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BOAT COVERS..DO I REALLY NEED ONE?


NH_WAKE

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The wife and I were having a disagreement about a boat cover being totally necessary. If the boat will be garage kept, except when being towed to the lake (max tow time depending on where in the state we go 2-3 hours) is a cover necessary? Will it really protect it on the road?

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Yes, it will. Our lake is less than an hour & we still cover it most of the time. You never know when a thunderstorm will hit (common in our area, maybe not in yours), plus just regular road grime after one way can be bad. We also like to stop either on the way up or back for a bite to eat, so it acts as a good theft deterrent (out of site, out of mind). For longer trips, it's almost mandatory for us. If nothing else, it stays the worry that something will come out at highway speeds.

To each his (or her) own. Plenty of people out there don't use them & do fine. But after owning 3 boats with good towing covers, I can't imagine not having & using it.

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Stupid question, but is a rainstorm a major concern? I mean it is a boat and made to get wet. Don't get me wrong, I am anal about my toys, but it seems a cover does not come down very far on the boat to protect the hull sides. Seems to me this is where all the pebbles and road crap will fly up and hit it.

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Once the boat is dry, I try to keep the cover on it even while it's in the garage. When I don't, it gets covered in dust/fine dirt pretty quickly.

I agree with Tracie - it's a must if you stay overnight and live in a region that gets summer storms. Growing up the midwest, we'd get some wicked thunderstorms that would completely soak the boat without a cover. A little water in the boat is one thing, a torrential downpour is another.

Of course, we don't have that problem here in the summer Tongue.gif

Edited by Addictedto6
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Once the boat is dry, I try to keep the cover on it even while it's in the garage. When I don't, it gets covered in dust/fine dirt pretty quickly.

I agree with Tracie - it's a must if you stay overnight and live in a region that gets summer storms. Growing up the midwest, we'd get some wicked thunderstorms that would completely soak the boat without a cover. A little water in the boat is one thing, a torrential downpour is another.

Of course, we don't have that problem here in the summer Tongue.gif

Okay, you can :biteme: for that one. (j/k)

It's not the outside that you protect with the cover, it's the inside. People have been known to lose stereo gear to rainstorms & the cover will protect that. Also, yeah, it's supposed to get wet, but in a deluge like what we get here, it gets really, really, really wet & can literally take days (even out in the sun) to dry. The cover is indispensible where we live even if only for that reason.

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A cover is a must, IMO, especially if you are towing 2-3 hours. Just think about all the dirt that can get in there! Also when we load the boat up for camping, the cover really secures all of our stuff.

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So should I go with a rankin cover? Do pebbles and road crap from towing nick the gelcoat? (I am not talking about boulders, just normal road stuff.)

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If for nothing other than dust while the boat is stored in the garage a cover is a MUST. Get one, you'll use it for sure.

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We dont have a trailering cover :blush: we have just the basic cover, cover the boat whenever it is sitting still on the trailer, over night if we are camping, and when it is in storage, keeps the dust off it.

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If I had a 2-3 hour tow, I'd get one.

So much cleaning goes into your boat, once you get it to the lake you don't want it to be covered in dirt/grime. YOu'll want one for when it sits at your dealer getting service as well. In the garage is good too. Keeps pests and dirt out.

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I have a tow cover and a seperate towing bra which protects the underside of the boat from stone chips,tar etc it goes on before the top cover only when we tow the boat any distance (my boat ramp is less than 50 metres away)With this setup i find the main cover is easier to put on by myself as the girls sometime forget to help me ;) You can also just use the bra by itself too,ie towing into town for fuel.

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So should I go with a rankin cover? Do pebbles and road crap from towing nick the gelcoat? (I am not talking about boulders, just normal road stuff.)

Rankin makes a great cover, but they have a heck of a long lead time at the moment. If you're willing to wait then go for it. Otherwise there are other companies out there & hopefully our members will speak up to that end. The other option is to go local - that's usually preferable if you can find a reputable shop.

