boat cover

Builder's Forum
1

Recently we recieved about three inches of rain overnight.  Two poles holding up the custom cover (It fits perfectly on my Jimmy 2 by the way) were in place yet there was enough sag in the cover to let water pool and thus find its way in.  Quite a bit of rain penetrated.  Gallons of it.

With another storm looming I searched for a fix and flat out blundered into one.  Something called a pool pillow.  These things are used to "tent" tarps in swiming pools.  I got a 4 X 8 foot pillow, semi inflated it, and stuffed it down the lenght of the skiff.  It poofed the cover like a loaf of Wonder Bread!  The  storm dumped 2 3/4 inces of rain that night.  In the morning I mopped out less than a cup of rain water.  I took the pillow out and put the pole back in the keep things vented.  When big rain hits however that pillow will be back.  It might work of you.

2

   A lot of times it is the draw line just below the gunnale that wasn't tight enough.  I've often used empty laundry baskets, cover carriers, upside down to boost up sagging areas of boat tops. The other thing I do whith the Jimmy II is set it up bow low to help run the water off. 

Mine was in the garage during the last like a tropical storm, 5inch rain. It sits nexxt to a dock project in construction. 

3

I’ve had similar problems and have resorted to buying a 16ft long 2x4 that I sit up about 3ft above the boat with something I made that resembles sawhorses. The long 2x4 holds up a tarp like a tent, and I tie down the tarps asking the bottom to keep them from blowing away. It keeps water out for as long as the tarps last without holes.

Thanks for the pool pillow suggestion.