Mooring cover for dust and dirt?

[drtbar]

On Emprire's site, I was able to select Cobalt 2022 R5, which came up as 26ft, should be same length as my R6, scroll down to the cheapest one for the same price of $101.99 + tax.

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[Krob1114]

Scroll doesn't work on copy and paste...but I like cheap.

[drtbar]

Scroll doesn't work on copy and paste...but I like cheap.

LOL, scrolling down on a jpeg would be a neat trick.

I'm gonna pull my boat this weekend and take some measurements before I order, but also want to hear from Titaniumboy on how his fit.

[Titaniumboy]

My boat condom should be delivered in a couple of hours. I’m hoping to get out to the boat tomorrow and do a test fit.

That assumes that I can complete the hot water heater replacement today. My wife found it leaking this morning.

[Titaniumboy]

Not only did the boat cover not show up today, but all we accomplished today was the purchase of the hot water heater. All the fun stuff like draining the old water heater, gas and water line disconnections, cleanup, etc. all start in earnest tomorrow morning. Yeah me.

Boat cover is now supposed to be delivered tomorrow (Thursday) so maybe Friday I can escape for some fun? Being at home is too much like work.

[drtbar]

Ok, keep us in the loop. How long has it been since you ordered the cover?

I'm pulling my boat this weekend, and will do some measurements then, but hope to get it stored away the following weekend, so hopefully the cover will come in a few days.

[Titaniumboy]

I ordered it last Thursday. It came out of Kentucky so yours should arrive quicker.

Since when did hot water heaters get so expensive? $779 for a 50 gallon natural gas one was quite the shock.

[drtbar]

Nearly everything is A LOT more expensive, and whatever isn't yet, will be soon. Water heaters included.

[Titaniumboy]

I finally was able to do a test fit of the new cover yesterday. It did not go well. Let’s just say that my boat condom busted.

Here is the cover right out of the box. Man, this thing takes up less room than my bow cover.

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The cover was too short by a couple of inches to get around the swim platform, even on the starboard side where there wasn’t an aft dock line.

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I wasn’t expecting to do my test fit while the boat was in the water and docked. The marina guys didn’t pull it out last night even though I was there in plenty of time.

So my tried and true tonneau covers went back on the boat like normal. They look great but allow the boat to get nasty dirty.

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Maybe if it wasn’t so breezy out and maybe if there was a second person helping and maybe if the boat was on land instead of water and maybe if it wasn’t getting dark out this cover might have worked out. Lots of maybe’s.

I’m going to try this again when the boat is out of the water, but I’m guessing that the chance of success is only 20% or so. I think the main problem is that the cover isn’t able to go around the four tower supports.

So my options appear to be 1) modify this cover to fit around the tower supports, or 2) bite the bullet and get a Bald Mike’s cover.

If I modified this cover, I’m not sure how I would deal with the shock cord needing to be cut in order to go around the tower supports? Anybody with experience in making or modifying covers have any advice?

[Titaniumboy]

I found a video by Ron Tanis of skiboatpartsonline.com where he modifies a boat cover to fit around a wakeboard tower.

Unfortunately his first bit of advice is to remove the tower. No way no how am I removing this tower. I had to lay the tower over one time years ago to fit under a boat shop overhead door. That tower is HEAVY.

[drtbar]

Looks like it wouldn't even fit over the rub rail if you didn't have the arch. I wanted the same cover to go over my tower while it was folded down:

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So looks like it's a no go for that cover. I guess I'll stick with the tonneau cover as you did.

[Krob1114]

I finally was able to do a test fit of the new cover yesterday. It did not go well. Let’s just say that my boat condom busted.

Here is the cover right out of the box. Man, this thing takes up less room than my bow cover.

Sorry it didn't work out. It looks like the same type of cover I'm using. Of course R3 is 23'10" and my cover is 24. Fits good and I just tie it inside the arches. It really is light weight.

[Titaniumboy]

I haven’t been back to the boat yet to give the new cover a second chance. While I could probably make this cover work, it is going to take time and effort that I don’t have. I have too many other projects going on and the last thing I need is another project right now.

So I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Westland Sharkskin Plus cover from Bald Mike’s. I should see the new super duper cover in two weeks or so.

I wasn’t sure if I needed accessories such as a drawcord cincher or a cincher pouch. Mike said that since my cover was for a tower, that a cincher was of necessity already included.

I already have two support poles with snaps on the end for my existing tonneau covers, so I didn’t need to get new ones. Mike recommended getting two vents as part of my order, but not because I needed more venting (the cover already has two vents). He felt that the vents would spread the load of the support poles across more surface area as compared to the smaller snap patches he offers. I will need to cut two holes in the cover once it arrives to install the vents.

The old cover is not a total loss as it will get repurposed as an oversized cover for my 1977 Beachcraft boat. The Beachcraft is stored indoors sans cover and is in dire need of dust and dirt protection.

BBP, I mentioned your name to Mike and he said you were a good guy??

[Big Block Power]

I haven’t been back to the boat yet to give the new cover a second chance. While I could probably make this cover work, it is going to take time and effort that I don’t have. I have too many other projects going on and the last thing I need is another project right now.

So I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Westland Sharkskin Plus cover from Bald Mike’s. I should see the new super duper cover in two weeks or so.

I wasn’t sure if I needed accessories such as a drawcord cincher or a cincher pouch. Mike said that since my cover was for a tower, that a cincher was of necessity already included.

I already have two support poles with snaps on the end for my existing tonneau covers, so I didn’t need to get new ones. Mike recommended getting two vents as part of my order, but not because I needed more venting (the cover already has two vents). He felt that the vents would spread the load of the support poles across more surface area as compared to the smaller snap patches he offers. I will need to cut two holes in the cover once it arrives to install the vents.

The old cover is not a total loss as it will get repurposed as an oversized cover for my 1977 Beachcraft boat. The Beachcraft is stored indoors sans cover and is in dire need of dust and dirt protection.

BBP, I mentioned your name to Mike and he said you were a good guy??

Good deal. Mikes a great guy! Congrats on the new cover!

[Titaniumboy]

I received the new Westland Sharkskin Plus mooring cover back on October 22, but didn’t get a chance to try it out until November 18.


There are a ton of tie down straps meant for trailering. Here you can also see the two rope ratchets.

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Tight squeeze. This cover will never again fit in this cardboard box.

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Ok, this thing is seriously larger than my existing cockpit tonneau cover.

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The last two pictures show the cover installed and with the cinch cord tightened up. It looks a bit loose, but that is because I don’t have my adjustable poles installed. I won’t be using the poles unless I’m trailering or it is raining.

Installation of this cover took quite a bit longer than my two tonneau covers, but it should get quicker as time goes on. The bigger question is how hard will this be while the boat is docked in the water and I don’t have access from the ground like my test fitting? And how well will it really protect against the dust and dirt?

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