A reader asked me for more details on the winter cover we’ve got over Calypso. It’s not anything fancy at all, in case that isn’t obvious.

It’s a bunch of pvc tubes, line, and some tarps. And a lot of time being finicky putting it together!

This cover feels necessary for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that we need to make some good progress on the boat regardless of rain or snow, and a number of the projects are based on the deck. (New self-tailing winches, anyone? New propane system! New windlass installation!)

We also really like that this is a reusable cover. It takes a while to set up but it’s fairly effective.

PVC tubes form the frame. PVC (in the 1/2 inch diameter size we have) is flexible, easily sourced, and easily worked. We bought enough to bend over the boat from the mast aft. It bends over the boom and is secured to other tubes running parallel about knee height along the bulwarks. Going forward, there’s a tube that leads from the mast forward to the forestay. We’ve got end caps to protect the deck from being scratched; the tubes jam against the stanchion posts. Do they stay totally in place? No - that’s clear in the photo below.

Line helps secure cross tubes as well as “sew” the tarps together. We use small diameter (almost clothesline or smaller) line as it’s easier to whip around the tubes.

Tarps form the cover. Relatively heavy reflective tarps, the kind with reinforced grommets along the edges and the corners, make up the bulk of the protection. We have 3 tarps in total; 2 larger ones and one smaller one. There’s one that goes over the forward support, kind of tenting and allowing for runoff. It stops right at the boom. The 2 tarps that protect the area aft of the mast overlap each other, so there’s only a real gap at the mast itself. You can see how the edges of the forward tarp are “sewn” to the tarp that’s just aft of the mast.

The tarps are large enough to drape over the whole boat from side to side, meaning that moisture is encouraged to run off the boat and harmlessly onto the ground. They’re tied in place together with a spiderweb of lines that go under the boat and back to the other side.

I’d say that setting up the whole cover takes the better part of a day, in part because it’s not something that we do very often. Remembering how it all goes together takes longer than it should. You set up the tubes, tweaking and adjusting. Then you set the tarps, loosely tying them together. Then comes the tightening of the lines, the readjustment, the tightening again. Taking it down takes much less time.

We’ve been using the components of this cover for a few years, and the tarps are starting to get worn out. Good thing we’re getting ready to go cruising! (We’ll stash the tarps at the OPO, where they can be used for paint tarps or covering wood or hauling leaves.)

Hope this helps someone out!