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Why should you have a custom cover
By: Chris Erwin
I hear that question a lot, to be
truthful there is not enough room here to list all the reasons,
but I do want to go over a few.
We have been running an Upholstery shop for 30 years now.
We build complete interiors for boats, cars, and almost everything else that
has upholstery, I can tell you that most of the boats we see that the interior
is shot, usually is a result of either no cover, or a cheap ill fitting cover.
Most people think that water is the culprit that breaks down your boat, this
is not true. The biggest threat to your boat is the sun.
If you can keep your boat in a garage some people think they don't need a
cover, well my friend, that's fine. If you don't use your boat. However,
most of us use, and tow our boat from lake to lake. A boat cover does a
few things that some people don't think about.
TThe number one reason to have a
good cover is it protects your interior that's a no brainier, but they are
more you should think about, if you have a custom fitted cover you can keep
it on your boat while towing it. This keeps everything in your boat,
and prying hands and eyes out of your boat if you stop for gas, food or
lodging. It keeps road dirt from eating away your finish, it also keeps
seats dry so when you launch your boat the first thing you get to experience
might be catching a fish, instead of finding you have wet pants.
When you come off the water, and you're tired you don't have to stand there
putting up your gear until it gets dark, you can just put on your cover and
take your fishing machine home, and clean it up the next day. Without worrying
about losing something on the way home because it could blow out of your boat.
Then they are the little things, like getting better gas mileage while your boat is in tow,
reducing the drag and improving the boat tracking behind your vehicle.
The other thing we see a lot is faded boat finishes, all boats that have
jell-coat or boats that have clear coats over flake finishes suffer in time
from a condition called "Plasticizer Migration". This is a condition where
the UV rays drive the polymers to the surface where they become dry and
start to crack. They are a few things that can help prevent this from
happing, namely keeping a sun screen on your boat finish, a brand name
of one would be "303 Aerospace Protectant" The other thing you can do is
keep your boat covered all the time it's not in use. All products that
contain polymers including plastics, vinyl, even some boat covers,
(namely covers made from polyester) in time will fall
to this condition.
The thing to remember here is a cover even one made from polyester is
better than letting it attack your boat finish.
Just this week I did the interior in an old Ranger Boat,
the owner told me he priced having the top half of his boat
re-painted and cleared, he told me the price he got was 4,000
dollars, which will buy a lot of covers.
If you do decide to buy a custom cover you should insist that the shop use
100% Solution Dyed Acrylic, This is a fabric that is un-matched for
strength, it will not fade like other fabrics. I doesn't get hard or
shrink, crack( it has no polymers) like many other marine fabrics it
also resists mildew, and stains, some name brands are Sunbrella,
Coastguard, Recacrill. This fabric will turn water but at the same
time is breath-able this keeps your cover from sweating and causing
mildew on anything inside your cover.
If you have additional questions about a custom boat covers you can email me.
Chris Erwin
Good Fishing
Chris "The Trimmer" Erwin
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