Stormy autumn

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

There has been quite many storms battering Northern Europe this autumn. It feels that perhaps the storms are getting stronger and more common? Hope that everyone's boat is ok and undamaged after all these storms. Here are a couple of photos of our local boatyard, where one sail boat toppled over in the latest storm a few days ago.

Boat_toppled over

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Broken mast

IMG_1454.jpg (36.74 KiB) Viewed 3483 times

Torn winter cover

IMG_1453.jpg (45.96 KiB) Viewed 3483 times

[Nunui Profile]

Antti- I hope Dolphin Dance is all right ¡¡¡

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

Thanks, yes DD is ok. Even the winter cover had stayed in place.

[Martijn Profile]

Antti, When I look at pictures (while feeling sad for the owners) I notice that a lot of people use the same way of constructing the winter cover as yours. Is this a common thing in Finland/the Nordics? We don't see these kind of 'boat chalets' at all in Holland.

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

Martijin, yes these chalets are quite common here and I guess that it has to do with snow. During a 'normal' winter, it is typical to have 20-50 cm of snow in February. However, in the Southern Finland the temperature often zigzags around the freezing point. Of course the snow is not a big problem as long as the temperature stays well below zero, but it comes very heavy when it melts. I have learned my lesson in this, and try to build the cover stand so that it has enough support planks for the tarpaulin, so that water cannot start pooling when the snow melts. However, our winter cover is more like a shack compared to some of the boat houses in our boat yard.

[Martijn Profile]

As you like the standing mast cover I put over my boat I like the idea to develop a shack for my boat, useful for rudder refurbishment and polishing the gelcoat. What amount of time did you spend to build it? Guess materials can be bought at DIY?

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

I built the 'shack' together with my father. The first time that we built it two years ago, it took probably around 6-7 hours to complete since we needed to buy all the materials, to saw the planks to a correct length etc.

This year we only needed to assemble the shack, so it took about 3 hours.

The materials needed for the shack are timber, screws, hinges and some thin wire. So nothing special and quite inexpensive also. Especially compared to the commercial options.

[Martijn Profile]

Ok super and you told already that it is holding well in a storm, I'll take it in consideration and give my dad a call