Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Moderator: GreenLake

Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby spoke36 » Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:39 pm

I found that a cloth cover deteriorates easily when the boat is stored at my home. Tree limbs pierce the cover. Animals pierce the cover and eat it selectively. Leaves and debris (and snow) build up and cause the cover to rip and tear.
Keeping the water out:
I have been thinking of making a cover out of corrugated polycarbonate roofing and putting bracing that is not attached under the material for strength but allowing removal and storage when the boat is being used as a sailboat. My wife objects to the boat as "an unsightly lawn ornament" when it has tarps and wood bracing in our yard. The cover should be easy to remove, disassemble and store as well as assemble with few parts and tools. Both a garage and a shed are out of the question.
Getting the water out:
When water comes into the boat from rain or snow, the small 0.5 inch drain clogs easily. I've considered cutting holes in the transom and putting in bungee straps to keep flaps in place but that compromises both the boat hull design and opens the boat to other perils (plus where to attach the bungees). I want the boat to self-empty with no electricity of human attention.

I have owned my Day Sailer 1 for over 40 years, I had 15 years of use initially and then put it aside. (I currently sail a Cal 24 on the Hudson River). Now, thinking of using a newly restored Day Sailer 1 for pleasure on light air days, I want to keep the boat clean and dry. I do not want to buy a cloth sail cover but want to have an easily-removed, weather and varmint-resistant cover. Surely there are others who have similar needs. The Day Sailer 1 is not designed to drain out or to leave the cockpit uncovered. What have others done that they are willing to share? Newer Day Sailers probably want to keep the sun and debris out too but their design does let the water out.
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby GreenLake » Wed Sep 04, 2019 3:06 am

Far be it from me to measure my experience against your longterm tenure as a DS1 owner.

I've had success with white, heavy duty tarps from the H/W store. They will usually last a bit longer than one season around here; and, other than for daily use, I double them up (with the older one on top). I stop using them when they self-destruct into fine little squares of plastic.

By always having a rather recent tarp (whether by itself or on the inside), I don't get issues with rainwater in the boat (unless I do something stupid). My boat is parked on a very slight incline, that helps with draining it via the standard 1" transom drain. Mostly condensation and slow seepage, because I don't actually let the cockpit be a raincatcher.

For the same reason, I tend not to have issues with the drain plugging, although I regularly inspect the boat when stored at my house.

The tarp is suspended over the mast, not flat across the cockpit. As in this picture.

681

The opening in the back is a "feature"; it allows for some ventilation. One year, some critters got in, but it's a question of location. The only time I parked the boat there for a longer time. All other locations: never had a problem.

The picture shows the wider tarps I used to get. I've seen mold grow on the hull, when there's a tarp hanging close to it, so I now end the tarp a few inches below the deck. That tends to trap less dirt and moisture and I don't get mold on the hull any more.

I'm sure some of the differences depend on difference in climate, or whether the storage is accessible (and the boat is checked) or whether it's cover&forget until next season.

What experience have others had?
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby Alan » Fri Oct 04, 2019 1:58 pm

My experience has been the same as GreenLake's, down to the color of the tarps. I use a pair of 10' x 20' white ones that I got online from the big-box home store. I ended up using two placed overlapping, because the mast is longer than 20 feet and I wanted to cover the entire mast.

The current pair has been on there at least five years and is only now starting to deteriorate. White tarps have lasted much longer than other colors, maybe because they're less affected by UV light.
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby GreenLake » Fri Oct 04, 2019 5:16 pm

Alan, I used to special order white tarps of different dimensions, but otherwise the same as the off-the-shelf ones and at least one year had one that was 25' long. I found that cumbersome during the season and have settled for 20' (so as to cover the hull fully). Outside the season, I either take the mast off the boat (and replace it with a ridge pole made from lumber) or leave it (depends on parking location). In either case, I remove all halyards. Sometimes I manage to cover the halyard sheaves; they do get exposed a little to the UV and will deteriorate over time.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby Signalcharlie » Tue Oct 08, 2019 9:25 pm

Store her off site?
Kent and Skipper
1971 DS II #4624 "CYANE"
Small Boat Restoration blog http://smallboatrestoration.blogspot.com/p/o.html
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby GreenLake » Tue Oct 08, 2019 10:33 pm

