Keeping water from pooling on my boat cover. Take #2.

[Bass newb]

First I tried 3/4" schedule 40 pc. It looked perfect.


Surprising it was a waste of $30. It seemingly melted, or deformed heavily in the heat. It was glued and still broke apart.


Then I tried 1 1/4" cpvc and pvc.


So far it has worked perfectly.


It has been sunned and rained on several times and seems to be faring much better. $60 in the hole because I had to do it twice. Now that I know it will work, it's all getting glued together and I'll put a screw on joint halfway in it to make takedown and storage easier.

[Florida Jig Co.]

Looks good to me!!!

[Bass AHolic]

whew 2nd round pics, 1st glance, thought ya cannibalized the Kids swing set

[WVTERP]

Looks great. Doing something similar but not as nice looking as yours. I took a 10 foot long section of 3/4 pipe and run it up to the front seat post hole. I have about a 4 foot section of pipe that I have standing (with 2 sections for feet) between the seats just forward of the rear deck. So far, so good. I can break it down and take it with me if I go overnight somewhere else. The boat stays at the lake year round on the trailer. In my old boat the 2 pedestal seats held the cover up perfectly, but the new to me boat is a DC and the new cover is not as large in relation to the new boat. Not as much overhang as I had before to work with. I got this brand new cover for $100 from a friend who paid $300 for it, but not really designed for a DC.

[Marshfly]

Glad it's working. But theres something wrong with your glue/method if its coming apart at all. PVC "glue" isn't actually glue. It chemically welds the two pieces together so they become one. I don't see any purple marks on your joints so I'm assuming you didn't use the primer/cleaner prior to using the glue. Dirty joints don't allow the "glue" to weld the pieces together.

[twitch]

I used 2" because we get snow here so needed it to hold the weight.

[TMG]

Beach balls

[clearlake outdoors]

i cover mine with seats in and it works fine

[drake322]

This is problem I run into weekly when I cover my boat up. I use an older cooler in one part of the boat for support and leave the lean to seat in the back. But, my cover does not have enough tie downs to keep the cover from sagging in Noah's Ark events like we had yesterday. Just keep a bucket close!

[Garfish]

Beach balls

I've been using my wife's old exercise peanut on the front deck under the cover to tent it up. I tried fiberglass ribs, and various sched 40 pvc and it would either fail at highway speeds (pressure) or was a pain in the azz to store on road trips. $15 peanut or exercise ball

[Boostr]

Looks good. I just ordered the boat cover support system when I ordered my boat cover, and it works great once you get it to where you want it.

[jtracc]

I have a z118 and I have zero issues with my ranger cover pooling? Add the but seat to the step seat base and put in the motor hood then connect the hood straps to cover, ratchet it down and boom, no pooling in cover. You could have added a couple those inflated balls they use in a gym. One on front deck and the other on the back deck. Boom no pooling on the cover...

[DrewFlu33]

I did something similar for my boat...bought an aftermarket "semi custom" cover for $100 instead of spending $1200 on one from Ranger. My first attempt went exactly like yours. Then I figured out that you can make the PVC work, but you have to make sure every joint is resting on either the front or back deck. I did this by forming half circles going across the deck.

I basically made a frame that fits on my front deck from the front of the console up to the front of the rod lockers and connected it with one that straddles my seats and sits on the back deck. "Inside" the frame at the ends and at the back of my front deck are Ts turned up at about a 45 degree angle to make a total of 3 half circles that hold the cover up. The one in the front is the smallest, middle is middle, back is largest. I think I used half inch PVC, but would go 3/4 if I had it to do over. The circles lay back just a little bit from how I first put it together, but it still works for going on two years now!

Either way, looks like you solved the issue and it works well!

[TMG]

I've been using my wife's old exercise peanut on the front deck under the cover to tent it up. I tried fiberglass ribs, and various sched 40 pvc and it would either fail at highway speeds (pressure) or was a pain in the azz to store on road trips. $15 peanut or exercise ball

I use 2 beach balls. These guys have to much free time on their hands

[Haughton]

Have the motor cover stitched to the boat cover, when you tilt the motor down, it will pull cover tight front to back

[CastingCall]

Nice job... PVC is great stuff if you go beefy enough.
Make sure you wash and treat your cover with a good vinyl protectant. Otherwise the water scum/dirt that's on there now will degrade the vinyl with time.

[Bass newb]

Nice job... PVC is great stuff if you go beefy enough.
Make sure you wash and treat your cover with a good vinyl protectant. Otherwise the water scum/dirt that's on there now will degrade the vinyl with time.

Thanks, the thought of vinyl protestant never crossed my mind....

[okiebass]

I have seen guys use an old ironing board too--- stretch cover over it a pull it tight

[WileyG]

That gives me ideas for the support for my new 'cover' that I'm gonna cut to fit and put grommets in so I can tie it down. I picked up 2 billboard vinyls the other day to experiment with. One is 14x36 and the other is 14x46 so I have enough to practice my pattern.

[Gamblinman]

Arch your PVC from side to side...one piece of pipe. Use T's at the base and short pieces of pipe to stabilize. Once the pipe gets hot, it will hold its shape. I didn't use any glue so I could KD them and take them with me anywhere.