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Towing with stock cover


JAGMAN

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I have a stock cover on an 05 vride and I want to know if I can tow with it for long distances (500 miles)? It says Malibu across the windscreen, and ends at the transom (it does not cover the swim platform). It has a cord that runs just below the rub rail and can be racheted tight as well as straps that reach down to the trailer ever 3-4 feet or so.

I also wanted to know if I should lower the Illusion tower for the trip, or if it is okay to leave it up? Anything else I am forgetting?

Thanks for the advise.

J

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I have a stock cover on an 05 vride and I want to know if I can tow with it for long distances (500 miles)? It says Malibu across the windscreen, and ends at the transom (it does not cover the swim platform). It has a cord that runs just below the rub rail and can be racheted tight as well as straps that reach down to the trailer ever 3-4 feet or so.

I also wanted to know if I should lower the Illusion tower for the trip, or if it is okay to leave it up? Anything else I am forgetting?

Thanks for the advise.

J

Most people will tell you not to tow with a cover. The cover and clips thrashing in the wind will scratch the gelcoat.

I would travel with the tower up and the pins in the illusion tower, otherwise it will be bouncing around like crazy (especially the '06 where the tower is counter-balanced)

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dont tow with the stock cover. you will end up wet sanding your gelcoat to get the rub marks out. SOme others have posted ideas like twisting the straps to stop the fluttering or i remember someone else putting something soft on the straps to keep them from rubbing. I towed once with mine and will not do it again. We make 3-4 trips to shasta and trinity a year and I would rather clean my boat for an hour when I arrive than ruin the gelcoat.

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DO NOT TOE WITH YOUR COVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have a few of these strap marks on my gelcoat now. i was told they can be buffed out. furthermore i was advised by the powers that be do not toe with the cover for this reason!

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I've towed mine 4000+ miles over the last few years with a Rankin. No problems whatsoever. No scratches on the gelcoat anywhere.

If you need to tow with a cover, get a cover designed for this. Rankin, or whatever. It is worth every cent.

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I've towed mine 4000+ miles over the last few years with a Rankin. No problems whatsoever. No scratches on the gelcoat anywhere.

If you need to tow with a cover, get a cover designed for this. Rankin, or whatever. It is worth every cent.

What he said Plus1.gif

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I have a stock cover on an 05 vride and I want to know if I can tow with it for long distances (500 miles)? It says Malibu across the windscreen, and ends at the transom (it does not cover the swim platform). It has a cord that runs just below the rub rail and can be racheted tight as well as straps that reach down to the trailer ever 3-4 feet or so.

I also wanted to know if I should lower the Illusion tower for the trip, or if it is okay to leave it up? Anything else I am forgetting?

Thanks for the advise.

J

That cover maybe o.k.. Since it has a way to cinch the cover around the bottom of the rub rail with a ratchet it may have been designed to tow. When you put the straps down the side to the trailer, find anchor points that will keep the strap off of the boat wherever possible. ALWAYS tow with the tower up. Find a cover for your speakers or racks if possible. Best thing to do, is take it for a test run over a short distance and see how it does......

That said, I have a Rankin tow cover and just towed it 9 hours up to Oregon and no scratches etc. On the way home we hit a major terrential down poor. My interior came home clean. Nothing worse than road grime and black dirty water from the wet roads. I would have hated to have been the BU with no cover that we passed during that storm. Lightning.gifBadmood.gif

We have also towed our boat 10 hrs to Havasu and no problems in the heat as well.

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[i have trailered my VLX 3 times from Austin Texas to Lake Powell. it's about a 3000 mile round trip. Using the stock cover. What I have done to protect the boat is to run two strips of 2" vinyl tape along the boat where the cover comes in contact with the boat. I also will run two or three strips up and down the Hull where the tie down straps attach to the trailer. Make sure to secure all of the loose ends of the straps so they don't whip the side of your boat in the wind.

You can get a low stick tape that will peel off and not leave a residue. Don't use duct tape. Youll spend more time cleaning the adhesive off your boat than buffing out rub marks.

It tales about 10 minutes to protect your boat. When you arrive at your final destination, the tape will be filthy and worn but when you peel it off the hull will look brand new. Yahoo.gif

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  • 1 month later...

Heres our cover that I'd always fit if towing for more than say 20mins. We hardly ever need to though as it lives at the lake :)

It's as fitted to most NZ malibus. The NZ agent gets them made locally & they fit really tightly and have soft fleecy type stuff everywhere they touch the hull.

http://www.wake.com.au/modules.php?name=Fo...pic&t=12172

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The absolute best cover for towing is made by commercial sewing. It is a vacuum hold system. When you drive it tightens itself. It is also the easiest for one person to put on.

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Just to follow up on an earlier post; I towed a 1500 mile round trip with the stock cover. It worked great and there were no problems whatsoever. I followed the advice of BuCrew and twisted the nylon straps, and then used vinyl tape (electrical tape) to wrap any points where the straps touch the gelcoat. Wrapping the tape takes 15 extra minutes, but is well worth it for the long trip that we were on. If I regularly did shorter trips the tape thing might become a PITA.

I am sure that there a much better covers for towing out there, but I don't tow very often at all and can't justify the expense (seems like everything costs $1000 these days). So, for those of you that make a handful of big trips each year, have no fear about towing with the stock cover (so long as you tape it up). The peace of mind of towing with the cover is worth it, especially when driving through a rainstorm in NYC on 95 (at which point you will have enough to worry about). BTW I did not use the support poles (front or rear) nor did I use the ski pylon (don't have to worry about puddling at 65mph).

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I travel with the stock cover on. When towing with a diesel you have to use a cover. Mine is the older crappy cover that stretches over the swim grid.

My trick is that i wrap the boat at rub rail height with pallet wrap stretch plastic. any flapping of the tarp is done against the wrap and the wrap seems to seal against the boat and tarp to prevent any diesel soot from getting into the boat. A 1500 foot roll, 15 inches wide costs under $20.00 canadian up here.

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I'm surprised by how loosely the US made covers seem to fit. Ours fit tight and certainly don't flap around. Have a look at the link in my post above.

Edited by uk_exile
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I have been guilty of towing with the cover - did it yesteday.

Me too. I also have one or two strap marks now though on my gelcoat.

How I've dealt with rub areas:

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....ost&p=30293

I travel with the stock cover on. When towing with a diesel you have to use a cover. Mine is the older crappy cover that stretches over the swim grid.

My trick is that i wrap the boat at rub rail height with pallet wrap stretch plastic. any flapping of the tarp is done against the wrap and the wrap seems to seal against the boat and tarp to prevent any diesel soot from getting into the boat. A 1500 foot roll, 15 inches wide costs under $20.00 canadian up here.

That's a great idea!

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While I am going to purchase a true travel cover this winter, I have pulled my boat with the stock Canvas Malibu cover and pulled my 20' Nitro Fish and Ski for 9 years with its cover (a much better cover material than the Malibu cover but same basic design) with no problems. Well I should not say with no problems, because when I first purchased my Nitro, I put the cover on and pulled'r home. The black plastic buckles left black marks and actual indentations in the hull. The black marks where easy to remove. So what I did was purchased a role of that foam material that people use in their campers to protect their dishes. You can find it at any Wal-Mart or Target. I cut what i needed to cover each buckle and wrapped it around the buckle a few times and secured it to the webbing very close to the tarp with high test Mono Filament. If you do it right, you never have to remove the foam as you can still get at the protected female end of the buckle under the foam. I know that people state that the tarp itself can leave marks, but I have just not had too much of a problem with that. But again, to be safe, I am getting travel cover this winter.

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