Trailering long distances With Cover On or Cover Off?

[asnowman]

There are two types of covers Malibu sells with the newer boats (at least as of 2019).  The one from Great Lakes feels heavy, and fits a bit loose for my taste, especially when trailering.  The commercial Sewing one is a lighter material, and more waterproof, and fits very tight to begin with.

We have both for our 2019, and have towed with both.  The great lakes cover is HORRIBLE for towing.  If it has cleat pockets that looks like this....

I would not tow with it on the boat, it balloons up and flaps in the wind pretty bad.

The pockets on the commercial sewing one look like this:

The commercial sewing ones are pretty good for towing, the vents built in actually help it to not balloon up and flap in the wind..... However..... they seem to have had an issue with seam tolerances in at least the 2019 production run.  We are waiting on a replacement commercial sewing cover for the 25 lsv.  We had seem splitting the second day we used that cover, and thankfully it was the dealer that put it on when the seems started to split.  I towed the boat home at the end of the season, and putting it on after winterizing, the main seam over the back split apart as well.  When i really looked at eh seams, there was very little material beyond the stitch line to actually help the canvas not tear at the stitches, which is what all of our problems look like.

Towing cover on or off is really a preference thing.  I personally don't like doing it, and i really don't want to be the guy with canvas flapping all over the place.  We don't tow it early enough in the season for there to be a lot of road sand left, and I try hard to pick nice weather to tow from home to the lake, or back home at the end of the year, so that I can tow open.

[Chappy]

3 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

I have never covered the boat while towing and we two quite a bit, not as much as Ryan, but I would say between 1000 and 1200 a year. Never had an issue until last year when we had our windshield shatter. Was a huge pain - we were on our way up north for vacation. Had to make a gorilla tape windshield and buy a shopvac when we got there. 4 hours later boat was mostly cleaned up and windshield made. We were on a super smooth clean road with zero traffic around us and I have full truck width rock guards so I still skeptical of it being road debris, but I am much more tempted to tow covered this year for our long up north trips. Would make packing easier too as others have mentioned that they just have stuff in the boat. To be honest I am skeptical that a cover would stop something big enough to blow out an entire windshield too, but I am willing to try.

Does everyone use the hangtyte? Poles? I don't need the poles to get the cover tight on our VTX to keep water from pooling so I'd guess I don't need them while towing too?

 

Wow, that is a sucky way to start vacation.

[ahopkins22LSV]

5 minutes ago, Chappy said:

Wow, that is a sucky way to start vacation.

Lets just say there were quite a few adult beverages had that night.

[asnowman]

3 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Does everyone use the hangtyte? Poles? I don't need the poles to get the cover tight on our VTX to keep water from pooling so I'd guess I don't need them while towing too?

I have done it both ways, and with both.  I would use both of you can, but at least the hangtyte.

[dcarl]

3 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

 

Does everyone use the hangtyte? Poles? I don't need the poles to get the cover tight on our VTX to keep water from pooling so I'd guess I don't need them while towing too?

 

On my 16 VTX I used the pole in the bow. There's a ton of down force on that area when towing.

[RyanB]

18 minutes ago, dcarl said:

On my 16 VTX I used the pole in the bow. There's a ton of down force on that area when towing.

I keep a tube up there. Best support I can find. Helps prevent puddling if I keep the cover on when I get to the lake as well. 

Edited March 26, 2021 by RyanB

[Chappy]

On 3/26/2021 at 8:33 AM, ahopkinsVTX said:

Lets just say there were quite a few adult beverages had that night.

I bet!

[TallRedRider]

I towed my Centurion 280 miles to get it home in the winter, the day after a snowstorm, so I didn't want to have any spray or salt get inside the boat.  The cover is very much like the Malibu cover.  One pearl I was taught from my dealer was to not tighten it too much.  This seemed counterintuitive to me, but he was totally correct.  

When the cover is extremely tight, it shudders more quickly and violently in the wind, and is more likely to cause scuffing.  I left the cover more loose than I typically do, and it billowed very gently.  I saw no scuffs with that.  There is a happy medium that one needs to find, not unlike life in general.  

Edited March 29, 2021 by TallRedRider

[electricjohn]

It took 15 years of trailering before I noticed the chaffing. Now I would use plastic stretch wrap.

[ahopkins22LSV]

1 hour ago, TallRedRider said:

I towed my Centurion 280 miles to get it home in the winter, the day after a snowstorm, so I didn't want to have any spray or salt get inside the boat.  The cover is very much like the Malibu cover.  One pearl I was taught from my dealer was to not tighten it too much.  This seemed counterintuitive to me, but he was totally correct.  

When the cover is extremely tight, it shudders more quickly and violently in the wind, and is more likely to cause scuffing.  I left the cover more loose than I typically do, and it billowed very gently.  I saw no scuffs with that.  There is a happy medium that one needs to find, not unlike life in general.  

Interesting, but makes sense to me. Did you leave it looser at the ratchet straps at the transom or with the hangtyte?

[TallRedRider]

2 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Interesting, but makes sense to me. Did you leave it looser at the ratchet straps at the transom or with the hangtyte?

looser at the ratchet straps.   Definitely tight enough to keep it close to the rubrail, but loose enough that it would even ride up a tiny amount.  I should have shot a video.  

[MTSurf]

Anyone have experience towing with the cover over the GX tower lowered?  I have to tow 150 miles each way to the lake and my dealer advised the GX tower can be towed in the lowered position with the cover on which is why I went with that option.

My previous boat had quick detachable mounts on four 9" Exile Audio tower speakers which was a great setup but I still had to deal with the bugs on the tower and racks.  I'm hoping the power tower solves the issue and the cover fits tight enough not to cause excessive rubbing anywhere.

[PNWoke]

On 3/26/2021 at 7:03 AM, RyanB said:

Hard to argue with him but my experience is using the hang tyte even with evolution. Otherwise I guess you’d have to take it off as I certainly wouldn’t want it bouncing around at 75 mph. 

I usually tow with the hang tite loosened to about 50% of the tire was I use when it’s just sitting.  I do not use the bow pole because I have noticed that the downforce int to bow forces it to spoon down a bit so if the pole was there it would likely rip through with a moderate Columbia river gorge gust of wind.  Loosening the hang tite seems to give it enough stretch to spoon the bow and still remain tight enough in the back to not flip around too much and cause scuffing.

[PNWoke]

On 3/26/2021 at 9:09 AM, RyanB said:

I keep a tube up there. Best support I can find. Helps prevent puddling if I keep the cover on when I get to the lake as well. 

Excellent idea!

[patsproule]

We always trailer with the cover on for long distances. But that's primarily because here in Australia police like to fine people for having an "uncovered load".  Also helps with security when stopping off somewhere for lunch. I usually leave it off when running short distances from the boat ramp but have seen the police fine people for doing it. Unfortunately trailering with the cover does indeed chafe the gelcoat and wear the cover out quickly.