My old boot cover lasted about 4 years: plywood covered in a fairly thin vinyl. I have never been that pleased with it because:

- the thin vinyl meant that rivets fixing the hinges showed through

- the cut out for the ful filler looked a bit crap - the edges were not neat

- the boot lid flexed at the sides making it lift slightly

- the fill-in pieces by the rear stays kept coming off

Also recently the vinyl covering the hinge join (deliberately covering to avoid water ingress) had started to crack.

So, Bank Holiday weekend I decided to make a new one:

- plywood pieces as before, but in a different layout with the fuel filler on top and avoiding the tiny infill pieces

- piano hinge instead of the record turntable hinges I had before (!), for more even bend.

- hinges supported by battens glued and screwed onto the lid (hardwood runners off the inside of a chest of drawers!)

- additional batten across the underside of the lid for further strength

- to cover it I used material from an old tonneau cover that andybarbet gave me (thanks Andy). I had to join a couple of pieces but that wasn't an issue.

I think the new lid looks a lot neater and hopefully the tonneau material should be a bit stronger and longer lasting than the old stuff.
Rescued attachment 2010-05-16 Boot cover fitted.JPG

Nice job mate, I'm amazed at how much space you have in there, I must only have half of that!

Nice one

Rich

Looking good, glad the tonneau did the trick, that is really heavy vinyl so should last years more

Yeah, thanks Andy. After fixing up the half hood bits that I initially got it for I tried to make a tonneau but it was beyond my skills, and I didn't want to waste the nice vinyl. The boot cover was due for a refurb anyway

Cheers

Simon

quote:

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Originally posted by RichardK
Nice job mate, I'm amazed at how much space you have in there, I must only have half of that!

Nice one

Rich

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