Boat Cover - Material and Bow Cut-Outs

P71_CrownVic wrote: 63 Skier wrote: That looks like a glove tight fit! Mine wasn't quite as tight as I'd like, but with the extended pylon I think it will have enough pitch to not collect water in the gunwale areas. It's very tight. And they even supplied me with TWO prop rods just incase the cover stretches.

Easy enough for me to add them if needed, but I'm definitely fine on the bow, the gunwales would be the only potential problem area and I think I could have pulled it a bit tighter.

One thing I'm tempted to add is a cut-out for the stern lift ring. I'm going to add stern pull-up cleats at some point but the easiest place to tie up to right now is the lift ring.

That looks like a glove tight fit! Mine wasn't quite as tight as I'd like, but with the extended pylon I think it will have enough pitch to not collect water in the gunwale areas.

Thought I'd post an update - 3 months later! I just put the new cover on the boat for the 1st time this evening. I bought a Westland through Christines, $485 with free shipping. It seemed to fit very well once I stopped trying to put the stern end on the bow. Here's a picture.

Got a Carver through nautiqueparts.com (white lake marina) for 3 and change. I'm very impressed with the quality. I have an issue where the rear darts for the platform got mis-sewn, but I've had a couple of back and forth email and its seems like they're going to get it taken care of(I'll have an update tomorrow). I have a Sunbrella on my 05 Stingray and comparing the carver PolyGuard material to the Stingray, the Sunbrella is a tad thicker/heavier/more 'fabricy', but that aside the PolyGuard material feels/looks solid and the 2nd day on we had a downpour and it beaded off the water like a champ, had zero through transfer. Supposedly it has the same life-cycle, and so far I've been very impressed not to mention it was almost half the price of Sunbrella. That said I will say the Sunbrella came with the boat(7 years old) and hasn't faded one bit. It has lost the majority of its water repellency, but no tears, rips or UV issues so far. Only thing I hate about it is contrary to popular opinion mine holds moisture in like a ziplock back, I have to clean the underside of the cover atleast once a month in the summer to wash off the mold and if it rains heavy and I leave the cover on i get mildew on my seats. The mildew/moisture issue was the main reason I decided to give the PolyGuard a try as several people on THT say its more breathable.

$750 for a regular mooring cover from skiboatcovers? Or was that a waterline? That seems high... is the comparison apples to apples on the Westland? Angola, Skiboatcovers and one of the big companies (forget if it was Carver or Westland) were all within $20 of each other (~$510) for our 19' Barefoot Nautique. I realize the SAN is 2' longer, but that seems like a big price difference!

Do not get bow cut outs. IMHO.

Thanks for the info Tim. I've looked at Angola before at the suggestion of another person here, just thought I ought to support Christine's and order through them. I'll take a closer look today. I guess the question is whether one of the companys does a better job of custom fit for my boat.

I'll probably go with black, might consider a dark navy, charcoal, or the charcoal tweed in Sunbrella looks interesting.

I need a cover for the '98 Sport, am looking at the Westland site, will order through Christine's (Nautiqueskins.com). I leave the boat in the water for weeks at a time, but also will have it on the trailer quite a bit. Breathability is really important to me, it's hard to have the boat completely dry every time I cover it.

They offer 3 fabrics - 6 1/2 oz. Sharkskin Plus acrylic coated polyester, 7 1/2 oz. Sharkskin Supreme SD solution dyed polyester, and 9 1/4 oz. Sunbrella solution dyed acrylic. Is Sunbrella so good I should just go with it, or would the Supreme be just as good for my use and be a bit lighter to handle (9 oz. sounds heavy to me).

I can get it with or without the bow cutouts for the trailer. Since I'll use it both in the water and on the trailer, which ends up the better compromise?

Thanks!
David