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Towing with cover on?


ffdawg

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Just ordered a 2016 T23 earlier this week and it cannot get here fast enough!  The dealer, who sells a sunbrella aftermarket cover - the type that I would call a "towing cover" (tight fitting, no excess fabric to whip around in the wind) recommended we just get the factory cover from Axis because it's cheaper.  They said the way fiberglass is done these days makes it softer and much more prone to scratching, plus the way Axis has their front windshields and tower makes it almost impossible to have a cover that fights enough to be towable without the cover rubbing on the gel coat and producing scratches.  I've have always preferred towing with the cover on, especially for long distances when you can run into rain.  Has anyone towed regularly with their factory Axis cover on, and what are your recommendations?  Thanks.

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When I was ordering mine I had the same question. I remember reading a few post that the factory covers were not exactly awesome for towing. There were, however, a few that had no problems at all with gel coat scuffing while towing. I had an Evoluton cover on my old boat and was sorta leaning to get one for my new boat. I ended up getting a small credit for the factory cover and just ordered an Evolution. Basically my thought was why take the chance. Try doing a search on the Axis forum

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I'd skip the factory cover personally. I've towed with it only a couple times and have plenty of fine marks on the gelcoat to never want to tow with it on again. They will buff out but that's not the point. I will pony up for an evolution cover soon enough, I just only take one trip per year that is long enough to warrant towing with the cover on so it's not a big deal to me yet.

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7 hours ago, willfam54441 said:

Do you ever worry about the cushions blowing out?  That would be terrible. 

No. I towed our old boat for several years without ever losing a cushion and just last summer when we got our Axis I'd say I towed it at least 2000 miles at 70-75mph without the cushions moving. 

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I'm going to assume the Axis cover is the same as the factory Malibu cover.  Long trips is the only time I tow with the cover, couple wraps around the boat at the rub rail with a roll of stretch film and then the factory cover - no issues at all.

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On 4/8/2016 at 8:16 PM, willfam54441 said:

Do you ever worry about the cushions blowing out?  That would be terrible. 

Do a search in this forum. There are several people who have lost cushions.... usually the center rear one over the v-drive.  I believe the recommendation is to always tow with the walk thru in place.

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1 hour ago, Bill_AirJunky said:

Do a search in this forum. There are several people who have lost cushions.... usually the center rear one over the v-drive.  I believe the recommendation is to always tow with the walk thru in place.

When I bought my Sunscape the dealer said to always tow with the walk thru wind screen in place.

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On April 8, 2016 at 10:16 PM, willfam54441 said:

Do you ever worry about the cushions blowing out?  That would be terrible. 

I put a couple small. velcro straps under my two big cushions to make sure they stay put.  

 

A lot of people do the shrink wrap around the rub rail with success but I've had issues above the rub rail from the times I have towed with cover on (only tow with cover when weather is bad). 

 

On on a side note if your towing in the evening for a long trip shrink wrap tower and speakers.  Made that mistake once and spent a day cleaning bug guts off everything. 

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I've never had any issues using the factory cover on long or short trips.  In fact, the only issue I've really had with covering the boat was when I picked it up from the dealer.  I wrapped the rub rail with plastic film.  That left the gel hazy and marked.  It rubbed out over time.  But using the cover by itself has never lead to any marks on the boat.  I use it every trip to the lake.  Normal trips are 30 minutes with low and high speeds.  I also take it 1 or 2 times a year on 4 hour trips.

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My dealer orders Great Lakes covers instead of Commercial Sewing. The GL cover has white padding sewn into the areas around the windshield frame and over the rear sun deck. I like it better than the CS cover, it fits tightly but still had some buffeting in the wind. I bought a big 18"W roll of saran wrap from Sams club and for long highway trips I just wrap 2 layers around the rub rail and upper deck area. When I arrive I just peel it off and throw it in the trash. It takes less than 5 minutes and prevents any hazing or scratching from a cover, saving me hours of polishing/waxing work. I bring the saran with me and after a quick wipe down I re-wrap for the trip home.

For the quick 20-min drive to our local riding spot I just leave the cover off. But for any trip on the highway I use the cover to keep the interior clean, prevent stuff from blowing out, and prevent rock chips on the windshield. The saran wrap makes this an easy route without the concern of gel damage.  

