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Modifiying stock cover


Lance B. Johnson

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I was helping another crew member put the cover on his boat the other day and a thought occurred:

His cover is built very similar to mine but his is towable and mine is not.

1. The only real differences are that mine has the straps that go down to the trailer, his doesn't.

2. Mine uses a cheap somewhat stretchy cord around the rub rail, his uses straps with a ratchet on the back.

3. Any other difference is really minor.

Any reason I can't remove the trailer straps, and replace the cord with a strap/ ratchet mechanism like his? bet I could do it for 100.00 bucks.

Edited by Ruffdog
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Plus all the "bunny fur" along the windshield frame, and the Naugahyde bow piece, and whatever other contact points. Not sure what that stuff is called. Maybe Cory would offer you some kind of upgrade for your cover?

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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I am going to get flamed here but here it goes.

My original tow cover came with nylon straps . There are loops sewn onto the cover itself.

The nylon straps went through the cover loops and formed a full loop around the trailer frame.

There was a male and female snap fitting at each end of the nylon strap.

This held well but took a lot of time to use because I tried to get the straps tight.

I have removed most of the nylon straps from the boat cover that circled the trailer frame.

In their place I have gone to the conventional 31 inch and 41 inch long black rubber bungees with the zinc plated "S " hooks at each end.

I drilled into my trailer frame two half inch holes to secure each end of the black bungee " S " hooks.

Actually I only had to drill holes for the two forward bungees on each side.

There were places to hook the bungee in the area of the fender

This is a case where function won out.

I frequently tow with my cover on.

I have a couple of lakes I like to frequent that are 86 and 93 miles away over mountain passes.

And I tow to the Willamette and the Sacramento Delta.

My time to secure my cover to the trailer has been cut into a third of the time.

Not pretty but very fast and there is never a reason to leave the cover off if the distance is more than 50 miles.

FWIW. Mastercraft Trailers are the best. They have a strap system that works with their Mastercraft trailer fender that is the best I have seen. Please keep in mind that I tow a Malibu , a Mastercraft, and my old Spyder and most of the time tow with these covers on. They get removed at the destination lake and reinstalled when it is time to go home. My closest lake is Lake Billy Chinook at about 46 miles one way. This is my practical experience.

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I still hook my down straps around my tailer, after I ratchet the rope that goes all the way around my cover. I just added a "racthet" to the system and it seems to work ok. Granted I got my taylormade cover for 150 bucks and it's lasted 2.5 years.

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I was helping another crew member put the cover on his boat the other day and a thought occurred:

His cover is built very similar to mine but his is towable and mine is not.

1. The only real differences are that mine has the straps that go down to the trailer, his doesn't.

2. Mine uses a cheap somewhat stretchy cord around the rub rail, his uses straps with a ratchet on the back.

3. Any other difference is really minor.

Any reason I can't remove the trailer straps, and replace the cord with a strap/ ratchet mechanism like his? bet I could do it for 100.00 bucks.

Sounds like we have similar covers. I detest :mad: the straps that go to the trailer! I have been thinking about doing exactly what you are suggesting, but didn't know if it would still be towable. I am very interested in the responses you get here.

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Bad news for us Swank.....

Called Cory this morning as Bill Suggested:

Cory mentioned that the reason the cover has the straps in the first place is because the cover fits to loose to be a towing cover. Makes complete sense.

The cover would have to be completely re-worked taking a lot of hours and would actually be cheaper to buy a new one. Makes sense. I do not get the impression he was saying this just to get my business.

My problem is that at most I would use the towing cover like 4-5x a year. Is it worth it? The 10 minute trips to Chinook don't need a cover.

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Bad news for us Swank.....

Called Cory this morning as Bill Suggested:

Cory mentioned that the reason the cover has the straps in the first place is because the cover fits to loose to be a towing cover. Makes complete sense.

The cover would have to be completely re-worked taking a lot of hours and would actually be cheaper to buy a new one. Makes sense. I do not get the impression he was saying this just to get my business.

My problem is that at most I would use the towing cover like 4-5x a year. Is it worth it? The 10 minute trips to Chinook don't need a cover.

Yeah, I don't use my cover very much either, but when I do, it sure is a PITA! The few times that I use a cover doesn't quite justify spending Evolution type cash, but I sure would love to have one of those covers.

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Mike, if you want to be lazy and leave your boat outside in the summer when you are using it frequently, you should look at one of Cory's covers. We just keep the boat waxed and the cover on it and leave it out all summer. So much easier then taking the tower off, guide poles off, swim platform off, and wedging it into the garage. Just a thought.

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