My 1994 11½' Edey & Duff Columbia sail / row dinghy did not have a storage cover.
This boat has lots of teak, that I keep oiled, so I want / need a storage cover to protect the boat from the elements.
The first step was to design and create blocks to hold the bows that support the cover. The dinghy has two sets of oarlocks, so I designed blocks w/ ½" pins to fit into the oarlock holes. These blocks have upward-facing slots to hold the fiberglass bows. There are also holes that I use to secure the blocks to the inwale, so these cannot be lost by falling overboard.
The bows are tall to shed water, even during a downpour. The bows are tall enough to permit sitting on the bench seats w/ the cover in-place.
The cover system was designed so that I did not need to drill into the boat, or attach fasteners to the boat.
The cover is attached to the boat w/ http://www.sailrite.com/Webbing-Polyester-1-White-1500" rel="nofollow - 1" polyester webbing and white 1" polyester http://www.sailrite.com/Velcro-Polyester-White-Hook-1" rel="nofollow - hook and http://www.sailrite.com/Velcro-Polyester-White-Loop-1" rel="nofollow - loop Velcro. The Velcro is on the ends of the webbing and the webbing is looped around the inwale. There is also a strap to the eternal bow eye and to a external stern eye.
The polyester was selected for UV immunity. I also use http://www.sailrite.com/Tenara-Thread-Outdoor-Canvas-Exterior-UV-Stable-Thread" rel="nofollow - Gore Tenara thread to be impervious to sunlight.
The cover is very secure.
The cover overhangs the gunnel, tapered-in for a snug fit. There is a second layer of fabric on the bottom 4" of the cover, w/ binding to hold these layers together.
There is a http://www.sailrite.com/Vent-Aire-Ventilator" rel="nofollow - vent on the cover.
The cover has a zipper door to permit entry when the cover is in-place. The zipper door is larger than the cover opening, so the zipper is covered w/ fabric, to shed water.
The boat is currently stored on vee davits on the swim platform of my 2000 Searay 380 Sundancer. The boat is easy to deploy or retrieve.
The only cover fit issue is from the power cord for the Searay. I need to run the power cord diagonally across the top of the dinghy gunnel, so the cover does not hang down properly at those two places.
The cover is made from the same http://www.sailrite.com/Sunbrella-Supreme-9446-0001-Captain-Navy-With-Linen-Flock-60" rel="nofollow - Sunbrella Supreme Captain Navy / Linen that I used when I made the covers for my Searay.
Here is a http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?179945-wingless-1994-Edey-amp-Duff-Custom-11-Rowing-Sailing-Dinghy" rel="nofollow - topic on my dinghy.
Edit: Replaced PB Images w/ Flickr
------------- 2000 SeaRay 380 Sundancer Mercruiser 454 MAG MPI Horizon 380hp Westerbeke 7.0KW BCGB many cool mods
Juki DNU-1541S Consew CSM550
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