Boat covers cost a fortune – but with some basic skills you can make your own

Boat covers are one of those sailing purchases that make perfect sense right up until you ask for a price. At that point, you stop thinking about canvas and fittings and start wondering whether the cover is being hand-stitched by master craftsmen using thread spun from unicorn hair. For a simple dinghy or small cruiser, a professionally made cover can cost a small fortune. Very good, yes. Necessary, often yes. Cheap, absolutely not.

The trouble is that a decent boat cover really matters. Leave a boat uncovered and it quickly fills with rainwater, leaves, spiders, mysterious green slime and enough dirt to start a small allotment. Covers protect varnish, paintwork, ropes, sails and fittings, and they save a lot of cleaning time. On a trailer sailor or dinghy, they also stop the boat looking as if it has been abandoned in a hedge for three winters. So yes, a cover is important — but that does not always mean you have to buy one ready-made.

If you have a few practical skills, a sewing machine that can cope with heavier fabric, and more patience than I usually manage, making your own boat cover is perfectly possible. The trick is to think of it as a series of small jobs rather than one giant one. First, work out exactly what sort of cover you need. Is it a flat boom-up cover, a trailing cover, an over-boom tent style cover, or just something to protect a small area? Then measure everything very carefully. And then measure it again, because fabric is expensive and “that looks about right” is not a recognised unit in marine engineering.

The choice of material matters. Proper marine canvas or polyester cover cloth is designed to be waterproof, UV resistant and tough enough for life outdoors. Cheap tarpaulin may look tempting, but it often flaps itself to bits, traps water in all the wrong places, and rarely fits well. You will also need decent thread, webbing, eyelets or fastening points, and perhaps some reinforcing patches where the cover rubs against corners, fittings or the mast. In other words, the savings come from your labour, not from using rubbish materials.

The real secret to a good homemade cover is shape. A cover must shed water, not collect it. That means it needs some height in the middle or support from a boom, ridge pole or hoops. If it sags, you will create a private swimming pool for passing ducks. Good tensioning points are also essential so the cover stays put in a blow. That usually means straps, shock cord, ties, buckles or clips placed sensibly around the hull. A badly secured cover can chafe itself, chafe the boat, and in a strong wind may head off down the boat park before you do.

Making your own cover will not be quicker than buying one, and your first attempt may not look like something from a luxury yacht catalogue. But it can save a lot of money, teach useful skills, and give you something that fits your boat and your needs. More importantly, when someone admires it in the dinghy park, you can casually say, “Oh that? I made it.” That is a very satisfying moment indeed — even if you do not mention the three wrong cuts, four muttered oaths and one evening spent unpicking a seam that somehow ended up inside out.