Cheap homemade kayak cover

Has anyone made a cheap, homemade kayak cover to protect their boat while transporting? I’m building a Pygmy Arctic Tern, and hope to be done before the end of June, when I make my annual 1500 mile round trip to Massachusetts. I see Danuu makes one for $150, but I’ve about maxed out what I can spend on this project. Pygmy seems to recommend paddling the boat for awhile before putting on a UV protective coat of Varnish or LPU. So I might be bringing an unvarnished boat with me on my trip. I don’t want to leave it exposed to the sun more than I need to.



Suggestions, plans, ideas for material are welcome.



Thanks.

Still Not Cheap, But…
I bought some marine canvass, on sale at Walmart. I bought a six foot HD plastic zipper at the same time. I used a friends sewing machine loaded with nylon thread, and sewed basically a sock for the yak with a zipper at one end. I also sewed in two 4" x 3’ pieces of nylon screen for some vents. I use the covers primarily for storage but I have used them for transport a couple of times.



Seems to me that I have about sixty dollars in each bag, large enough for an 18’ boat.



Happy Paddling,



Mark

any pix marc???
or a write up???looking to make a bag for my surf boat…

I Seriously Doubt
you will damage the boat with such a short trip and exposure… If you’re really worried, buy a couple of bottoms of the 303 stuff and lathered in on for the drive over,during the time you’re here.



Cheaper and easier. Any kind of cover on a long drive will flap, make noise and drive you (well, me…) crazy.



sing

I can take a pic or two

– Last Updated: May-23-06 10:39 AM EST –

this afternoon when I get home. No write up, and nothing fancy. I layed the material out on the lawn and set the boat on top of it upside down. I then gathered the material around the boat and used straight pins to hold the two pieces together. I then took a magic marker and drew a line where I wanted the stitch line to go. I marked where the zipper was to go and made a separate bag there to go over my rudder. I then sewed along the marker lines I made and sewed the rudder bag onto the main bag. I test fit the bag then cut the excess material off and turned the bag inside out. So, I put the boat in the bag bow first, then the zipper pulls the material around the rudder and closes the bag.

My main purposes were to keep critters out and the sun off the boat during storage. I have to store my boats outside.

Sing is correct. I normally do not use the bags for transport and I've not damaged the boats at all during transport.

Mark

I have the original bubble wrap
from my Acadia 12.5 You can have it for $20.00 plus the cost of shipping.

A cheap way would be to go buy the
biggest, cheap blue tarp at wally world, a roll of duct tape, and tape the mother up. Might flap a bit, though.

Which begs the question
Don’t covers, even fitted ones, flap and buzz in the wind? I would think that the noise would be maddening. How about damage to the hull from vibration?



Jim

just wondering

Bag Lady
My Bag Lady canoe covers never flapped or made noise. I’ve had two of them in the past and need to purchase one for my current boat. I think she’ll do kayak covers too.



I got about 16 or 18 months use out of my first one, car topped daily.



http://www.waterworkscanoe.com/the_bag_lady.htm

uncovered
Hey I was down in Port Townsend and was talking to Joe at redfish kayak and he told me that he leaves his boat out in the hot sun for a few hours at a time for a few days and it helps the expoxy cure. If you do cover it I would have lots of straps on it to keep it from flapping, otherwise it will definitly mar up the finish. I think it would have to be out in the sun for a few weeks before it would make a difference.

Thanks all
Leaving it uncovered does make more sense. I’ll just have to wipe the bugs off when I get there. I didn’t think about the flapping problem. That would drive me crazy.