New winter boat cover

[davarch]

I have just purchased a 215 sea ray cruiser. I want to save some money and buy a cover for the winter season instead of shrink wrapping.
I also would like to be able to travel with the cover on and have it stay on. my biggest issue I leave the boat at a summer house unattended for weeks at a time so I cannot see the varmints that come around looking for a new home. had this happen to a earlier boat I owned some 2,500 dollars later I had my cushions recovered.

Anyone have a history of keeping animals out of there winter boats and does a store bought cover do the trick.

Thanks

Dom

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: New winter boat cover

The plain truth is no cover is going to stop them, I had a very tight fitting one made last year, but a mouse can get in any where, so in my case over the winter I toss out a box of dryer sheets, crush a box of rat poison, ( crushing it makes it so mice can eat it ) and set out a box of mouth balls, so far so good.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: New winter boat cover

Bounce sheets (lots of them) and a few trays of mothballs do the trick for us. Put a pan scrub in the plug hole so the boat can still drain but it deters any rodents getting in that way.
Shredded Irish spring soap is good as well (cheese grater using the coarse side)

 

[tpenfield]

Re: New winter boat cover

I have just purchased a 215 sea ray cruiser. I want to save some money and buy a cover for the winter season instead of shrink wrapping.
I also would like to be able to travel with the cover on and have it stay on. my biggest issue I leave the boat at a summer house unattended for weeks at a time so I cannot see the varmints that come around looking for a new home. had this happen to a earlier boat I owned some 2,500 dollars later I had my cushions recovered.

Anyone have a history of keeping animals out of there winter boats and does a store bought cover do the trick.

Thanks

Dom

Hello Dom:

I notice that you are in Falmouth / Cape Cod. . . I have my boat in West Falmouth.

I went to Ocean State Job Lot and bought a couple of big tarps. You do want the boat to be able to 'breath' a little bit over the winter, else mold / mildew may set in, Traps are OK for that. Since I tend to work on the boat occasionally throughout the off-season, shrink wrap can be a problem

As for the critters, it is a matter of making the interior, etc smell like chemicals they won't like. I try to lock things up as much as possible, but mice see to find a way. If they don't like the smell of things (i.e. chemicals, moth balls, etc) they leave.

So, I have done OK with tarps rather than shrink wrap . . . you still need a sturdy frame structure underneath the trap(s) so that the thing sheds water nicely.

 

[Mr. PapaGeorgio]

Re: New winter boat cover

I picked up a DMC cover for the Bayliner 1400 this year. It doesn't fit as tightly as the shrinkwrap did last year, and I put a tarp over that for even better coverage for rain & snow. Hoping the mothballs will keep the mice out. Just read about Fresh Cab here, my local hardware store has it in stock, so that's going in today.