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I had a Rankin cover on the boat I just sold, and I liked it a lot. Prior to that I had 2 custom made snao covers (made locally), and I liked them too. I liked the Rankin a little better though, as I felt more comfortable trailering with it. With all that said though, I'm not sure what I'm going to do on the new boat. I usually don't trailer it for long enough to warrant spending big bucks on a trailerable cover, and I keep it in my garage whenever its not being used. I generally left the cover off when it was in my garage to facilitate air-flow, etc. The only exception to this was when I put it away for the winter, I covered it. For the new boat, I'm going to look around a bit, and perhaps get the basic Malibu cover, depending on price. All I really want is something that I can use to cover its winter and/or on the rare occasions when I leave it out.

Also, on the rain storms, 2 seasons ago it was impossible to get any use out of the boat here in the northeast without getting rain at some point. It did make interior of the boat dirty, but I eventually just had to accept it. Last season was a little better, but still I got caught in a couple of rain storms out on the water and had to tow home in the wet. I would just put it inside and let it dry good when I got home, and then give the interior a good cleaning in a couple days time.

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Get the cover...you won't like it when you get up for an early run on the lake and everything in the boat is soaking wet from the morning dew with dust and tree droppings mixed in. It will eventually make a nice vinyl stain that works into all the seams, cracks and crevices. Thats not to mention the road tar, bugs and bird droppings that will collect in there. Without the cover you will be spending more time cleaning the Death Star than using it. The cover will keep it like new. Yes.gif

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I agree with all of you and am in total agreemant about the cover, I just had to prove a point to my better half. Can anyone fill me in on this trailering bra?..Where do I get one, cost?, etc

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I have a tow cover and a seperate towing bra which protects the underside of the boat from stone chips,tar etc it goes on before the top cover only when we tow the boat any distance (my boat ramp is less than 50 metres away)With this setup i find the main cover is easier to put on by myself as the girls sometime forget to help me ;) You can also just use the bra by itself too,ie towing into town for fuel.

Do you have a picture of it?

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sorry guys no pics of the bra,only the cover.It is basically just a side skirt that moulds around the bow tie up to grabrail next to windsheild and down to trailer.It prevents and road grime/stones flicking up from tow car and or passing trafic.Mine zips up the centre if the boat and over the bow,it has soft stuff inside to prevent chaffing/marking.cost was about $300.00 Aus.

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Also ... outa site outa mind... i dont tow w/ a cover, but throw it on when we stop lunch ,dinner or Fill in the blank stop . had a buddy get his boards ripped off while stopped... also had f-n birds shred his seats to get nesting materials go figure ;)

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Also ... outa site outa mind... i dont tow w/ a cover, but throw it on when we stop lunch ,dinner or Fill in the blank stop . had a buddy get his boards ripped off while stopped... also had f-n birds shred his seats to get nesting materials go figure ;)

You have got to be kidding!!

If I stopped to eat on my way to Shasta, and came out to birds eating my seats, I would freaking go crazy!

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We have a road tarp & a mooring tarp - wouldn't want to be without either one of them. Even on a dry trip you get a lot of road dust on the seats without a tarp. Where we moor there are a lot of ducks. I swear they hold it all day in order to crap on my ski platform in the evening. Our mooring tarp has an extension that covers the ski platform so at least we keep the duck poo off the teak. Without the mooring tarp the ducks would be in the boat. There's also the "out of sight, out of mind" argument. We have never lost anything out of the boat and we always leave everything in it but it seems logical to me that the stuff that is covered is less vulnerable.

We had a local shop build the mooring tarp with no snaps. I hate the looks of snaps in the gelcoat. Our tarp has an elasticized drawstring that keeps it snug below the rubrail. It clips around the tower, fits perfectly and looks great. The folks that built it quoted us a price and stuck to it but told us when we picked it up that they would never do another one.

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