"Dan Krueger" wrote in message
nk.net...
These are made to fit in the sockets. The fiberglass variety will be
stronger, of course.

http://tinyurl.com/a8p8p

The "sockets" are also available to fit the rails so they won't need to be
permanently installed.

Dan


Joe Blizzard wrote:
"Chris" wrote

How do you guys deal with putting a cover on your boat, and not having a
big pool of water settle in it right in the seat area after it comes down
from the windshield to the back of the boat?

I was thinking of making some special pieces of wood to install that go
from the windshield to the back of the boat that would keep the cover
high enough that water couldn't gather.


Most people I've seen around here use support poles like those in
*JimH*'s link. They work and they're easy, but personally, I don't like
the way they tend to stretch the fabric into sort of a circus tent kind
of appearance. I use battens under my cover to keep it taut. All you need
is to make sure that the fabric is taut and there aren't any low spots
for water to pool in. Here's a picture of my boat under cover:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg

I purchased batten sockets like the ones in the center of this image:
http://www.boatus-store.com/images/full/428429.jpg and attached them to
the sides after eyeballing it to decide where I needed support. The
battens themselves are 1-1/2 by 1/4" lattice boards from Home Depot. It
took a little cut and fit to get them short enough for the cover to fit
and long enough that the bows won't collapse.

We used that system when we had a 21 footer many years back. The problem
with it was that the *battens* (I now understand that is what they are
called) are in direct contact with the canvas and promote leakage because of
that.

The pole type support is good because it does indeed create a tent like
canvas structure, allowing water to shed away from all sides. We had this
system on both our 27 and 32 footers. We used the pointy end (the ends are
either blunt or pointy, with the pole having both options by pulling out the
end and changing it to what you want) to stick through a grommet installed
on the canvas. You can easily install that grommet yourself.

Yes, the pole may stretch the canvas, but I would guess battens do also.

At least you now have 2 options to consider, both of which are cheap and
take minimal effort to install and use.