Bill Burruss
Well-known member
All,
Getting ready to move to the Olympia, WA area, and needed to finish the lid on my BB2 as I’m told it rains 635 days out of the year there, plus, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to store it inside. Been working on a solution for some time now, and this is what I came up with. Toyed with the idea of a 2-3 piece model, but settled on 1 piece to maximize water tightness. Since the cockpit is 7+ feet, the lid is best moved by two people (one on each side) to keep from tearing things up (it’s really not very heavy, just a little awkward). Right now the only way to lock it is to wrap a cable around the top, but I figure the ratchet straps are good enough to keep gear and guns from walking off while getting gas or coffee at the gas station in route to hunt. The cable will be for long term storage. I may eventually figure out a way to make locking t-handles work, but that is for a later date.
The cover itself is made out of 1 sheet of luan, with 1x4 Doug Fir, glassed and epoxied like the boat. The edges that seal against the boat have foam weather strip attached by contact cement (found out the hard way that unprotected, vibration during direct contact will eat through paint, epoxy, and fiberglass). The trickiest part was that I had to remove a 1/2” high, 7 foot long crescent from the port and starboard 1x4 sides, as well as notch the 1x2 bracings (cockpit combing interference) to get it to fit right. Had to figure out the latter from inside the boat, lid on.
To fit the lid around the motor, I opted for a built-in motor cover made out of Cordura 1000d. The leading edge is held down by awning rail, so it should keep water out while trailering down the freeway. Probably did not need the cover to go the full width of the lid, but I did not want 70 mph wind driving all the water off the lid, under the Cordura, and into the boat. The rear is fastened with Velcro/snaps to make it easier to install and remove the lid.
Hope folks find this useful-
Take care!
-Bill
Getting ready to move to the Olympia, WA area, and needed to finish the lid on my BB2 as I’m told it rains 635 days out of the year there, plus, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to store it inside. Been working on a solution for some time now, and this is what I came up with. Toyed with the idea of a 2-3 piece model, but settled on 1 piece to maximize water tightness. Since the cockpit is 7+ feet, the lid is best moved by two people (one on each side) to keep from tearing things up (it’s really not very heavy, just a little awkward). Right now the only way to lock it is to wrap a cable around the top, but I figure the ratchet straps are good enough to keep gear and guns from walking off while getting gas or coffee at the gas station in route to hunt. The cable will be for long term storage. I may eventually figure out a way to make locking t-handles work, but that is for a later date.
The cover itself is made out of 1 sheet of luan, with 1x4 Doug Fir, glassed and epoxied like the boat. The edges that seal against the boat have foam weather strip attached by contact cement (found out the hard way that unprotected, vibration during direct contact will eat through paint, epoxy, and fiberglass). The trickiest part was that I had to remove a 1/2” high, 7 foot long crescent from the port and starboard 1x4 sides, as well as notch the 1x2 bracings (cockpit combing interference) to get it to fit right. Had to figure out the latter from inside the boat, lid on.
To fit the lid around the motor, I opted for a built-in motor cover made out of Cordura 1000d. The leading edge is held down by awning rail, so it should keep water out while trailering down the freeway. Probably did not need the cover to go the full width of the lid, but I did not want 70 mph wind driving all the water off the lid, under the Cordura, and into the boat. The rear is fastened with Velcro/snaps to make it easier to install and remove the lid.
Hope folks find this useful-
Take care!
-Bill
