Canvas enclosures and storms

Those of you with full canvas enclosures, do you remove them ahead of a tropical storm/minimal hurricane or leave them up?

While we typically don’t have hurricanes in Michigan, I would remove the enclosure if I was in a hurricane zone when one was coming my way. The enclosure really isn’t designed to stand up to the sustained winds for very long. Also it adds windage to your boat which will strain your dock and dock lines more. I would remove the enclosure and then tape up any openings to help keep the driving rain out of the boat.

I fold my two bimini's up and boot them when thunderstorms are approaching. For tropical storms and Nor'easters I would remove the canvas and lash the frame. For a hurricane I would seriously consider removing the frame. You would be surprised at the windage even a frame will add during extreme winds.

Hey da Stars! Take 'em down. Winds forecast 25-44mph Sat. thru Sun. evening for Northshore area. Cover or better yet remove electronics. Lots of rain; 3-4ft rise in tides. Going south of you to move fishing boats further inland on Thurs. Be safe!

ragin cajun said:

Hey da Stars! Take 'em down. Winds forecast 25-44mph Sat. thru Sun. evening for Northshore area. Cover or better yet remove electronics. Lots of rain; 3-4ft rise in tides. Going south of you to move fishing boats further inland on Thurs. Be safe!

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Thanks and considering they are brand spanking new I really don’t want anything to happen to them.

Man, have you see the models rainfall predictions!?!

You be safe too!

I have a canvas roof over my cockpit. Went through Irma with no problem.
The stitching is giving out so it is time to replace it. I shall do so after hurricane season and this time, add side canvas and back canvas, perhaps sunbrella so I can hang clothes out to dry.
The canvas covering the windows can be mounted outside or inside the boat.

Seems we have a lady board member who firmly believes, she is the queen of the surrounding condo complex and because she also owns a boat slip and everything she says is from heaven.
So far, I told her to go to hell once and she almost swallowed her tongue. LOL

I take them down if there's a named storm approaching. But then I only keep the top bimini on, and some side-skirts. My feeling is I want to avoid the hassle/expense of replacing them later, so it's worth the effort to remove them in advance. That and if things work loose there's the chance their flapping will harm something else, like a snap or a zipper banging on gelcoat, scratching/cracking it.

As a corollary, what about solar panels for a named storm? Does anyone take those down?

cardude01 said:

As a corollary, what about solar panels for a named storm? Does anyone take those down?

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One would hope hard panels are mounted securely enough for that not to be an issue. But if they're flexible, or the poles to which they're mounted have any flex.. it'd probably be wise to secure them.

It's not just direct forces that are the most concern, it's the back/forth of wind gusts causing things to flex, work loose, flap around, etc.

OldDan1943 said:

I have a canvas roof over my cockpit. Went through Irma with no problem.
The stitching is giving out so it is time to replace it. I shall do so after hurricane season and this time, add side canvas and back canvas, perhaps sunbrella so I can hang clothes out to dry.
The canvas covering the windows can be mounted outside or inside the boat.

Seems we have a lady board member who firmly believes, she is the queen of the surrounding condo complex and because she also owns a boat slip and everything she says is from heaven.
So far, I told her to go to hell once and she almost swallowed her tongue. LOL

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When you get new canvas made specify Tenara thread. It is warranted for the life of the canvas. I used to live I Tucson and the regular poly thread would last about 2.5 years with the sun there. I started using Tenara and never had any go bad. It costs more but will pay for itself when you don’t need to restitch or replace canvas due to thread wearing out.

Tropical storm winds or thunder storms I leave mine up.
Haven't been in a hurricane in the water in L I Sound yet but I'd probably take it down.

Comodave said:

When you get new canvas made specify Tenara thread. It is warranted for the life of the canvas. I used to live I Tucson and the regular poly thread would last about 2.5 years with the sun there. I started using Tenara and never had any go bad. It costs more but will pay for itself when you don’t need to restitch or replace canvas due to thread wearing out.

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Thanks. I have written it down and will enquire when it comes time to refresh my canvas.
Thanks.

Some fabricators will not want to use Tenara thread because it is slipperier than poly thread. The better fabricators will already be using it. I have my machine setup for Tenara so it isn’t an issue. Tenara costs about $130 per spool versus poly at $15 per spool but a spool of Tenara should do an entire boat if not two boats so it really does not make sense to use the cheap thread and have to restitch it even one time.

Star0210 said:

Those of you with full canvas enclosures, do you remove them ahead of a tropical storm/minimal hurricane or leave them up?

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We removed ours once when a direct hit was predicted. Haven't removed it otherwise... and due to a local even right after we started installing the new enclosure we were having made at the time, I know ours is OK for at least 80 mph winds.

Tenara thread throughout. Our panels are connected by zippers but those zippers are also overlaid with a flap that Velcro's down to cover the zips.

-Chris

Hey Stars, windfinder is going nuts with their forecast. Seems they thinking a minimal
hurricane. Hope not!

Comodave said:

Some fabricators will not want to use Tenara thread because it is slipperier than poly thread. The better fabricators will already be using it. I have my machine setup for Tenara so it isn’t an issue. Tenara costs about $130 per spool versus poly at $15 per spool but a spool of Tenara should do an entire boat if not two boats so it really does not make sense to use the cheap thread and have to restitch it even one time.

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Comodave,

What is the set up for Tenara on the machine?

Thanks.

First cone just came out.

syjos said:

Comodave,

What is the set up for Tenara on the machine?

Thanks.

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You have to put more tension on the thread because Tenara is more slippery than regular thread. Some guys that do canvas for a living dont want to mess with changing adjustments. Once you have it set up then I don’t mess with the adjustments. I only use Tenara on my machine. I use a hot knife to cut Sunbrella so it won’t ravel. About half the time I use the hot knife to cut through a stitched seam the Tenara will come out the back of the hot knife intact. It is really tough stuff.

