H2Onu
Member
- First Name
- Brian
- Joined
- May 28, 2023
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 25
- Location
- Santa Cruz
- Vehicles
- Rivian R1T
- Occupation
- Semi-retired
- Thread starter
- #1
Decided to try a “build-your-own” cover.
Parts:
Marine grade HDPE is UV resistant and should last several years (at least it does on boats). Getting the precut sheets makes this easy. 1/2” marine plastic does sag a bit so it was necessary to install 2 aluminum channels per 1’ section to provide it support. With the thickness of the channel and the washer, the machine screws go through 2/3 of the plastic without poking through the board.
Doing 4 x 12” sections + 1 x 6” allows you to fit the whole stack into the gear tunnel.
The foam weather striping snugs the boards up keeping them from rattling. It probably isn’t really waterproof from a heavy rain or car wash, and it remains to be seen how durable the foam is over time.
Securing the Velcro strap to the small front board makes it easy to pull the boards back towards you to get them off. Adding a Velcro strip on the last board allows you to secure the long pull strip.
The HDPE sheets are heavy…guessing the whole stack is about 70#, so putting them in the tunnel is best 2 at a time. The other nice thing about the Velcro strap is you can wrap it around the whole stack to secure it.
Not counting having to go back to the store since I didn’t get enough aluminum brackets the first time, the whole project was less than 3 hours.
So far it looks good and it works…we’ll see how it holds up in the elements.
Parts:
- 4, 12” x 54” x 0.5” HDPE Boat Board, Marine Grade Plastic Sheets (BuyPlastic.com)
- 1, 6” x 54” x 0.5” HDPE Boat Board, Marine Grade Plastic Sheets (BuyPlastic.com); note:: had them rip one 12” board into a 6” board
- 9, 1/2 x 48” aluminum rim channels (Lowe’s)
- 144” x 0.75” Hook & Loop Velcro Fastener (Lowe’s)
- 20’ x 1/2” expandable foam weather seal (Lowe’s)
- #8 x 1/2” pan head sheet machine screws
- #8 washers
Marine grade HDPE is UV resistant and should last several years (at least it does on boats). Getting the precut sheets makes this easy. 1/2” marine plastic does sag a bit so it was necessary to install 2 aluminum channels per 1’ section to provide it support. With the thickness of the channel and the washer, the machine screws go through 2/3 of the plastic without poking through the board.
Doing 4 x 12” sections + 1 x 6” allows you to fit the whole stack into the gear tunnel.
The foam weather striping snugs the boards up keeping them from rattling. It probably isn’t really waterproof from a heavy rain or car wash, and it remains to be seen how durable the foam is over time.
Securing the Velcro strap to the small front board makes it easy to pull the boards back towards you to get them off. Adding a Velcro strip on the last board allows you to secure the long pull strip.
The HDPE sheets are heavy…guessing the whole stack is about 70#, so putting them in the tunnel is best 2 at a time. The other nice thing about the Velcro strap is you can wrap it around the whole stack to secure it.
Not counting having to go back to the store since I didn’t get enough aluminum brackets the first time, the whole project was less than 3 hours.
So far it looks good and it works…we’ll see how it holds up in the elements.
Sponsored
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