I was watching the weather last week and knew some violent weather was coming. So I thought I’d get the cover on. It looked like there was a weather window yesterday. I had all the materials, and Samantha and Sarah came to help.
But in our usual fashion, we didn’t get at it until mid afternoon, and by the time I was ready to apply the torch I was in trouble. There was a south breeze blowing perpendicular to the boat. No more than ten knots, but enough to make shrinking the large vertical surfaces really tricky. I tried doing the forward section and then gave up. The results were not good.
Today I figured I was in trouble. When it blew up in the afternoon I cut the cover down the ridge and let it hang down on either side from the boat. It was pretty violent. No harm done apart from a wasted 36×70 roll of shrink wrap.
Lesson learned. Start early and make sure it’s calm. It’s a big boat, with big vertical surfaces that require good weather and technique to do properly.
In other news, the new furnace is finally on its way. Just in time! I’ve been comfortable aboard, but heating is currently limited to a couple of plug in electric heaters.
I was struck again today by the igloo effect of the white cover. It’s very opaque. I couldn’t find a clear wrap in my large size, but will ask around again. I said last year that I wanted clear. I think that’s still true.
Boating Adventures 