Boat Covers

I too have a cover made by Chris Lohman. Made in late 2006, I had a shed then, and first used when we moved to our no shed location in fall 2007. There are no sheds here at all and I don't think ever will be.

I did build a 2x4" frame, full length ridge support, after the first year. There was enough snow load, and of course the rain right after, that the poles punched through.

If you stay with the poles only, consider getting him to add a couple more with the reinforcing he does and put 1/2 rounds of 2" PVC pipe atop the poles to spread the load. After the punch through the PVC 1/2 rounds worked for the remainder of the winter untill the cover came off and repairs could be done. The pvc pieces were about 16" long

There is no way, at least for me, that it is a 1-2 hours assembly/disassembly process anymore. That's fine since we don't stay home so there is no more winter use.

The cover does a good job of protecting the boat. It is an older boat with a lot of varnish and without the cover I doubt I could keep it up anymore.

There were a couple problems that Chris dealt with including last year with a sewn seam that let go. He did it no charge even though the cover is now 6 yrs.

I'm happy with the cover and his service. I don't mean this to be an ad but with the O.P. just thought that word of a good product should be passed around.

There are actually a lot of his covers in this area and known to me.

My slip neighbor here in Port Townsend had a cover made up on Salt Spring island, I believe he only used it for one winter.. the movement of the cover was really hard on the varnished caps and rails. The cover really color faded quickly during that winter. When we got out current boat we kept it in covered moorage for the first winter, but when spring came the Admiral said in no certain terms was she spending time on the boat that wasn't in the sun. As far as low maintenance goes.... having to scrub the spider poop off all the time was a pain in the butt... So much for 20 years of dreaming of having a boat under cover!
HOLLYWOOD

Doesn't covering one's boat and thus requiring a lengthy time to remove the cover imply one isn't using the boat frequently? Don't want to spend hours getting ready and then securing a boat for a daysail or even a weekend trip, let alone spending an afternoon on the boat at the marina/mooring. Perhaps I lack empathy being in an around-the-year boating area.

Christmas Eve 2011:

markpierce said:

Perhaps I lack empathy being in an around-the-year boating area.

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Bingo

Kitimat, where I live, means "People of the Snow" in the Tsimshian First Nations language. You know it has to snow here a lot when this spot gets singled out on the whole coast of BC for that designation.

Being 60 miles from the outer coast at the head of Douglas Channel means we are much more affected by the colder temperatures in the interior of BC. Combine this location with over 7 feet of rain a year and 5 months a year with average low temperatures below freezing, and it can add up to 4 foot a day snowfalls followed by bucketing rain.

People around the Great Lakes whine about "lake effect" snowfalls...here we have Pacific Ocean effect snowfalls.

During winter I shovel our driveway and my mother-in-laws next door in the morning before work, then I walk my route of 535 houses as a letter carrier through the snow, then shovel the driveways again before bed.

If we get a couple days of sunshine after weeks of constant rain and snow, it would be nice to make using the boat a less onerous chore.

Does that spark a glimmer of empathy within you, to see why I wouldn't want to add shovelling off the boat to my snow day list of chores?

Curious. What kind of shovels/tools does one use to remove snow from one's boat without damaging its finish?

MurrayM said:

Bingo

Kitimat, where I live, means "People of the Snow" in the Tsimshian First Nations language. You know it has to snow here a lot when this spot gets singled out on the whole coast of BC for that designation.

Being 60 miles from the outer coast at the head of Douglas Channel means we are much more affected by the colder temperatures in the interior of BC. Combine this location with over 7 feet of rain a year and 5 months a year with average low temperatures below freezing, and it can add up to 4 foot a day snowfalls followed by bucketing rain.

People around the Great Lakes whine about "lake effect" snowfalls...here we have Pacific Ocean effect snowfalls.

During winter I shovel our driveway and my mother-in-laws next door in the morning before work, then I walk my route of 535 houses as a letter carrier through the snow, then shovel the driveways again before bed.

If we get a couple days of sunshine after weeks of constant rain and snow, it would be nice to make using the boat a less onerous chore.

Does that spark a glimmer of empathy within you, to see why I wouldn't want to add shovelling off the boat to my snow day list of chores?

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Who's whining now!!! Just joking!

markpierce said:

Curious. What kind of shovels/tools does one use to remove snow from one's boat without damaging its finish?

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Boat cover

I use a dust pan, broom and/or brush. Most of the time its just banging the canvass/tarp with my hand. If the cover is steep the snow tends to sluff off. The Eagle is heated at 70 degree during the winter and put off so much heat the snow turns to slush.

To keep from moving the canvas/tarps are held tight, which is the reason I use bungee cords to allow some strechting when required. There are some areas that the varnish needs replacing/coating each year. However, it's no near as bad if the teak was not protected.

