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Commercial Sewing Cover Failure


sliver

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We purchased a Commercial Sewing cover from our dealer (who's now out of business, unfortunately) in July '09. Last August we started noticing that the cover was leaving a gray residue on the windshield and interior and that the interior was getting rather wet after a rain (carpet soaking wet in large areas). This was much more than the normal condensation that is expected w/ this cover.

Well, a few months passes as we were extremely busy over the winter. We finally got around to re-starting the dialog w/ a former dealer employee who led us to Scott Gordon in the warranty dept. at CS. At this time, the cover is ripping apart at the bow and has tears forming around one of the tower openings. We are 20 months into a 2-year warranty and this is the response we received:

"The material degrading due to regular use or prolonged exposure is not a warranted defect-

The material used in manufacturing the cover is water repellent not waterproof, and the repellency needs to be maintained. Refer to the links below-

http://www.commercialsewing.com/careanduse.html

http://www.commercialsewing.com/Downloads/WE-113_WaterRepellency.pdf

As a service of goodwill I can offer you a replacement cover at a prorated cost."

In my opinion, this would be excellent customer service if we were outside the warranty period. However, we are still within the warranty and this seems shady to me.

Any thoughts or shared experience would be greatly appreciated.

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That is BS that they won't stand behind their product. I can see the possible issue of not keeping up with the water repellent treatments, but having rips and tears occurring (as long as the cover was properly fitted to the boat) is bogus. If you can't get squared away with the customer service, I say get rid of that cover, and give Evolution Covers a call.

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At 20 months, if my cover was crapping out on me and they only offered me a discount on a new one, I would bail on them. I don't know if Commercial Sewing is using Sunbrella but in my opinion its the only way to go.

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At 20 months, if my cover was crapping out on me and they only offered me a discount on a new one, I would bail on them. I don't know if Commercial Sewing is using Sunbrella but in my opinion its the only way to go.

Thank you for all the input thus far. This cover is made w/ Surlast (a nice pun at the moment). Surlast is mfg'd by Glen Raven which also makes SunBrella. I've always liked Sunbrella. My bimini is Sunbrella and still looks as new as the day we took delivery, July 2, 2004!

I'd definitely consider going to another mfg if it wasn't for throwing away a nearly new $750 cover. Though, if they won't make it right, I won't throw good money after bad...

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You could always sell it on eBay or something like that. Just disclose that there are some rips. Then put that money towards another brand.

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I have the CS cover (didnt have a choice - came with the boat). It started to fray around edges, but wasnt a big deal. I talked to the Malibu dealer and they put in a call to CS. CS said that I was likely not tightening the cover enough and that the damage was caused on windy days. Huh? When the cover is on, it's tight, believe me. Weill, CS said send the cover in and they would evaluate it - no guarantee to repair. Said turnaround time was 3 weeks. I decided to live with it since I didn't want to be w/o for 3 weeks. Then the velcro straps the hold the ratchet case came off. Again, send it in and we can fix it. No thanks I said, I will deal with it. The Malibu dealer would not offer a spare cover because they said all boats come with a cover from TN plant and they have no extras.

I've always had issues with the water ponding in spots to either side of the rear pole. And the cover, when wet, will contact the sunpad. Water soaks thru and when I open the hatches, water runs out the bottom. What I did was assemble some PVC pipe to keep the cover off the sunpad. Raising up the ski pylon never helped. And I put shallow Rubbermaid containers on the seats in the rear corners - where the water was ponding. When this cover fails completely, I will definitely call Evolution.

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Silver,

You're being bent over.

I've got 2 CS covers. I think / thought they were made out of Sunbrella. My boat has been stored outside it's whole 11 year life. I am still using the original cover that the boat came with. I have never had a tear. I have had the cover modified and beefed up in certain stress points. (mod. to fit around tower legs). I do wash my cover annually and re-apply repellent.

