Maker of dinghy cover - any recommendations?

[JumbleDuck]

I'd like to have a cover (flat / mast-down) made for my 10' Ythan dinghy. I've found at least a dozen companies offering to make to measure from a sheet of dimension - can anybody recommend somebody for this? My fall back option is to take the dinghy to Karen at Struan Covers (ex NH Sails) but she would need it for a week which would mean 400 miles of driving.

 

[Babylon]

How about make mock-up yourself using cheap tarpaulin, marked with thick sharpie and post that to cover maker together with a few photos of bow, quarters etc?

 

[lw395]

A small flat mast down cover I would make myself.
I recently bought a cover for my Laser from 'Sail Register'. £70, good PVC, 5 year guarantee.
I imagine they knock those out whenever they've got a bit of spare time.
For a decent bespoke job, Creation Covers are very, very good, but a tailored cover for a Merlin is the wrong side of £250 in the best material.
A lot of hours go in.

What you want is someone local with an industrial machine.
Get some of the PVC material used for 'curtainside' trucks.
Mark out the top panel and have your machinist put a skirt around it and add the straps etc.
The cost is in time spent measuring and faffing if you're not careful.
Also they are not cheap things to post.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Thanks. I don't have a sewing machine up to thick stuff and I live in the middle of nowhere so it's really going to have to be a mail order job. Though I could collect from Trident UK in Gateshead - anyone know anything of them?

 

[lw395]

Thanks. I don't have a sewing machine up to thick stuff and I live in the middle of nowhere so it's really going to have to be a mail order job. Though I could collect from Trident UK in Gateshead - anyone know anything of them?

Trident are a moderately big name in 'mail order' particularly in classes such as Laser.
Not as big or focused as Rooster, but I suspect they still get a lot of their products like Laser covers made in China. I'd say they are big enough you are unlikely to talk to the actual person who makes the cover.

These 'flat' covers never seem to fit exactly. For a boat like a Mirror, they have to be drum tight to avoid water pooling. For a Laser, they have to accommodate a stack of spars and rolled up sails. Is there any other class which is 'near enough'?
I had a good cover from P&B, in 'Weathermax' fabric, it was still in use after about 8 years when I sold the boat. It wasn't cheap but it was a boat where I didn't want a non-breathing cover sat in contact with the deck.
Alas their alphabet only goes up to Wayfarer:
Boat Covers

 

[JumbleDuck]

Trident are a moderately big name in 'mail order' particularly in classes such as Laser.
Not as big or focused as Rooster, but I suspect they still get a lot of their products like Laser covers made in China. I'd say they are big enough you are unlikely to talk to the actual person who makes the cover.

Thanks. I may give them a ring and discuss it.

These 'flat' covers never seem to fit exactly. For a boat like a Mirror, they have to be drum tight to avoid water pooling. For a Laser, they have to accommodate a stack of spars and rolled up sails. Is there any other class which is 'near enough'?

The boat lives in a barn, so the main point of the cover is to keep the inside clean and free of bird droppings. If it ever has to live outside I'll find some way of propping up the middle a little, or even go for a mast-up cover as well.

I had a good cover from P&B, in 'Weathermax' fabric, it was still in use after about 8 years when I sold the boat. It wasn't cheap but it was a boat where I didn't want a non-breathing cover sat in contact with the deck.
Alas their alphabet only goes up to Wayfarer:
Boat Covers

The Ythan was made by Mouldacraft in Aberdeen in the 70s. It's an exceptionally pretty wee thing, but styled more like a rowing boat - I haven't seen anything else similar in shape.

 

[lw395]

'Rain and Sun' is another well regarded brand.