What kind of shovels/tools does one use to remove snow from one's boat without damaging its finish? -markpierce

I had dust on my boat once or twice. I used a feather duster, being careful not to dislodge the 3-strand twisted dental floss boat lines. (Hey, they're hard to secure to those big cleats!!)

Does that count?

Update on my Lohman cover

Well, I thought I would give an update on my new Lohman boat cover. On the good side, Chris came up and fitted it to the boat (I paid his round trip airfare to Alaska), and it seems to be a reasonably good fit, but that's about all the good things I can say at this point. As we were fitting it, I noticed thousands of needle holes that stream daylight through. He said not to worry, within six months they would all fill with dirt and stop leaking. OK, not what I expected but not the end of the world. While installing it, he noticed he didn't supply enough support poles, and told me to go to Home Depo to buy more (at my expense so far). OK, not what I expected since he said all supports were included, but not the end of the world. Also while installing, he noticed that there were no openings for the fenders, but that there were long zippers 6 feet away that were installed in the wrong place. He took a knife and cut slits in the new cover and said to have my local canvas maker repair it (he would supply the zippers, but no mention of who pays the sewing bill). OK, I"m beginning to get a little perturbed. The following day, Chris was gone and it began to rain. Fully expecting to really enjoy the new cover, I was instead horrified to discover there was not a single dry spot on the boat. The cover leaks profusely, not only from the thousands of needle holes, but from all the zippers and other openings. Water streams out of them. There are flaps over them, but the wind simply blows the water under the flap. Then there are numerous places where the cover goes around my radar arch, with no possible way to make it water tight, resulting in steady streams of water running from the ridge line into the holes. Yesterday I had to work on adjusting the support poles and I had to put on full rain gear to avoid getting soaked while under the cover. When I called him to discuss the issues, his his first response was "I get these calls all the time", like that should make me feel better? His solution for the zipper flaps was to use DUCT TAPE on them. SERIOUSLY??? Today he sent me an email, and said I should rig tarps under the cover for the next six months. SERIOUSLY?? I spent $7000.00 for a cover that needs duct tape and tarps to keep my boat dry? Prior to the Lohamn cover I had a local canvas guy make enough pieces to cover about half the boat, and when it's up the decks are 100% dry, (none of the zippers leak a bit) but I wanted to cover the entire boat, so I invested a lot of money in the new cover. In his defense, I have little doubt that when I send it back he will attempt to fix the issues, but my original plan was to be able to re-finish the wood under a dry cover. Not to mention the time and cost to ship almost 200lbs of cover round trip to and from Canada and all the customs fees. At this time, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, based in no small amount on the feed back I have read in this thread, but I must say at this point, I'm not the least impressed with the cover's ability to protect my boat.

Further update: I just called him to discuss how we can make repairs and was shocked at his response. He began screaming at me and told me he would not talk to me for six months. He said I needed to read his email in which he recommended I string tarps under the cover, and then he said don't call back and hung up on me! Wow, I'm a bit shocked at the moment..........

Arctic Traveller said:

Further update: I just called him to discuss how we can make repairs and was shocked at his response. He began screaming at me and told me he would not talk to me for six months. He said I needed to read his email in which he recommended I string tarps under the cover, and then he said don't call back and hung up on me! Wow, I'm a bit shocked at the moment..........

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I would be livid! Know a good lawyer?? Maybe there's a friendly one on TF that could give you some private advice!

Best luck fellow boater!

Art said:

I would be livid! Know a good lawyer?? Maybe there's a friendly one on TF that could give you some private advice!

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My desire is to solve this in a calm, rational, civilized fashion, but based on his melt down today, I'm not sure it's possible.

He provides a 3 year warranty against defects in workmanship, but deny's that there is a problem, and the fact that he's in Canada while I'm in the US makes it hard to enforce I imagine. I'm hoping to let him calm down a bit, but based on what I hear from others and my previous experience with him makes me think I might be stuck. When I first met him, he was delivering a cover to another boat and argeed to let me look at it, but when we met he said he had already delivered it so I couldn't see it. When I expressed my disappointment, he flew into a rage and told me I didn't believe in the product and he was canceling my order. I finally calmed him down though and he agreed to make it. That should have been a warning............................

Wow!!!

Just wow!

Wow. That sucks.

Why would you fly someone in?

beachbum29 said:

Wow. That sucks.

Why would you fly someone in?

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There is no one in Juneau who would make the cover, and Chris has a great website that is very convincing. When I purchased the cover he said he needed to fit it to the boat when finished, and added in $700 for shipping and air line tickets, so I had no choice........................Arctic Traveller

A neighbor of mine had one of his covers... I think he pitched it after the first season.... it never fit right, leaked, faded to a completely different color, rubbed the varnish off of his beautiful handrails ( one of the reasons he bought the cover in the first place ). Send it back, eat the airfare and the shipping ask for a refund.. and call it a life lesson.
HOLLYWOOD

I don't think there is any way in hell he will take it back, he won't even talk to me on the phone................Arctic Traveller