PRACTICAL
A
fter acquiring a Moody 33
MK1 in need of a total
restoration, my friend and
I needed somewhere to
carry out the work. The
boat was moved to a boatyard that
could provide the space we needed,
so we turned our attention to
constructing a cover to keep the
weather out. Initially we considered
building a timber frame, but then we
had the idea of using a polytunnel.
We searched online and found that
the latter option would be substantially
cheaper, and duly purchased a
12m x 5m frame for £100 from an
internet auction site.
We collected the frame and set about
adjusting it to our needs, starting with
extending the legs of the frame. We did
this using 2m-long scaffolding poles: to
connect the polytunnel hoops to the
scaffolding we used a short piece of tube
that would fit inside both the polytunnel
tubes and the scaffolding tubes. It was
necessary to bend the connecting tubing
Polytunnel vision
John Owen constructs a versatile and economical boat tent from a polytunnel
by 10° as the polytunnel hoops were not
a complete semi-circle. The polytunnel
came with ground tubes, which we didn’t
need, although they did have stop collars
which we repurposed for use on the
connecting tubes.
We were now ready to erect the frame,
but where to start? Normally when
erecting a polytunnel it’s easiest to work
from one end to the other, but this one
would be 2m above the ground with the
four middle hoops over the boat and the
two ends extending past it. For this
reason we started at the centre, hoops
three and four, and worked outwards. We
fixed the two scaffolding legs into position
on each side and connected them
together horizontally with more
scaffolding tube. We also used more
scaffolding tubes as temporary supports
while we prepared the polytunnel hoops.
The hoops were assembled on the
ground before being passed up onto the
boat. Then they were positioned over the
legs: with one of us on the boat, holding
the hoop in place, the other could fit theconnecting tubes in each end and fix it
to the top of the legs. The first hoop we
erected had to be held up temporarily
with a couple of guy ropes while we put
the next one up and connected them
together with the ridge pole. We also tied
the hoops to the toerail of the boat to
further stabilise the structure. With the
two middle frames in place we then
worked our way to the ends, putting up
the remaining hoops. With the end hoops
not being over the boat we used a ratchet
strap to hold them to the correct width.It’s curtains for you
Finally, with the frame assembled and in
place it needed to be fully covered. We
tackled the sides first: a friend who
worked for a used commercial vehicle
dealer gave us the idea of using the
curtains from the sides of lorries. When
ownership of a lorry changes, the
curtains bearing the previous owner’s
logo are replaced, and this dealer
was willing for us to take some away
rather than disposing of them. ➜ABOUT
THE
AUTHORJohn Owen
lives in the West
Midlands and
started sailing
and racing
dinghies 35
years ago aged- He is now
restoring a 19 76
Moody 33 with
a friend.