[C320-list] Winter Cover Experience

[Michael Leschisin]

Hey Rich,

I can second Dave’s opinion on Shipshape Canvas being the way to go.  

When we bought our boat, it came with a canvas, tent style cover that came to just inside the toe rails.  All winter the snow slid down it, melt inside the toe rails and then would refreeze onto the decks.  Drove me crazy having a hockey rink all over my boat not to mention what it was doing to the bedded hardware.  I ordered a Shipshape the following year and love it.  It’s super solidly built with Top Gun fabric and I've had no issue with it in the last half a dozen years.  My boat is stored on the border of Northern Wisconsin and Michigan so as you can imagine, we tend to get plenty of winter weather.  We’ve had 6-8 inches of wet snow or more at times and the cover handles it fine.  I live about an hour and a half from the boat so if we do get a large snowfall, often times I can’t get to the boatyard until the weekend.  Its not unusual for me to get there and find the cover has warmed during a sunny day and the heavy snow has completely slid off.  

One of the major pluses I found with Shipshape is that their customer service is amazing.  After the first season with the new cover I wanted to have them do some modifications. (Have them sew some patches and double the fabric in a few areas where I had “pointy” hardware against it, double the length of the vents since I had some snow blow in during a blizzard, etc.)  Don’t quote me on it, but if I recall correctly, they didn’t charge me anything for the modifications and even paid for the shipping.  A couple of years later, while caring the cover to the basement, it slid out of my hands, and hit a metal picture frame cutting a slit in the cover.  I think, I paid to ship it to them but they did the work and shipped it back free of charge.  Hard to beat that.

If you do go with them, I would get the “deluxe" feature on the stanchion wraps.  It really seals the openings well and keeps the snow and most of the rain out.  I also ordered side skirts for ours and would recommend it.  They basically hang off the stanchions and are designed to keep the UV rays off the hull.  I’ve heard UV exposure is actually worse in the winter and they also help keep the hull clean.  I do a down and dirty wax job before putting the boat to bed in the fall and when I recommission in the spring, everything comes off with a quick wash.  The boat actually looks good enough to splash as-is if I wanted to.  I would also go with the enclosed stern, which goes down to the bottom of transom and seals off the back of the boat.  One thing I found on this, is that the heavy snow will tend to settle in and build up behind the stern rails and then sag the cover a bit.  I solved the problem by tying a couple of long 1” PVC pipes to the back of the boom, then threading them over the transom and tying them to the lowest line securing the cover to the transom.  Once I did this, the snow slides off and I rarely find more than a handful of snow behind the rails.  

I store the boat mast up in the yard and in addition the cost factor, I feel there’s a better chance of something being broke if the rig is constantly being disconnected then reconnected each season.

Hope this helps,


Michael Leschisin

Wild Blue Yonder
2004 C320 #995
Menominee, MI


> On May 5, 2024, at 12:33 PM, Rich Allen via C320-list <c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
> 
> Thank you Dave for the strong endorsement for ShipShape.  Can you describe
> yours - is it a boom tent covering the toe rail and the stern?
> Rich Allen
> 1995 C320 #265
> Rochester, NY
> 
> On Sun, May 5, 2024 at 1:10 PM Dave Hupe <hoopdtwo at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> Strongly recommend look into ShipShape Products, Inc. for a winter cover
>> https://www.shipshapecanvas.com/index.php
>> They have been great to work with and price beat all local suppliers. I
>> knew several other owners here that got covers from them before me and are
>> very happy..  I have had mine (boat stored on my cradle with mast up during
>> the winter) now for 3 years.  I recommended ShipShape to others who also
>> are very happy with theirs. I can provide more details if desired.
>> 
>> Dave Hupe
>> 
>> 1994 C320 #32
>> 
>> Holland, MI
>> 
>> 
>> On Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 12:56:24 PM EDT, Rich Allen via C320-list <
>> c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> We are starting to shop for a winter cover for our 1995 C320 #265.  We are
>> located in Rochester, NY, which has the potential for significant snowfall
>> (though very little this year) as well as wind.  Our current cover came
>> with the boat when we bought it 2 and a half years ago.  We took delivery
>> of the boat in November after it was covered.  The cover uses the mast
>> stored horizontally on the deck as the ridge pole, and goes over the
>> lifelines covering the hull to the waterline.  The boat was positioned on
>> the east side of a boat shed, and a windy lake-effect storm dropped a lot
>> of show on the boat caving in the cover and bending a couple of
>> stanchions.  Not wanting to repeat that, I have added fir strips to form
>> ribs, and additional fir strips on top of the ribs parallel to the
>> mast/ridge pole.  The whole affair takes a lot of time to transport,
>> assemble and undue in the spring.  And to top it off, the cover is old and
>> it leaks, so I put a poly-tarp over top of it.
>> 
>> I think we can do better!
>> 
>> After some research I am finding a few options which I am hoping to hear
>> your feedback on, or other options if you have them.
>> 
>> North Shore (http://www.northshorecanvas.net/sailboat-winter-covers.html).
>> This uses TopGun fabric and tents over the boom.  A forum post from 2013
>> was positive.
>> 
>> TopShop (Quinte Canvas)  (https://www.topshop.on.ca/)
>> 
>> Fairclough (https://fairclough.com/)
>> 
>> The Canvas Store
>> 
>> Kinder Industries
>> 
>> What are your thoughts?  Also I am interested to hear if you take your rig
>> down every year, or store with the rig up and the pros and cons.  Our
>> current cover uses the mast as the ridge poll, which has some negatives.
>> Taking the mast down and putting back up costs over $500 each season, and
>> adds a lot of work.  Access to the instruments and wiring is possible,
>> though it is difficult.
>> 
>> Rich and Nan Allen
>> SV Destiny
>> 1995 #265
>>