"On water" boat cover?

[evoxguy]

What do those of you who leave your boats in the water for extended periods of time use to cover your boats?

I live on the water and my boat is tied to my dock most of the time...

I just ordered a new Skeeter ZX190 and I really can't find anything that would work. Trailering covers are useless on the water...

Any ideas?

[Neilslure]

Most boats I see are on lifts with a regular ole cover.

[Hair Jig]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by Neilslure &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Most boats I see are on lifts with a regular ole cover.</td></tr></table>

That's what I'm doing. Trust me ... you need to do some serious research about the effects of long-term damage that is caused by leaving the boat in the water. I have heard of gelcoat bubbling and other things. I know that lifts are an expensive item, but the boat would fare far better out of the water.

[briansgi]

Here on Grand we have covers with ropes integrated into the cover at strategic locations and a pulley system that lifts the entire cover off your boat. Most of these have small electric motors as well. These covers are a semi custom fit although they simply drape over our boats when it's lowered. Obviously the boat needs to be on a lift like most all are here on Grand. Very cool solution as opposed to trying to install the boat's custom cover that we use for trailering and fits tight.

[evoxguy]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by briansgi &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Here on Grand we have covers with ropes integrated into the cover at strategic locations and a pulley system that lifts the entire cover off your boat. Most of these have small electric motors as well. These covers are a semi custom fit although they simply drape over our boats when it's lowered. Obviously the boat needs to be on a lift like most all are here on Grand. Very cool solution as opposed to trying to install the boat's custom cover that we use for trailering and fits tight. </td></tr></table>

Do you have any pics or a link to more info on these types of covers? I've never seen anything like that.

[briansgi]

I'll try and walk down and take a few pics today but here is one example:

http://www.boatdockstuff.com/P...spx/7

[Jeff Hahn]

Most people that leave their boats in the water, rather than on a lift, have a cover made with supporting poles underneath and snaps that attach the cover to the gunnel. If you can take your boat to a boat cover shop and they can install the snaps into your current cover.

[evoxguy]

Yeah I guess I'm going to have to go get a custom cover made.

I can't afford a lift right now.

I really don't want to drill all kinds of holes in the boat for the cover snaps though

[briansgi]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by evoxguy &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">Yeah I guess I'm going to have to go get a custom cover made.

I can't afford a lift right now.

I really don't want to drill all kinds of holes in the boat for the cover snaps though </td></tr></table>

Not needed, we use small sand bags to hang off grommets built into the cover.

[evoxguy]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by briansgi &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">

Not needed, we use small sand bags to hang off grommets built into the cover. </td></tr></table>

I would love to see pics of that if anyone has one... or a link to more info on covers that use weights to hold them down.

[ccm]

Trailoring cover works for me just have to have snaps added to the boat and cover

[evoxguy]

I don't see how the trailering cover could work... you have to get it under the sponsons at the back which are under the water...

[briansgi]

Here you go, first pic of a bass boat with the sand bags I was talking about. Much easier then dealing with strapping down a custom fit cover!



The rest of these pics are how these covers are integrated into a pulley system to lift the cover completely off the boat. As you can see it uses a set of small pulleys and a cover of this size integrates an electric motor. The smaller ones for bass boats for instance you can just hand crank and save some money not using an electric motor. This is a very cool solution that utilizes a custom fit cover solution which has many benefits such as keeping spiders from getting in your boat and spitting that black crap everywhere which is extremely difficult to get cleaned up. You also leave the sand bags on, no reason to ever remove them. Also keeps your boat from getting dirty plus shades from all the UV rays. I am having one built for my Ranger this spring but it's sides will go further down to protect the entire boat plus the cover will also completely cover the outboard.

[floridafishingguy]

Nice setup. Quite the set of rigging. Too cool. Are you an engineer by day??

I went a little simpler and found boat cover weights that really work good. What I like about them is that I can fill them with water, sand or whatever and then empty them when I need to store them. Easy to store on the boat when I don't need them. See them at: www.boatcoverworks.com

[Jack D]

I had a custom canvas cover made for my Astro Fish n Ski several years ago because I left it in the water on a dock all the time. It had a drawstring style rope around the whole cover and could be pulled very tight, with 2 support poles under it to give it a "tent" effect. It is 12+ years old now, and with some proper cleaning and care, it is still water proof and hanging tough. Best thing I ever bought for that boat.

[jerzia]

I had cut outs made for the cleats so the ropes could go over the cover. Then I use two bungee cords going from cleat to cleat to hold the cover in place. Lastly, I use a 1/4" rope ratchet to get it snug once it's on. It works amazingly well.

[Northstar Covers]

A fairly cost-effective solution that a lot of our customers use is a suction cup tie-down system. I wrote a blog about this product a few months back in case any of you are interested in reading about it.

Blog:
https://www.northstarcovers.com/educ...cup-tie-downs/

Obviously, a more robust system would be preferred, but if you already have a tie-down cover and don't want to invest a ton of time and money, this is a pretty good system.

Here is the product:
https://www.northstarcovers.com/prod...-tie-down-kit/