Need help making a cock pit cover for my boat

You might consider getting a couple of sheets of blue or pink foam board at Home Depot in and cut one in an outline just outside the edge of the cockpit, then glue it to the solid un-cut piece with liquid nails foam adhesive. Then cut to match the outer limits. Then glass it with whichever type of West System is compatible with foam and a bit of 6 oz. cloth. You could recess some 3/4" treated plywood in the outer surface to mount lock hasp hardware. Really it would be a lightweight alternative.
The other option is to go to your local industrial HVAC sheet metal guy and have him make one for you. I bought a Ducker a few years back that has a galvanized heat duct gauge thickness cover that works pretty good.
 
Kirk, Do you need a cover for security or just weather tight? I sewed up a cover with a drawstring and Velcro around the outside of the coaming and the edge of the cover. Been real happy with it, if you just need to keep the weather out just tie a big blue tarp over it :-)
 
If you were closer, I'd offer to give you a hand!


I built one for my old boat, and will be building one for the project I'm doing now.


On my old boat I made s wooden frame to wrap around the coming. My coming was about 2 1/2" high so I made the frame a little higher. I then used ribs across the top, sheeted it with 1/4" exterior ply, and about four coats of paint. I agree on the fiberglass cloth though for longevity. Use epoxy. Don't use polyester resin! Then a couple coats of good exterior paint.


To attach, I cut the heads off of two bolts that I installed in the framing along the front. they acted as pins which in turn, lined up with corresponding holes in the front coming. Then I had two hasps, one on each rear corner of the outside framing. I then installed tow eyebolts that again corresponded with the hasps. Worked pretty slick.


Your difficulty is going to be in making the rounded front. Certainly not impossible, just will take a little work. I would make a pattern, then laminate several thin strips around the pattern.


Whatever you do, good luck! and keep us posted.
Jon
 
Kirk,
I made this hard cover out of 1/8 luan and 3/4 inch doug fir, and epoxy. Works well for both storage and while traveling. I wrap a cable lock around it and the boat while traveling to keep prying eyes out. If you go with a hard cover, make sure you super-glue or epoxy some foam weatherstrip along the bottom edge to prevent it from rubbing your hull


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-Bill

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Measure the drop from the top of the cockpit by putting a 2x4 across the cockpit to the side and add about a inch. Leave some room around the sides. I used 1x4 for the sides. Used strips glued up on the round sections. I rounded the top for run off from snow etc. Glassed it also. Rounded all the edges for easy glassing. Nice garage project.
 
Kirk~

If you do not need the security of a hard, lockable cover, you might consider canvas. I make mine out of Sunbrella. For my Sneakbox (sorry, no pics) I use my pushpoole as a ridge pole. Short pieces of parachute cord are lashed (semi-permanently) to the thatch rails opposite each grommet. I fasten the cover with a slipped square knot (a lot like tying your shoe) to each one. I like it better than permanent snaps or turnbuttons because you can stretch the top taut. I have trailed such a cover for many, many hundreds of miles. Such a cover should be generous in size - at least 6 or 8 inches longer than the cockpit fore and aft and within 3 inches of the thatch rails on either side.

One big benefit of a canvas cover is storage. It takes up little space and comes with you in the boat. I have used it to sleep under (in the cockpit) and rigged it on the windward side of the boat for a couple of rough crossings in big beam seas.

On the other hand, it is not my year-round storage cover. I tent a tarp over a frame off-season to protect the whole boat from the elements, staining, etc.

Here's the one I just made (still need to stitch the forward hem) for White-Wing:

White-WingCockpitCover-small_zps33e89287.jpg


This one happens to use turnbuttons across the stern - but only because the turnbuttons are there for the "lap canvas" that we use when shooting. For your boat, you would need grommets only along the sides. I would put them every 12 or 15 inches.

All the best,

SJS
 
Jon, I have posted this tip before but it bears repeating. If you need to make a curved piece of wood like the front of a cockpit cover just use a heat gun on thin (1/4") plywood until the glue slips, bend, clamp and then laminate a couple of those together, bulletproof
 
Thanks for all of the replies. Will let you know what I try to do and how it works out. At this point just want a cover to keep the elements out when I store it at home.
 
Nothing like a plain, 'ole blue tarp for temporary measures. At least until you can come up with something a little better suited, or designed.


Jon
 
For what it's worth, I found this old pic of my old cockpit cover. Don't know if it will help, but I was in a mood to post pictures. This is when I was "dry fitting" to the boat. if you look closely, you can see the "pins" in the front, and the hasps on the sides at the rear.


Boat2.jpg



Jon
 
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