I agree with everything that's been said in this thread as for going with an evo. cover and / or trying a different way to support the underside of your cover to prevent water intrusion. I go to great lengths to prevent water intrusion because I live in a rain forest (practically).

Bottom line, I'd want something from CS. Probably half of my money back and they can have the cover back and inspect it and keep it.

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Thanks guys.

Mike: They've asked us to send ours back too. However, I don't have another way to protect the boat and can't leave it uncovered around here.

I had issues w/ water pooling at first but, after getting the poles adjusted, it sheets water well. The fabric has just disintegrated so fast that it's allowing water to penetrate now.

Pete: You're right, CS does make Sunbrella covers too. Mine just happens to be made of Surlast. I like the theory of this material but, in execution, it just doesn't hold a candle to Sunbrella. Maybe if a boat was under cover 24/7, this material would be ideal.

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For those that are storing their boat outside I have a question.

Why not buy the cheapie generic boat cover from Costco when they have them in the spring ?

Put your super duper fitted cover on your boat and then put the generic cover over the top of that. I would think that the life of the expensive cover would double.

Just a thought .................

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For those that are storing their boat outside I have a question.

Why not buy the cheapie generic boat cover from Costco when they have them in the spring ?

Put your super duper fitted cover on your boat and then put the generic cover over the top of that. I would think that the life of the expensive cover would double.

Just a thought .................

Except when moisture builds up between the two and mildew kicks in. Then both covers are ruined.

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Except when moisture builds up between the two and mildew kicks in. Then both covers are ruined.

x1,000,000,000

There's more to the story than most garage queens know.

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Actually,

I'm not trying to de-rail this thread but, I have the CS cover under this tarp during the winter.

The tarp is purposely held up, off the vinyl sundeck to prevent moisture. And, I have a whole lot of moisture defeating stuff in the boat too. This pic. is from the set-up I had for the last few years, this year has more coverage....

aert.jpg

Edited by Pistol Pete
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Actually,

I'm not trying to de-rail this thread but, I have the CS cover under this tarp during the winter.

The tarp is purposely held up, off the vinyl sundeck to prevent moisture. And, I have a whole lot of moisture defeating stuff in the boat too. This pic. is from the set-up I had for the last few years, this year has more coverage....

aert.jpg

I did something similar for the winter as well. It helps keep the snow off the cover, works well for me and breaths so no extra mildew.

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Actually,

I'm not trying to de-rail this thread but, I have the CS cover under this tarp during the winter.

The tarp is purposely held up, off the vinyl sundeck to prevent moisture. And, I have a whole lot of moisture defeating stuff in the boat too. This pic. is from the set-up I had for the last few years, this year has more coverage....

aert.jpg

I put a cheap tarp over the CS cover during winter storage. My boat sits on a lift in a covered slip, but the a**-end (technical term) is exposed to afternoon sun. The tarp cuts down on UV exposure since the CS cover does not cover the swim platform.

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I don't know if anyone cares but, I realized that I already have an album on line with what I did this year.

There's a lot more coverage but, you need air to circulate underneath. I strung up a pvc pole set up across the back guide poles to keep the tarp off the sunpad. You can also see my brand new CS cover laying on the boat, I haven't had the tower cut outs made yet.

My link

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x1,000,000,000

There's more to the story than most garage queens know.

Couldn't agree with you more Pete, taking care of a boat stored outside year round can be a real tough battle.

But I have yet to see a cover act like a garage, which is what most customers expect a cover to perform as.

Sunbrella is by far the best material but it has the same moisture issues as shurlast (commercial sewing material) At least Sunbrella can breath a little bit more but if its outside full time with either Sunbrella or Shurlast material it should be cleaned and re-treated every year.

-Paul

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I forgot to add, I've worked with CS on a couple warranty issues and they were all right. Most of the time its a stiching issue which we just fix in our canvas department for free since its not worth the freight shipping there for a quick stitch repair.

-Paul

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