Rough Beginnings

Last week, I took a weekend away from Jenny and went to visit another boat project (and friend while I was in the area). Yesterday I stopped in on the boat. It took me a minute to realize something had changed...



My cover that held up to 90mph winds last year didn't last two weeks this year. My winter cover failed and it isn't even winter yet. I am a little concerned.

We did have some days of strong winds; 40+ mph winds anyway. I wasn't too worried based on past experiences. I should have. Maybe the strapping just can't be left around all summer to dry out. Maybe I should have painted the whole structure (?!)In any case, the strapping, installed just like the past successful season, failed very prematurely.

My guess is the first bow bow broke...



which left the front support holding up one side of the wide expanse of tarp...



which left too much unsupported tarp so all the grommets on the windward side let go...



A pretty dissapointing sight.

The good news is that I have a spare set of bows. I was going to take them to the dump with some other stuff Saturday. Luckily I stopped by the boatyard first.

I can only hope the spare bow will hold up better. I don't have particularly high hopes at this point. I am worried that the strapping just doesn't age well. Luckily I have pulpits installed. If things get really bad I will knock down the bows, set the ridgepole on the pulpits, tie what's left of the tarp to the ground and walk away until spring. Maybe I am being a little premature with that thought...

I bought a bunch of grommets to replace those torn out of my brand new tarp but I am also wondering about attaching the lines to the tarp with a hitch around a twist of tarp. I am not sure how to explain it. I will take a picture if I go that route. The best I can describe it is that you twist a round object (stone, golf ball, etc) in a section of tarp and then tie a hitch to the tarp behind the enclosed object. It supposedly works quite well. I have done it with emergency shelters for a single night but I haven't tried it for a whole season.

I am really done with temporary work shelters that need to be broken down every spring. I am going to double up on my real estate search. I am sick of winter covers.

Naturally, the tools I need to fix the structure are the same tools I use every day at work (and no I don't have the resources to have duplicates of everything at the moment - holiday expenses are coming, I need a new commuter car ...) So, I decided to continue clearing up my workspace at home in preparation for winter boat projects and pout about my setbacks.

Hopefully something better to say next week.

Happy Turkey Day!