Storing Cover and Poles, etc.

[joeldp144]

I am a proud new Bennington Owner (new to me).....2011 24' SLi, and I have tons of questions.  I am keeping her in a wet slip year round. 


How/where do you store your cover and poles while underway?  I don't want to leave anything at the slip preferably.  What about jackets, boards, ski's, etc.?


Thanks in advance. 

 

[Link]

My friend has an Sli and he keeps his in where the privacy is which he doesn't really use.  Since I like to keep that area clear as I use my privacy setup with a commode I am fortunate that my mooring cover and poles fit in under my helm

 

[Jack M]

I store mine between the co captains seat & lounger 

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

We typically lay poles next to front port lounger or place in seat base. As for cover, we neatly fold and roll, and wrap with rear Bimini strap in a small tight bundle when uncovering. If just 2 of us, I'll usually lay in front of starboard lounger at front gate. If others come along, I'll toss inside where the changing room is. Now that's with our R. Our new G, I'll have to see where I want to go with it. 


Youll find out if you neatly remove it when uncovering, it will probably take up much less space then if you just ball it up in a heap. 

 

[Indian_Lake_Bum]

We have the same method of uncovering as SEMPERFI.   The dock walkway is on the port side of the boat so we start there and fold the port side over the starboard side (almost in half).  Then the starboard side gets folded over the port side (as in 3rds) so the cover is roughly a 1/3 of the normal width.  We roll from bow to stern and when finished the cover is about the size of a large rolled up sleeping bag.  That normally gets put behind the captains chair and the rear lounger (could put it under the helm also if you wanted) but our helm if full of lake floaties and our trash can.  Once removed like this a few times the covering and uncovering is much less of a job (especially if you are doing it on your own). The poles get colapsed and stored in the rear port lounger base.  We have the poles marked with a sharpie for height and location.....number 1 starts in the bow at it's set height and you go from there.  That way you don't have to crawl through on your hands and knees to set the poles.

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

Nice thing is with it rolled neatly (we fold in half, then half again so it's 1/4 width, then lay in middle and roll from front to rear) to recover, I start from back starboard and unroll till helm, then toss the roll over the helm and it unrolls itself across lounger to the front. 2 of us uncover in 5 minutes and cover in 10 max. Oh, and I tie the closures around Bimini poles every time. If it rains, you can get a lot of water in through the cutouts. 

 

[swiftm]

We start by folding like semper does, 1/4 width . Then rather than roll I fold bow and stern ends to the center, about to top of helm. Fold ends in half again, then in half one last time. Stored in the rear lounger with the poles where the changing room would be - we don't have the curtain and just use this area as storage. Timing is about the same as his to remove and put on. 

 

[joeldp144]

Thanks for the great feedback.  We did as you guys suggested.....folded into 1/4 width, and then we rolled it up. For under the lounger very well.  Polls actually fit under the front bench pretty well.  Glad to be part of this resource of info sharing.  Very helpful to a newbie like me. 

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

Thanks for the great feedback.  We did as you guys suggested.....folded into 1/4 width, and then we rolled it up. For under the lounger very well.  Polls actually fit under the front bench pretty well.  Glad to be part of this resource of info sharing.  Very helpful to a newbie like me. 

Trust me, this makes it soooooo easy. Spend an extra minute uncovering this way and save yourself time and aggravation covering. You never have to figure out where the front or rear of a big ball of fabric is.


If you want to store poles in smaller seat, number them front to rear. Then mark a line with them at proper height where they slide together. Now if you want, collapse them and toss inside seat base. When you pull them out,extend to line, and place in position of numbering.