I keep my boat outdoors in the Florida sun year round and I was getting sick and tired of all the elbow grease required to keep the gelcoat on my black window stripes nice and shiny. I've read all the posts on here about polishing, waxing, rubbing, sealing, sanding, painting etc etc.... The simple fact is that if you leave the boat in the sun (especially in Florida), you have to invest some serious time to keep the stripes shiny. The other two Macs in my marina have given up and let theirs go. I just couldn't live with that.
The only way to cut down on all this work is to cover the stripes. I decided to work out a way to just cover the black stripes. My criteria were: the black had to be completely covered, I had to be able to get the cover off and on in under three minutes by myself, NO SNAPS could be used, It has to work with the mast up and down and with the boat in the water or on land, I still need to be able to easily get inside the cabin with the cover on, and it had to be secure enough to ride out anything but a hurricane. I spent a couple days thinking up a plan and had a local canvas shop bring it to reality for me. (used sunbrella fabric) Here is my end result:
I have had it on the boat for about six months now and I couldn't be happier. It ended up costing me $600 and I think it may be the best money I have spent since buying the Mac. I polished the stripes up really well six months ago and they still look almost as good as they did back then. Normally, they would have turned to chalk by now. For a durability test, I actually towed the boat and trailer with the cover on the boat for ten miles at 60mph without any issues. It should definately stand up to any storms that pass through. I timed myself and I can get it off the boat in 1:25 and on the boat in 2:45 with the boat in the water. It only secures to the boat in eight places and I only had to add four smal eyebolts at the base of the bow pulpit. If anyone is interested in having one made for their own boat, I can post more info. Like I said earlier, I love it. No more polishing for me!
Joel
