Snow and ice collapsed my bow shed with fantail launch inside

[Rich Jones]

My own damned fault, too.
Every year, I clear the snow off the roof whenever it snows.
This year has been brutal, though, with lots of snow and I got behind.
I thought there was only about 8" on the top but 3" of icy, frozen snow brought the whole thing down on top of the boat and trailer last night.
Clearing it off today, I now realized there was two feet of snow on the top!
No wonder the thing collapsed.
Now I am left with a big mess. One side, I've got my other boat sitting close by, so no where to put the snow. On the other side, the snow is so deep I need snowshoes to get to it.
In this photo, I've got it cleared off the top but it is piled 4' deep on the sides. Lots of shoveling left to do but at least the weight is off the boat and trailer. The boat has a nice canvas cover on it and I'm hoping that the shed collapsed slowly and didn't damage any woodwork. It's impossible to know until the wreakage is removed. I can't see that happening anytime soon.
More snow predicted for later in the week.... Oh, crap.
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[wizbang 13]

oh effin fudge..... We just hope the bote iz ok
and nobody getz hurt

[Figment]

ugh that SUCKS, and these photos trigger some memories of when a blizzard ripped my bowshed out of the ground and deposited upside down about 100yds downwind. There are photos somewhere on the interwebs.

Here's hoping that your boat suffered as little as mine!

[Oldad]

Aaaarrrrggghhh. Time to build that equipment shed Rich.
I would offer to come down and help with the cleanup, but by the time I get there I imagine you will have it all in order.

[Garret]

Damn! Fingers (toes, legs, arms, etc.) crossed that she's OK.

Do you need a hand digging out?

[Breakaway]

Aw, crap!

May it work out with more worry than damage.

Kevin

[Bobcat]

Ouch. Hoping the boat is okay

[Ian McColgin]

I hope your boat is strong enough to survive being buried a while.

G'luck

[WI-Tom]

Sorry about that, Rich--that really sucks. Good luck with the clean-up. I'm hoping the boat will come through with minimal (or no) damage.

Tom

[Rich Jones]

I just finished digging out.
Looks like the knee wall on one side started to lean and that led to fractured arches and down it came.
Or the arches fractured first. Not that it matters.

All the weight is off and the top of the trusses are sitting on top of the coaming. Nothing I can do until spring except keep the snow off. I'd put it in my shop, but the Jericho Bay skiff is still being built in there.
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[Figment]

Was this a high-peaked stimson type bowshed, or was it more of a quonset-hut kind of design?

[Rich Jones]

Was this a high-peaked stimson type bowshed, or was it more of a quonset-hut kind of design?

More of a Quonset type with round arches. Again, my fault for not clearing snow.

[Bobcat]

Can you jack up the arches resting on the coaming and put a prop under them?

[WX]

Can you jack up the arches resting on the coaming and put a prop under them?

That was my thought.

[Garret]

That was my thought.

Mine as well

[Breakaway]

^ a-yup.

Kevin

[Gib Etheridge]

Too bad. The last thing a boat builder needs is more projects.

So will you go with the standard Stimson next time?

[Rich Jones]

Can you jack up the arches resting on the coaming and put a prop under them?

I've been thinking about it and will take a better look tomorrow. Kind of a tight squeeze in there and I'm not too limber anymore.

[timo4352]

Yes, prop it up to get the framework off of the boat.
If I lived anywhere near you I would be there to help...
Hope the boat and you come out of this OK.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

That really sucks! I know the worry involved when you have to watch a compromised structure over a boat that won't be resolved until it all thaws. A few years ago I had a low-cost tube & fabric shed buckle under snow load. It was only a partial collapse, so did not come to rest on the boat (Albin-25 avatar), however, it bagged the fabric in several places, and when it started to melt it was bags of water which could only be drained with puncture holes. Fortunately the punctures all drained out beyond the beam of the deck, so no harm. I now have a stouter, more expensive tube & fabric shelter with a steeper pitch instead of the straight gable (like the Greek Parthenon) and this year I double layered the top using an old tarp.

[Hwyl]

What everyone else said. I'm skinny and limber enough to get in, but I'm too far away. Can't you enlist the help of a high schooler?

[Garret]

I'm not all that limber either, but I'm skinny with long arms. I could come down this weekend.

[Rich Jones]

I'm not all that limber either, but I'm skinny with long arms. I could come down this weekend.

Thanks for the offer. I'm sure I can gobble something together tomorrow.

[Garret]

Thanks for the offer. I'm sure I can gobble something together tomorrow.

OK - let me know - happy to help.

[neil.henderson]

Terribly bad luck with that snowstorm. I do hope that your boat is not badly damaged. A friend of mine here had a 60 year old pine tree (Very Big) fall on his workshop and then another on his house on Boxing Day after a massive hail storm here - we had $7.5k worth of damage to our house as well. We need to start building stronger houses and sheds, especially sheds methinks...................................
Good Luck with the cleanup

[Chris Woodward]

Oh, snap. That leaves an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach.
I hope the boat comes out fairly unscathed.

[Bruce Brown]

I feel your pain too, Rich. My bowshed is a source of much anticipatory worry for me here in Maine. It blew apart several times while I was building it. Your picture of the failed knee wall was what I worried about when I built mine and I ultimately decided to butt the bases of each arch into an 8x8 hemlock beam laid around the perimeter. It has worked fine, the tarp iterations not so much. b

[Stiletto]

Best wishes from this part of the world for a good result in sorting it out.

[Rich Jones]

I crawled in there this morning and found that the arches are fractured in many places, so no way to jack anything up and add props. The good news is that the top gussets of the arches have nice straight bottom edges that are lying nicely along the top of the coamings. It doesn't look like any damage was done to the boat.
I'll just treat the remains of the shed as a winter cover lying atop the boat. I'll just be more diligent about clearing the snow.
In the photo you can see the top gusset I'm talking about.
Back to the drawing board to figure out something for next winter. Maybe I'll just pay to store it somewhere.

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[Garret]

A Stimson shed. David Stimson in Maine came up with the original design & sells kits/plans. Even though he's a friend, I think he gets that many people just build 'em. https://www.by-the-sea.com/stimsonmarine/bowroof.html

They shed snow really well.



The arch on each side is "stressed": they're made of store-bought strapping - 2 pieces with blocks in between & put in a jig to curve them & screwed together. Then they are joined at the top. A friend in Mid-Coast Maine has one he built 10 years ago with shrinkwrap for the covering & it's still working fine. One summer it did get blown over & through the woods about 150 feet - but he just had to patch a couple of holes - the frame was fine.

[Bobcat]

Good to hear there is no damage

[BBSebens]

I think a garage addition is the clear answer here. Maybe a 30x20 pole barn? Time for something more stout, and as a bonus, its value added to the property.

[Garret]

I think a garage addition is the clear answer here. Maybe a 30x20 pole barn? Time for something more stout, and as a bonus, its value added to the property.

There's the plan, then there's what actually happens.

Ben Sebens, RN

15' Welsford Navigator Inconceivable
16' W. Simmons Mattinicus double ender ​Matty

This made me smile when I looked at what you said & what your tag line is...

[Oldad]

Farmer style equipment shed. You are going to need one with that fleet.
Glad she is not hurt Rich. We may get a thaw before spring... hope so.

[Rich Jones]

For years, I've been wanting to build a pole barn but just can't justify the cost.
One problem is the lack of a flat piece of land to build it on. My entire 7 acres is on a slope. Any building that size would require excavation, retaining wall, etc. Lots of expense before I even start building.
Plus, the little bit of money we have we want to hang on to for a rainy day.... or a nursing home!