I've had my Getaway for 2 full seasons now and this will be my 3rd winter storage. The first winter I tried an inflatable air pillow (like those used under pool cover). Removed all rigging and wings and layed the pillow on the tramp then covered with poly tarp. Kept losing air out of the pillows and fought with it all winter to keep snow weight off. Last year, I built a frame out of 2x4 and tented the tarp over the horizontal mast. It worked alright but tenting it got involved and still had to make sure snow wasn't too deep on the tarp. Even with the high peak of the tent, it still sagged in between framing with the weight of the snow and built up over time if not manually removed. This year I decided to try removing the tramp and disassemble the boat. Only took me a couple hours to take apart and store everything. Everything is in my garage except the mast and hulls. The mast is suspended under my deck and covered in plastic and the hulls are lying on their sides on the trailer covered by a poly tarp.
To remove the tramp, I started by unlacing the main tramp and front tramp. Then, standing in the middle of the boat behind the center cross bar (where your main tramp was laced up), reach under the front tramp with one hand the place your other hand on top to sandwich the front tramp between your hands close to the hull and slide the front tramp back towards the center cross bar. Alternate between both sides, a few inches at a time until it's out of the hull guides. Then just slide it out of the center cross bar (there is a track in the cross bar itself for the front tramp and another track for the main tramp). The main tramp can be done the same way but without the alternating sides since it's split into two pieces. After removing the tramps, take out the bolt from each side of the front cross bar and the hulls should slide off the cross bars pretty easily.
I definately recommend taking the boat apart or at least removing the tramps for winter. I should have done it sooner. Very easy and takes all the worry of snow load out of the equation. Also an added benefit is half a year of no tension on the tramp which may lead to extended life (maybe, who knows). It was acutally quicker to take the boat apart than to build the frame for the cover. Once the tramps are off, the boat almost falls apart on it's own. I bought mine used (it's a 2002) in 2009. It was never taken apart since new, sat on a beach all winter for 7 years and I had no trouble at all taking it apart after all that time.
_________________ 2002 Getaway - SOLD in 2018 "Cheshire Cat"2016 AI - Bought used 3.18.23 "Crabby Puppy"
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