Let Mother Nature have a go at it
Since we’ve had such excellent results in the past, after hauling ZTC at Clarks Court Boatyard late last month, we completed all of the steps that we have done in the past to ensure that she weathers her vacation (hopefully an abbreviated one this time around) in stride. One additional thing that we did this time around was to cover the hardtop bimini with an inexpensive commercial tarp. We did that to protect the new isinglass pieces that we had made to cover the “windows” in the top of the bimini.
Using some strong twine, we tied the tarp down in what we thought was a very cleaver way. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had her own thoughts on the subject. When we returned to look at the boat a week or so later, we found that 50% of our clever lashing system had come untied. Learning from our mistake, we re-tied the tarp using a number of individual lengths of twine, instead of a couple of longer pieces as we had the first time around. I trust that will work better.
Initial method.
New method.
My takeaway lessons from this are as follows:
- The first solution is never the best solution.
- If possible, if you’re securing your boat to leave it for any period of time, let Mother Nature have her way with it for a week or so before you take off. You may find that some adjustments need to be made.
- Worthy of repeating, the first solution is never the best solution!
I was actually surprised to see my boat cover over my Oday survived the winter and was exactly how I left it. It was a mild winter in NH and I used a lot of spring clamps this year, not just rope.
We have had an unseasonably windy few weeks. It was good non-storm test for our tarp.
We’ve never had success with leaving tarps up. Now, we take everything down, on the assumption that the wind, rain and sun will tear it up anyway.
In general I agree but in this case, with nothing to cover those spots the cockpit would end up with more water in it.
I’ve always told folks that the best way to learn how to tie up a boat is to sleep on her the first night, through the tide and wind changes.
Makes sense.