Not everyone has covered storage. That would be ideal. Usually, the mast is the problem, but some older garages can be so short that even the trailer is too long to fit.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby Signalcharlie » Wed Oct 09, 2019 8:55 am

Here is what we have done over 25 years of Day Sailer ownership:
-Mast down behind house with 8x10 blue tarp tented over boom. Tarps lasts about a year.
-Mast down under bay house on pilings. No cover.
-Mast down in apartment parking lot, no cover. Capn Jack made daily rounds with cup o coffee to pick out pine needles and make sure bailer stayed clear. Mast held in mast crutch and cushioned over tabernacle.
-Mast up in our bay house driveway, 8x10 blue tarp tented over the boom to cover cuddy and cockpit. Periodic inspections to remove pine needles.
-Stored mast up on strap lift with a 5x8 tarp (8x10 folded in half) covering the cuddy and part of the cockpit. Bailer left open and self bailing transom plug removed.

Cloth covers degrade quickly and grow mildew. We have had great luck with good old Sunbrella. Sunbrella fabrics are made from a solution dyed acrylic that is UV, water, and mildew resistant. They are fade-proof, stain-resistant, and long-lasting. Have not had any issues with critters eating it. Where we have a lot of pine needles we put our boats under a lean to that has metal roof panels. Your corrugated panels would work as well, and let some light in to help reduce mildew. Maybe consider a small deck underneath to park the trailer on, 6x6 posts. Or colored metal roof panels to match your home, we picked blue to match the Pacific Blue Sunbrella covers.

To keep critters out, rain and debris, seems like the best option would be a custom fit Sunbrella cover. Nothing looks more ship shape than a well stored boat, ready for the next messabout.

Image
Kent and Skipper
1971 DS II #4624 "CYANE"
Small Boat Restoration blog http://smallboatrestoration.blogspot.com/p/o.html
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby Vanalien » Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:51 am

I just put the boat away for the 3rd winter I’ve owned it. I keep it in a storage yard in Minnesota, on the trailer with a 10’ x 20’ tarp pulled over the (horizontal) mast like a pup tent. The same tarp now for the 3rd season, it’s starting to deteriorate and is probably its last season.
2710
Steve
"Nellie Ruth" - 1985 DS2 Anniversary Edition #12819
Little Canada, MN
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby spoke36 » Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:40 pm

Day Sailer Cover.jpg
Day Sailer Cover
Day Sailer Cover.jpg (115.8 KiB) Viewed 9203 times
It took a long time to build a removable cover that uses no fasteners. I used 1/2 inch plywood and glued two pieces together for three cross ribs. It took a lot of incremental adjustment to get the final shape for each of the three cross ribs. They stated as identical and are now unique about 22 inches apart.

For the fore and aft I used three polycarbonate panels (8 feet by 29 inches), each with a 1.5 inch PVC pipe glued into the underside near the middle. I had hoped that these panels would be identical but found that I needed to put a small piece of PVC lumber on each end of the PVC pipe to keep the panel and pipe from sliding off, especially as I was trying to make the contour for the top of each rib. It turns out that the8 foot length of the polycarbonate panels is barely enough to cover the cockpit. I stretched a 5x7 cheap plastic tarp over the cover to give better wind protection and keep the leaves out.

I have tried to attach pictures of the rib frames and the polycarbonate cover. It looks like there are two copies of one of the pictures. I apologize. (fixed it for you ~GL)
Attachments
Day Sailer Ribs.jpg
Ribs for Day Sailer Cover
Day Sailer Ribs.jpg (98.83 KiB) Viewed 9203 times
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby GreenLake » Thu Oct 24, 2019 2:49 am

Interesting setup. I have one place I sometimes store my DS where there's not enough space for leaving the mast horizontal. A system like that might have worked - instead I just "simulate" a mast with some shorter pieces of lumber and use the same tarp as always.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: Keeping the Day Sailer 1 dry when not sailing

Postby AlaskaDS » Sun May 03, 2020 1:30 am

I have used framed pole barn style storage and the 24 foot tarps, (the tarps worked better for me) two layers are good practice, keeping the tarps a bit elevated for some airflow, I also remove all the plugs and inspection ports and have a very elevated tongue stand that encourages drainage.
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