. This has worked great; however, it is a royal pain to remove and reinstall after each trip to Bear Lake during the wintertime. I have heard of people making a support out of PCV pipe, but I have no idea how they did it to make it strong enough to support the snow. Any success stories from those who have solved this situation? (I realize I could build a carport -- by local code I can build a carport or similar as long as it is not attached to my house -- but I am trying to not spend that kind of money.)
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[PREDATOR]

Heres an idea for you. Go down to sams club and get you one of those twenty foot long canopy. They arent rated for snow load, but thats workable. They only cost a hundred bucks.

Then go down to smith and eddies and get one of the heavy duty "life time warranty" tarps thats twenty feet long. Another $80.00

Put up the frame of the canopy, Then put the lifetime warranty tarp over the top and tie it down. Then put the cover that came with it over the tarp and tie it down.

Now, you will want to brush the snow off the top every time it snows, to prevent the poles from bending, but what you do is slowly over time replace the poles as they bend with stronger poles. Chain link fench post poles. After a couple years, you have all new poles, and for about two hundred bucks you now have a structure that will stand up to the snow and is very easy to sue to store your boat.

I would recomend starting out by skipping the sams club purchase, but you need the brackets that hold everything together. And you kind of want the slick surface cover to go over the canvas tarp. It helps the snow to slide off.

This is what I use to keep the snow out of my duck boat all winter. Then I store the fishing boat under it all summer. Unfortunatley the new fishing boat is too long to fit under a 20 ft canpoy so the front and rear ends stick out several feet. Oh well, it works until I get my garages built.

If you are going to fish bear lake in the winter a lot, it is nice to be able to just pull the boat under the canpoy, put the cover on and walk away. But it gets old brushing the snow off every morning after it snows. Luckily the last couple years it hasnt snowed hard enough to worry about it too much.
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[tomegun]

Hey Kent, I too have had my boats outside. The last three years, I took the good boat cover and put in the garage. I bought a kmart/walmart(about 50 bucks) light cover to keep the dust out. Then, I put a heavy duty Lowe's grey tarp($35) over the top and cinch it down with bungee cords(water resistant, use to be at walmart). This has worked fine for both my old Bayliner and even better for my new Bass boat. I just take a broom to brush the snow off. If we ever get a real winter again, I'll use two grey Lowe's tarps(the second one has been in the garage for a year unused). I pretty much leave it covered this way year round. The stays dust free without leaves.
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