Winter IS Coming - Good Source for Marine-grade Vinyl Tarps

[Wendy Bee]

I know it's only August, BUT . . .

Winter IS coming!




. . . and I've been pondering winterizing for this, our third winter of chicken-keeping. My dream the first year was 30 gauge marine vinyl, but it was out of reach, with the cost of the material itself, as well as the added cost and hassle of cutting, sewing strapping, and installing grommets. No thank you!

So we spent a little less than $100 on a 25 yard roll of 48" wide thin vinyl which we attached to the run with furring strips. That worked beautifully for the first winter, and okay for last winter, with clear-ish inexpensive tarps added where the thin cheap vinyl had failed.

Criteria for this winter for me were:

Clear, durable, reusable for multiple years, cleanable, storable/roll-up-able, easily put-up-able and take-down-able wind breaks that I could put up and take down as needed without hubby's help, and which could be folded down for not-so-cold-ish days for extra airing out beyond normal ventilation.​

I'll post on the details of what I'm planning at a later date, but I did find a good source for marine grade vinyl TARPS - not just the material - but tarps with polyester strap edging with grommets (Hallelujah)! Available in MANY sizes and in both 20mil and 30mil weights.

The first source is The Tarps Wholesaler. Shipping is not free, so depending on where you live, the second source, Amazon, may work better for you, though the prices are significantly higher on Amazon (because free shipping is not always free, lol). But distance as well as weight figures into shipping for The Tarps Wholesaler, so plugging in what you want at each site will tell the tale for your story. If you live outside of New York State, The Tarps Wholesaler site says they will not charge sales tax, so that may tip things in your favor, even with shipping costs.

Examples of sizes and weights available:

From The Tarps Wholesaler

One quirk I did notice with their website - I needed four 6x8 tarps, but if I put in 4 from the product page, it came back as out of stock. If I put one in the shopping cart from the product page, and then increased the count IN the shopping cart, I was able to get what I needed.

The Amazon Listing

Again, the prices on Amazon are significantly higher, but with "free" shipping. And you'll pay sales tax with Amazon, no matter where you live.

Also again, the prices on The Tarp Wholesaler are much lower, but shipping will be determined by weight and distance. However, no sales tax if you live outside of NYS, so depending on the size of your order, it might be a work out well for you =o).

I do live in NYS, but even with sales tax and shipping cost, I was able to get the heavier 30 mil tarps on The Tarps Wholesaler site for a lot less than I would have paid on Amazon for 20 mil tarps of the same size - like I saved $52!

One drawback to The Tarps Wholesaler is no free returns (you pay return shipping, and they refund cost of product with no restocking fee, or they'll replace the item), but customer service (they were great in answering a couple of questions I had) said that their quality control is very good, while with Amazon, sometimes you get what you get.

Reviews are good for these tarps on both sites, so I'm trusting that all will be well with my order with The Tarps Wholesaler.

I'm doing this now, in August, because I want to be READY and not SCRAMBLING when it gets cold this year! Nothing like getting dirty looks from cold, annoyed chickens !

 

[fuzzi]

Talk about perfect timing!

I'm in need of a new tarp to cover my hoop coop. I found white heavy duty tarps, 12ml thick, for less than elsewhere. I'm thinking of getting a three pack, to save with free shipping. It also would provide me with back up tarps for when the first one fails.

Thanks for the link!

 

[FrannyNZooey]

Checking in to see what other folks are doing, because I hope what I’m doing works. This is our first time with chickens.

I ended up buying a roll of 40 gauge marine-grade vinyl off Amazon. Seller was MarineVinylFabric.com. And then direct from seller SailRite, I purchase snaps and a tool to install them. I really hope this works. I just finished putting the female snap part on the coop, which seems like the easy part. Next I’ve got to cut the vinyl and add the snaps, which will probably take much longer

We get a good amount of rain fall through doing, and usually some snow and ice each winter (Portland, OR). I’m hoping that with the vinyl I can roll it up on good spring days, but not necessarily remove it until the dry season of summer.

Here’s the female part of the snap screwed into the outside of the run.

 

[FrannyNZooey]

Hey everyone, just wanted to update on our run winterization with the vinyl. I got the majority of the vinyl cut and installed this morning and afternoon, at least on the sides that are the most vulnerable to rain.

At first when I was trying to install the SailRite snaps, I couldn’t get them to secure. I got worried that the 40 gauge vinyl I bought was to thick for the type of snaps. I couldn’t return either since I’d already cut into the vinyl and screwed in all the snap recipients into the run. After rewatching their videos and seeing that they used the snap snap fasteners with this leather, I decided to have DH try hammering them. Success! Apparently I can’t hit the mallet hard enough, .

I started drizzling about an hour after I snapped them all to the run. While the bottom parts of some of vinyl don’t have the snaps on them just yet, they’ll still provide a shield from drizzle until we can get to them over the next couple days.

The other thing I like about this is that they’re not completely flush in order to allow a bit of ventilation.

Cheers! Hope everybody is doing well as fall rolls in.

 

[SamIamNam786]

That's a great idea, so are these snaps similar to snaps on a jacket, except heavy duty? I was thinking of adding outdoor heavy duty velcro to hold my vinyl in place. 30ml seems really thick though?

 

[FrannyNZooey]

Yep, just like jacket snaps. The ones I got were called “cloth to surface”, and I think the jackets snaps are categorized as “cloth to cloth” snap fasteners.

I can see Velcro working too! There was also some other type of screw fastener that I saw recently. I’ll post it if I can find it again.

The 40 mil vinyl that I got was like the thickness of a credit card, so 30 mil would be a little less. I did have some trouble getting them to attach to the vinyl because I couldn’t wack it hard enough.

 

[FrannyNZooey]

Hi everyone, just wanted to post an update on how the vinyl is working out. Since I last posted we've had an interesting mix of fall weather. A few days of rain, an unseasonably warm spell with temps up to 83 for a few days, then back down to cool and cloudy, and more rain.

The vinyl has certainly kept it nice and dry inside the run. And I actually only had 3/4 of the run sided in vinyl. The south side facing the garage is still un-vinyl-ized. Since the garage is only 4 feet away it provided a nice block from the rain.

When the few days of heat kicked in, I installed some small hooks, rolled up the vinyl and secured it with some cordage. It was a great way to get quick cross ventilation. As soon as rain was coming, I removed the cordage and rolled the vinyl back down. I'm not sure if I'll keep the hooks, perhaps I'll swap it out for an o-ring type thing with a hook on the cord.

I'll probably prepare the remaining vinyl sides the weekend just to have if needed. We've been having more winters with 1-2 feet of snow, and it's also not uncommon to get multiple bouts of freezing rain. So probably only if really inclement weather is in the forecast is when I'd enclose it on the fourth side.

I was also thinking that next summer I can adhere the same snaps to an old bedsheet to provide shade on our east and west ends of the coop.

 

[Sally PB]

Thanks for the link to the tarp wholesaler. I will be checking these out.

 

[Suzz]

I get my clear vinyl winter tarps at tarps plus they have a great variety of sizes and are very durable