Thanks so much for those who helped me find the Dagger Reflection with wood gunwales this weekend for my family. We’re super excited to get it out on the water!
For better or worse, our sheltered storage options for the boat are non-existent. We live in a 1920’s Craftsman with no garage and our shed is too small for it to fit. There’s no way it’s making it into the basement without taking out a wall. We’ll be storing it on a shelf on the exterior wall of the shed in a fairly shady spot, but it will get wet and cold. We live in Pittsburgh and we don’t experience fast temperature swings, but temps can get down to 0 maybe once or twice a winter.
So! I’m looking for a canoe cover to protect our investment. I’ve looked at some of the premium options like Red Leaf Designs and Danuu and those seem great except for the price.
Can anyone recommend a more budget friendly option that gets me 80% of the way there at 50% of the price of those nicer covers? I don’t need to be able to use it as a travel cover although that would be nice. My main concerns are protecting it from moisture and sun. I understand that you want something that allows airflow, not something that can trap moisture. The cold is what it is and I’ll make sure to take all the proper precautions with it before winter storage
Let me know what you’ve found that works best at (hopefully) a lower price!
can you sew? Walmart ought to have polyester jersey that stretches… Get 7 yards of it sew it along the long side and insert boat. tie off the ends with rubber bands or twine.
What is more important .IIRC you have a Royalex boat with wood gunwales. Cold cracking is a threat so just loosen the gunwale screws a little particularly at the ends where they are close together.
Or make a frame tent shape and insert boat off the ground. Cover the frame with a blue tarp.
Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of research on maintaining the wood gunwales and cold cracking. I’ll be oiling them regularly when the gunwales are dry and I’ll loosen all screws before freezing temps hit.
There are 3-4 screws on the exterior of the gunwale at each end of the boat. There are also many more along the interior of the gunwale running the length of the boat. Should I loosen all of these or only the exterior ones at each end?
My outside canoe storage solution was to use a 8oz heavy duty poly tarp, UV resistant. Canoe sits upside down on carpet covered 2X4s. The photo shows a 6 X20 tarp.
Purchased Sunbrella-type fabric from our local fabric store (Hobby Lobby) and use it to cover two of my boats. Not for traveling, but it does offer protection against UV rays. Material dries fast.
We live north of you up on Lake Erie and we get weeks of sub zero and 10-12 foot of snow in a normal winter. My racks are under a shade tree and the tree provides UV during the summer hot months and all winter they sit uncovered hull up and are fine come spring. I feel letting the air circulate is good and a cover outside is not going to keep the boat warmer. I have seen several people post where a covered boat discolored where moisture was trapped between a tarp and the hull.
My boats is poly I don’t think I would change with Royalex if anything it is a better material for UV. I don’t have any wood in my boat. It had a wood carry yoke when I got it and I took it out. Wood on any boat requires constant upkeep. If I was worried about the wood I would tent the boat for winter or better yet build a small shed roof out over the area.
Awesome suggestion Roookie. I sometimes keep my boat on the truck rack if I plan to go out within the next few days, but worry about cumulative UV damage.
