This next shot shows the tarp under our first light snow of the year. It has no trouble holding up. The extra lines (rope) you see on the outside of the tarp are my first attempt to keep the tarp attached to the frames during a windy day earlier in the week--gusts up to 50 mph. I thought the tarp was going to make it to Prince William Sound before my boat was. The snow definitely has a stabilizing effect.

The next snowfall came after I completed my building table (inside on the cinder blocks). There is a substantial amount of weight up on the tarp. I found that it is advantageous to allow the support cables to slacken slightly so that the snow load can be partially carried by the two intermediate transverse frame members. My plan was to use a push broom to pull the snow off the top of the tarp from both sides. Unfortunately, while effective, the broom can only reach in about four and a half feet leaving a three-foot wide strip down the middle of the tarp. I then discovered a snow removal tool used for the roofs of houses. It has a fifteen-foot pole that breaks down into three sections, connected to an aluminum blade about twentyfour-inches wide.

The first step in clearing out the snow involves shoveling a five-foot perimeter around the entire tarp area. This allows me access into the tarp from any direction and allows me to position my ladder a safe distance from the tarp so that I do not pull the snow off on top of myself. You would think that this last comment would have been obvious, but remember, I'm new at this.

Avalanche!  The snow removal tool is able to reach clear across to the other side of the tarp. I extend it out, set it down, and pull it back towards me. Much, much easier than it looks, and very effective. I have to move the ladder about six times to get access to the entire tarp.

The result of my herculean effort is just another pile-o-snow that I have to remove. Didn't I just clear this area? What you may not realize is that the light and fluffy snow I pulled from the tarp has just fallen eight-feet to the ground, and is now very dense and compact. So to recap: first you shovel the perimeter, then you shovel the roof, and then you shovel out everything you pulled down from the roof. And if you have time left over, you get to work on the boat.

This is actually a picture from an earlier snowfall showing what the work area looks like with the snow fully removed. The blue tarp on top of the canopy is left over from an experiment I had conducted. Before I found and started using the "snow rake," I placed the blue tarp up on the canopy allowing the snow to fall upon it instead of the canopy. When it stopped snowing, I would simply pull the blue tarp off, snow load and all, like sliding out a cookie sheet from an oven, leaving the canopy clear. I would then pull the blue tarp to the side of the yard, dump the snow, then reposition the tarp up on the canopy to wait for the next snowfall. The first time I tried to remove the snow load this way, all I did was pull the grommets out of the blue tarp with the ropes I had attached to it. The snow was too heavy and locked the tarp into place by pushing down against the rope lattice system I have holding up the canopy. Look, you never know until you try it; it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. The blue tarp is now protecting my building table under the canopy.