Love the strength of the tenara thread, as CD says , it is worth the money. Don't try to break it by pulling with both hands, you'll cut yourself and the thread won't break.

Bimini and Hurricanes

Here on the east coast of Florida, if we're threatened by a hurricane we remove EVERYTHING that is moveable, including the entire bimini enclosure, the dinghy, electronics, boat hooks, etc, and store them inside or take them home to the garage. We also lower the mast and secure it in the boom crutch. Then double up all lines, remove the electric lines and store them, and take the exterior covers off the windows. There's nothing left to blow around.

Why take a chance? We do this no matter the forecast wind speeds - if it's a hurricane, it's a hurricane!

Star0210 said:

Those of you with full canvas enclosures, do you remove them ahead of a tropical storm/minimal hurricane or leave them up?

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BobMc said:

Here on the east coast of Florida, if we're threatened by a hurricane we remove EVERYTHING that is moveable, including the entire bimini enclosure, the dinghy, electronics, boat hooks, etc, and store them inside or take them home to the garage. We also lower the mast and secure it in the boom crutch. Then double up all lines, remove the electric lines and store them, and take the exterior covers off the windows. There's nothing left to blow around.



Why take a chance? We do this no matter the forecast wind speeds - if it's a hurricane, it's a hurricane!

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We are in Southwest Florida and follow this process too. Out thought is if we prepare hopefully we will not need it. Rather do that than wish we had done more.

John

If I know we are going to get hit by a hurricane.

I remove all canvas covers, and anything loose.
Leave the docks and other boats.
Go to 50' of water without other boats around.
Set three anchors with 300' of 1/2" chain, and chain bridals.
Baton down all hatches, doors, and port holes.
Install storm shields on all glass.
Setup a storm watch, and get ready to ride it out.

I left the enclosure up during the winter on our previous boat in the PNW. We had freezing rain then temperature in the teens. We had a wind storm and 5 clear plastic panels cracked.

I always followed the advice you have been given about removing it for storms when i had a high profile trawler. However as you look at the avatar of my Mainship at the left you can see a sort of mixed bag of canvas with an extended cover over the cockpit using bimini-style bows and canvas. Additional "canvas" is the enclosure (mostly clear vinyl with canvas strips around the edges which drapes down from the aft end of the hardtop. Additionally there are vinyl windows sewn into surrounding canvas adjacent to the pilot and co-pilot stations.

Anytime the boat is not away from home pier, the aft cover is stowed with the bows folded to the aft end of the hardtop and a boot zippered over the canvas. The enclosure canvas and side windows are never removed, not even during category five Hurricane Michael.

With the boat in a narrow canal shielded a bit by surrounding homes, Michael did the following damage. Pulled one side of the stowed bow out of its swiveling deck socket and twisted the whole rig around on the other side of the boat where the set screw allowed for the rotation but not extraction of the bow. The large enclosure curtain across the aft end of the enclosure had its two zippers pulled loose.

Repairs were simply swiveling the folded bimini around and resetting the bimini bow into its socket and resetting the set screws in better fashion, and resewing the two zippers. Only other damage was a tree falling on the boat's hardtop pushing the boat down in the water a few inches while cracking the rooftop air conditioner's cover.

So how did you fare over there with your Barry?

fgarriso said:

If I know we are going to get hit by a hurricane.

I remove all canvas covers, and anything loose.
Leave the docks and other boats.
Go to 50' of water without other boats around.
Set three anchors with 300' of 1/2" chain, and chain bridals.
Baton down all hatches, doors, and port holes.
Install storm shields on all glass.
Setup a storm watch, and get ready to ride it out.

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On topic: We, too, remove the canvas and window panels. (Good opportunity to re-waterproof them before they go back up.)

Off topic: I'd love to know how you setup your three anchors. We'll be in the Caribbean this whole hurricane season, and although the plan is to head for Grenada in we're threatened, Plan B would be to anchor somewhere. (And why 50' depth?)

syjos said:

I left the enclosure up during the winter on our previous boat in the PNW. We had freezing rain then temperature in the teens. We had a wind storm and 5 clear plastic panels cracked.

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How old were the panels?

Ours stay up 24/7 in winter, haven't ever had a panel crack from weather -- that I know of.

This last year we had a small crack in one of our side forward panels -- .040" Regalite -- but that was after being up 24/7 for about 9 years (except for that one hurricane where a direct hit was predicted and when we took it all down briefly). And I'm not sure weather had anything to do with that crack...

-Chris

ranger42c said:

How old were the panels?

Ours stay up 24/7 in winter, haven't ever had a panel crack from weather -- that I know of.

This last year we had a small crack in one of our side forward panels -- .040" Regalite -- but that was after being up 24/7 for about 9 years (except for that one hurricane where a direct hit was predicted and when we took it all down briefly). And I'm not sure weather had anything to do with that crack...

-Chris

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Panels ranged in age from 1 to 5 years. I don't recall age of specific panels. I was replacing a couple panel per year on that boat.

I must have had much better luck, then. We only just now replaced the 9- or 10-year-old clears in our 5 forward panels... and that was really more because two of the front three Makrolon panels had begun to cloud and yellow. Sort of just did the two side Regalite panels as a "what the heck, why not?" move.

-Chris

We were expecting a direct hit from Irma opening we prepped for Irma, we took down the Bimini and duct taped the frames together and lashed them down. I then went around and taped every opening and crack closed with duct tape. We prepped for 2 days.


Thank god we never got a direct hit, but i learnt a lot doing this.