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After the past 2 days of snow and ice build up the tarp I had covering the boat failed.......Lot of fun to seeing snow and ice in the rigging tunnel etc.

Will an iced in rigging tunnel cause any damage to the hull? I thought I had the tarp on well enough but the elements won this year....

I guess I am just being paranoid since there is not a lot I can do to remedy the situation right now

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Hi Ed,

Hope all is OK. I had a heavy branch come down on mine last night as well... So large I thought it would bend or damage the bow rail. I went out immediately after seeing it (and 3 glasses of wine) I had to really lift to push if off. I don't think there was damage but wont be sure until I get the snow off and look underneath... May have ripped the winter cover. A small branch is still protruding off the side but may be resting on top.

Good luck with yours. I would get in to it as soon as you can, but I have seen people leave the boats uncovered all winter and there fine. Like you I would be concerned about water and ice in the tunnel and well.

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That sucks Jon, I hope that the boat is alright under the snow mass

I dumped a gallon of de-icer in the bilge to start breaking the ice down. Then time for a new tarp and soon time to get the damn boat back on the water again for the hudson striper run.

I wish it would fit in the garage, oh well

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Watch the de-icer on the gelcoat. I don't worry about a little bit of ice. I cleaned the snow/ice off mine. I had to climb onto the deck to get to everything, that's when I realized there is 2 inches of ice covering the deck and the sump area has at least 3 or 4 inches in it. No big deal, it will melt.

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Thanks Kamie

I am going to check things out again tomorrow and I'll clean up the de-icer. Really would hate to see the decent condition gelcoat go south

Ed

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I think the boat would be ok Ed. The first winter I had my Montauk, I had a load of snow and ice in the boat. Come the spring thaw, there was no damage. These boats are pretty robust.

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A few years back I had a blue tarp fail. Before I was able to get it cleaned out, the snow and water froze 14inches thick. For weeks I worried as it slowly thawed. I had no problems except for the fact that I lost sleep and felt guilty I had let my old friend down with a cover that failed.

Ed don't lose sleep, spring is coming...

Norm

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I don't think ice and snow itself will hurt the gel coat.
It's when it freezes in an enclosed area and expands so much it's pushing on the enclosure that's a problem.

Had my winter cover fail last winter on one side of the boat. The side I couldn't see. I sat here very smug watching it all winter not seeing the failure thinking how nice and dry it was.

On a 1984 22 Outrage there's a bait well in the floor at the back with a teak cover so it's not water tight. This had filled with water (leaves had clogged the thru hull) then it froze into one big block of ice. There was a fair bit of gear in a sealed container in there so it didn't take much to fill it.Then the ice pushed that part of the floor up a half inch or so and popped some of the screws out of the gel coat. I was horrified come spring. Had to remove that portion of the floor, fix the screw holes and screw the floor then re-caulk. Lots of work but in the end I don't think too much water actually made it inside to the foam.

Considering there's that teak hatch I'd have thought the ice would have had it's release through there but I think it pushed that container up which then pushed the floor up? If I hadn't left the container in there it would have fine. If I'd checked the thru hulls it would have been fine. If I hadn't been so lazy & smug and walked around it, it'd been fine. If ...

I always walk around my boat many times during the winter now. Deep snow or not. Luckily we've not seen the snow from your NE that we usually do. You NE US folks have been slammed this winter. Even the storm we're getting right now is nothing compared to what's on your side of the lakes the last few days.

Stay well, and do some winter "walk arounds"

Peter

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Here is my experience this winter.

I made a framework out of 1" pvc to support a basic blue tarp over my 22 Outrage Cuddy. It is tall enough for me to stand up in the boat, as I have been removing parts (wood and steel) and refinishing them over the winter.

Clearly the 1" pvc is not strong enough to be the main support beam running the length of the boat, even with support every 5 feet.

Next year I will construct a frame out of wood. Now I understand why boatyards use wood under shrink wrap.

With every snow storm we have spent time knocking off the accumulating snow off the tarp to relieve the weight. This hasn't been much work, and has been acceptable, but if we had been away during one of thebig storms, the situation may have been different.

Next year I will have a 2x4 as the main support beam running the length of the boat, with 2x4's in an a-frame fashion supporting the beam every 5 feet, much like a saw horse frame.

Best of luck cleaning out the boat. I would remove as much as you can, but I expect the boat will be fine in the spring.

Dan

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For all the mid-atlantic folks, here is my report.

I am finally back online (power out 36 hours) after our severe wind/rain storm on Thursday. Gusts at the airport @ 70 mph. Think we had 6" of rain. 130k still without power. The Casco Bay buoy 12 miles outside the harbor reported 28.2 ft waves at 8.6 seconds.

I am happy to say my boat is unscathed. Some lessons learned.

My frame is 4 very tall sawhorses made of 2x4s. The main beam is a 2x4 on the flat. The two parts are bolted together. This design will handle 2+ feet of wet snow without an issue.

One of last years Nor'easter caused the frames to collapse due to wind. This year I tied the horses to the rails in the stern, amidships and in the bow. The heavy duty tarp is tight using bungies and the ends are wrapped.

In this latest storm I see that it is critical in a wind storm to:

-ensure the bow and stern ends do not flap even the slightest amount.
-Make sure the tarp covers the entire boat. (My neighbor lost his tarp since it was slightly open in the stern)
-Don't rely on bungies, even when fully stretched. I plan to use rope tie-downs in place of the bungies next fall.

Hope this helps.

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I found a great way to make a frame for 16' whalers in a fishing magazine. Use one section of a 4"pvc pipe to span front to back,put a 90 degree fitting on each end and cut another 4"pvc pipe to get the desired height and connect to 90 degree fittings. Then add a pvc flange on the bottom(it looks like a pedestal seat base). Screw the flange to a 2' by 2' piece of plywood for stability. At the front and back of the main span wrap a rope around it 8 or 10 turns and secure to both port and starboard sides. A cheap and durable frame that has lasted me years and the tarp dosen't wear through because the pvc is smooth. One thing I learned was to duct tape the 90 degree fitting to the main span so it won't come apart. Also the pvc pipe that you cut needs to be cut for the right height depending where you decide to put the base. It holds the snow and the whole thing can come off quickly if you want to go fishing some warm weekend. It looks like a pup tent when your done. You can get all the pieces al lowes in one trip.

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I have not been down to check on Das BOat since we got the third snow storm, but Kamie drove by my place and says my cover is intact and most of the snow has fallan off. I have a Mills Mooring Cover ever since "Ernesto'filled my boat up to the gunnels with leaves and tree parts. Thats what I love about the way Mills fabricates there covers so they are at an angle on the newer models and over the rails. I thought about adding a tarp this year but decided it was over kill..hopfully, she will hold with out structured inhancements like 2X4s