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I have only had to tow with cover one time and it did leave some marks.  I don't do it unless its raining.  We trailer everywhere (most trips 4-5 hours one way) and I put the wind-block in place with windshield closed and haven't lost a cushion yet. Knock on wood!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 0:29 PM, Bill_AirJunky said:

Do a search in this forum. There are several people who have lost cushions.... usually the center rear one over the v-drive.  I believe the recommendation is to always tow with the walk thru in place.

pretty sure on the T23 it is attached to the metal base so not really possible to blow out... I have towed my A24 well over 4K miles without a cover (always at 70+ mph) and have never lost one or even had one move around.

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15 minutes ago, r33pwrd said:

pretty sure on the T23 it is attached to the metal base so not really possible to blow out... I have towed my A24 well over 4K miles without a cover (always at 70+ mph) and have never lost one or even had one move around.

Probably something they learned from all the years of making the cushions loose on the Mallibu line of boats. Only 2 are attached on my Vride, one on either side.

On a side note, I used to live at the north end of Sammamish. There was a dip/bump in the road just south of Northup Way on W Lake Sammamish Pkwy. I can't tell you how many boats I saw hit it & either something would fly out of the boat (cooler lid, wakeboard, PFD, etc) or we'd see actual daylight between the boat & trailer because they weren't running transom straps.   :Doh:

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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1 hour ago, Bill_AirJunky said:

Probably something they learned from all the years of making the cushions loose on the Mallibu line of boats. Only 2 are attached on my Vride, one on either side.

On a side note, I used to live at the north end of Sammamish. There was a dip/bump in the road just south of Northup Way on W Lake Sammamish Pkwy. I can't tell you how many boats I saw hit it & either something would fly out of the boat (cooler lid, wakeboard, PFD, etc) or we'd see actual daylight between the boat & trailer because they weren't running transom straps.   :Doh:

I am on the east side of the lake where to road is much better :) I always run transom straps.. the roads around here suck pretty bad!

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I can say that we picked up our 2016 T23 yesterday and compared to the cover that was on our 2013 A22 it is a big improvement. Not sure it will doing towing but it might be pretty decent. Again, just initial impressions. 

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On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 2:29 PM, Bill_AirJunky said:

 There are several people who have lost cushions.... usually the center rear one over the v-drive. 

I've considered installing a tether on this cushion since I never tow with a cover or the wind block. 

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11 minutes ago, MadMan said:

I've considered installing a tether on this cushion since I never tow with a cover or the wind block. 

That is what I did on mine.  The newer Malibu's actually have a releasable hinge on that center rear seat.

WP_20140617_002s.jpg.7bad8b112d88c4cabafWP_20140617_003.jpg.6ef5f2dcd219cf52162b

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lucky my boat is white and I'm old so I probably can't see gel coat scatches, lov the cover and use it at all times to and from water, blow cover off with blower each week to unseat the dust and dirt and therefore less transfers to inside of boat,. Will do the plastic wrap if I have a long ride past an hour thx,  luv how clean it keeps boat, so since white I can live with the gel coat marks, I also follow factory recommendation in manual to tilt all of my cushions all of the time, you should see the puddle that drains from any of them after the day from wet people dripping on them or sitting on them as I wipe the inside outside and trailer before I cover it. I keep them tilted till I get it ready each weekend , I have zero mold in 2 years, so my tilted cushions alone necessitate me covering, glad I'm cheap and bought the white boat

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I use the wrap also when towing my boat with cover and it works great.  I wrap above the rub rail and below where the cover stops. And in the winter since my boat lives in a covered storage area but is still accessible by critters, I wrap above and below the rubrail several times on top of the cover.  This seems to keep out anything I don't want living inside my boat pretty well. 

 

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I emailed CS today and they claim if you're getting scuffing on your gelcoat the cover isn't tight enough and it's losing the vacuum that keeps the cover tight to the boat, I'm not sure but it is listed as a trailerable cover on thier website.

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I usually tow with my cover on. But the manual for the cover does specifically state not to tow over 65 with the cover. 

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