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Magneto

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Curse Of The Pram Covers


FORTUNATA

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Have you ever noticed how people who own old boats suffer due to boat covers? Not that boat covers don't serve a purpose or that they're not well crafted or even attractive. I'm sure some companies make really great pram covers and I know many people who love the idea of having one (you can shelter from the rain while driving your boat, after all).

 

Even so, I confess to being totally puzzled why boat builders used to make boats with widely exposed areas of the stern at the mercy of torrential rain and snow. Lift up the deck-boards and you'll find a bilge swimming with water. If the boat is old, paint will have flaked off the bilge and you may find trapped air and pitting. Those who can't afford a boat cover or simply haven't had time to get one fitted, will spend hours draping building- site sheets over the stern. They will many times risk a fall into the canal as they struggle to find something to knot a chord onto so the sheet will stay on. I've even seen people make temporary planks under the sheet to try and persuade the water not to sink in, but to roll off the sheet. 90 per cent of these efforts wind up in failure. You can see many a boat with a collapsed sheet where the water has formed an ever bigger puddle, finally ripping the sheet and unleashing gallons of water into the bilge.

 

Who builds a house with no roof on the kitchen, expecting the occupants to wrestle with sheets so they can sometimes go and make a cup of coffee without getting soaked? Madness isn't it?

 

Having suffered all of this for too long, I've decided to try and convert my knackered cruiser into a sort of semi traditional with a self-draining deck. The plan is to repair my deck support girders where they've rusted, try and seal any gaps between the girders and the sides of the hull and later attempt to fit decking that's cut precisely so any rain will go between the gaps. Drill holes or channels will need to be placed so the excess water can drain overboard. As the boat is very old, the girders were only put in as supports for the decking and there seems to be no drain system.

 

I'm not a boat-builder so I'm aware my chances of success are open to debate. For now I'll try and break it down into stages. It may be fair to say that even the designed self-draining decks will struggle if the rain becomes torrential or if it snows so the water melts all in one go.

 

At least it's an attempt to fight back and a refusal to be yet another victim of the soaked bilge syndrome.

 

 

 

 

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