I am looking for a boat cover that I can use for all four seasons. I
will mainly use the boat during warm season. Regardless whether warm or
cold season, I will park the boat on a trailer. I am wondering whether
the normal boat cover is good enough for the snow season when there can
be one foot or two of snow (not all the time). If the normal boat cover
is good enough, I am wondering why people in marina need to use white
plastic wrap to cover their boats during winter. Am I missing
something?

The 18-ft boat that I am going to get in this weekend has a T-top
tower. Can the T-top tower be good enough to create a slope in the boat
cover that slide the snow away (hence, no need to build a frame under
the boat cover as a ridge)? Do I still need to build a frame under the
boat cover to avoid any low spot on the boat cover?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

Jay, most of the boats like yours I see shrink-wrapped for the winter
have web straps coming down off the tower to the bow and stern to ensure
the snowload doesn't "sag" the plastic and create a valley.

Thanks. I will look for this kind of straps to tie around the T-top
tower. Great! This means I don't need to spend time building a
wood-frame or trying to find a space to store the wood-frame in warm
season.

When I had a boat the size of yours with a fitted cover, I still had the
boat shrinkwrapped and I stored the cover. I used the fitted cover
mainly to keep UV and dirt off the boat.

Why did you need to shrinkwrapped that boat instead of using the fitted
cover? Did the boat cover not strong enough to hold up the weight of
the snow despite the fact that there probably not that much snow? Did
this have something to do with your boat didn't have a T-top and snow
tended to sit on the boat cover?

Thanks in advance for any follow-up info.

Jay Chan

The cover was there in season to keep during out of the
boat, and to prevent UV damage. Snow loads, freeze-thaw,
puddles of water, aren't easy on a fabric cover.

Now I understand.

With this understanding, I should get something heavy duty to cover the
boat in the winter -- may be shrink-wrap...

Thanks.

Jay Chan