Flybride cover or not?

petem

petem

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Cotswolds / Altea
www.fairlineownersclub.com
What's the best practice for covering the fly bridge when not in use? Do Med based folk cover the whole thing or just the instrument binnacle? If the latter then what about fridges, griddles, etc?

Same question goes for cockpits.
 
I have four covers, two came with the boat (the binnacle and the pilot seat) and two I made myself (tender and surfboard). That and the Bimini is enough. My cockpit can be fully enclosed but that's not necessary because the flybridge overhang completely covers the cockpit.
What I would like to know is what people cover the sunbathing cushions on the fore deck with, they are too much of a hassle to bring in every day
 
I've never had a cover for the whole flybridge for a Med based boat. Its too much like hard work. I have individual covers for any upholstered areas plus a cover for the helm and bbq/sink unit. Also individual covers give a degree of flexibility in that you can just take off the helm/helm seat covers if you're helming from upstairs and there's a bit of spray flying about or if the dreaded red rain suddenly starts up you can quickly put individual covers on the important areas. Remember the whole ethos of Med boating is to avoid anything that looks like hard work;)
 
Deleted User said:
I've never had a cover for the whole flybridge for a Med based boat. Its too much like hard work. I have individual covers for any upholstered areas plus a cover for the helm and bbq/sink unit. Also individual covers give a degree of flexibility in that you can just take off the helm/helm seat covers if you're helming from upstairs and there's a bit of spray flying about or if the dreaded red rain suddenly starts up you can quickly put individual covers on the important areas. Remember the whole ethos of Med boating is to avoid anything that looks like hard work;)
Click to expand...

Thanks. I suppose smaller more specific covers like that are less likely to get blown away in a storm. An I guess I they are just for protection they don't need to be 'pretty' so white covers will be fine.

How about your cockpit?
 
petem said:
How about your cockpit?
Click to expand...
Again I only have individual covers for seats and tables but I generally leave those on all the time unless we are sitting in the cockpit because my boat draws a lot of spray into the cockpit. I do have a complete cockpit enclosure cover but I only put that on over winter. A cockpit enclosure gets in the way when you are stern to Med mooring when carrying the lazy line forward and attaching stern lines
 
Flybridge covers:

we have both individual covers for the furniture, and a global cover for the whole FB,
at the end of the season, I install the global cover, (takes me less than 1hr) and leave it there until spring.
the main reason is to avoid water leaks through our wooden superstructure,
but also to have protection / a longer livetime for the teak
additional advantage is more dry storage space during winter.

in summer we use the individual covers.


Cockpit covers;

we have a closed cover with windows, (like a canopy) in 3 segments (2 sides and one rear)
this is usefull in pre - after summer season, to sit outside but have some protection against cold wind
sometimes we only use one segment,
we use this very often !
in wintertime this cover is protection for the furniture and the teak.

we also have a sunblind, (different ; netting tissue)
used alway's when we eat in the cockpit.
 
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+1 to each and every point BartW mentioned - that's exactly the same setup I've got.

And having said that the full f/b cover is more relevant in boats like mine and BA, whose deck is in structural wood, I'd rather have it also in a GRP deck, above the single covers.
Just for winter usage, of course - but there's no such thing as an excess of protection, for whatever stay out there 24/7 (dashboard instruments, throttles, fridges, grill, whatever).
Fwiw, my (still potential) next boat also has a full f/b cover, and I'm glad she does.
 
I forgot to say,

in the global FB cover, I have a opening with a zipper (approx 1m2) above the FB helm station,
so that I can helm the boat from there in winter, when weather conditions allow (as I did yesterday)
or when weather is really good, and I have guests, I can take off the first 1/3th segment of the global cover, (the frame rests in place)
 
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