A boat cover can be almost as important as the boat they are meant to cover and here’s why: without a boat cover, your small boat is subject to the elements 365 days a year. That’s a lot of pounding from rain, sun, snow and flying debris that your boat could avoid with a boat cover.
Boat covers should cover the entire boat
You wouldn’t partially cover your car with a car cover, so don’t try to cover your small boat with a partial boat cover. Instead, consider buying a custom boat cover to ensure that all of the items in your boat are covered well. However, whether you choose a custom cover or elect to go with something already on the market, definitely choose one that completely covers your boat to best protect your investment.
Custom boat covers
A custom boat cover is a little more expensive, but so is having to replace other items in your boat if the cover doesn’t sufficiently protect them from the elements. So you can pay upfront and have piece of mind, or pay later.
The other nice thing about a custom boat cover – and SLO Sail and Canvas out of California offers a nice varietyj, and at varying price ranges – is that a custom boat cover is usually made of the finest materials in the industry (the heaviest cords and the strongest threads), and they are created by top material manufacturers like Sunbrella and Cloudburst.
A Sunbrella cover for your Laser II sailboat will run you around $202 at SLO, and a custom Sunbrella cover for a Cobalt 232 Bow Rider will run you around $675 if purchased from Gotomarine.com.
Frequency of use
If your boat isn’t going to be used very often – or is going to be docked out in rough elements – than a top quality boat cover that is waterproof and has ultraviolet light protection is needed to properly protect it. Additionally, a lesser quality cover might not fit well enough to keep out moist weather and could end up creating moisture under the cover, which could lead to mildew.
Crownline boat covers – which range from $450 to $1,000 – are waterproof and offer UV protection. But there is an extra incentive in choosing a Crownline boat cover: they also have a “shingle” layer on their covers that aids in water running off the cover more easily than with other boat covers. This helps prevent water getting under the cover and creating all those nasty mildew problems you will want to avoid.
Rusty fittings
Another reason it is important to invest in a well-made and good quality boat cover is to prevent exterior damage of your boat from cover fittings that might rust, due to the influence of weather. That’s why a Rinker boat cover is one of the best covers to buy. Rinker’s boat cover fittings are made of either steel or brass, so rusty fittings doesn’t have to be a threat to your boat. A boat cover with steel or brass fittings for a Rinker 246 Captiva Bowrider will run you between $444 and $576 from iboats.com.
References:
Allboatcovers.com: Do You Need a Boat Cover?
http://allboatcovers.com/
Gotomarine.com: Cobalt custom boat covers
http://www.go2marine.com/category.do?no=16085
SLO Sails.com: Custom Covers
http://www.slosails.com/index.php?act=viewDoc&docId;=5
