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Boat tarp


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I am looking for a new tarp for the boat. Need one that will work while being towed. Anyone have any recommendations?

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You're looking for a fitted boat cover; and a trailerable one to boot. Check out Cabelas or BPS online and you'll see plenty to choose from. Be sure it says it's meant to be trailerable, some aren't, tho' I can't understand why.

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The best fit and quality are the OEM factory covers, otherwise the instructions above will work great.

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Take your boat to a shop that does custom boat covers if you plan to do a lot of trailering. Cost a little more, but well worth it. Look in the Yellow Pages under "boat tops, covers, & upholstery".

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Just like almost everything else in life, your budget will dictate what you do here. I have had a custom cover made by Canvas Plus in Rogers for my last two boats and could not be happier with the results. It’s going to cost $500 - $600 depending on the size of your boat.

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I read something with some of the fishing pros doing tests to see weather or not they get better gas mileage with or without cover on and they said that without the cover on they got considerably better gas mileage.

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Quote:

I read something with some of the fishing pros doing tests to see weather or not they get better gas mileage with or without cover on and they said that without the cover on they got considerably better gas mileage.


Sounds like an episode of Myth Busters waiting to happen….

If that is true, I will gladly give up a little MPG to keep the road grime out of the boat.

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If anything, I would expect better mpg with a good-fitting travel cover. Check around - you can get a really nice custom cover made for a 17' boat for under $450..

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Shoremaster in Fergus Falls, MN. Free shipping. Nice, quality covers.

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This makes sense to me. The tarp kind of acts like a sail. Usually you see the tarps puffed up when going down the road so I would say they are trapping air (like a sail).

I think a well fit cover is not as bad as others but probably still hurts gas mileage.

If you design a cover that helps significantly with gas mileage I am sure you will sell a lot of them.

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Whatever you buy, spend the extra money for one that is suitable for highway use. Those cheap covers found in chain stores is not the route...been there.

I've had a couple custom covers from different companies (TRS/Shoremaster) made for my boats I've had. Well worth the money.

I found with my cover on my boat I do get better gas mileage and my truck seems to work noticably less when pulling it. There must be more wind drag with the cover off.

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The other plus of a custom cover is that it can be made to fit with your trolling motor installed or not installed, handle splash guards, etc.

One other benefit is that it won't rub your paint off, or as bad at the very least as one of the generic, a couple sizes fits all type of covers.

marine_man

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Another benefit of a custom cover that hasn't been mentioned is that if you are having problems with the cover, or need repairs, you can take it back to the shop where you had the cover made and get it fixed. With most of the large retailers, you are pretty much on your own after a year or so, because they don't have sewing facilities - they just sell covers.

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Well guys I have decided to have a custom made tarp. A local shop will be making it for us. He is recommending snaps to hold it in place. He also will do straps or a countinous bungy what do you guys recommend. I have a couple of buddies with the snaps and it seems like they are constantly dealing with broken snaps. Thanks for all the help!!!

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Take the advice of the guy who is making the cover - no big deal to replace a snap once in a while, and it's a lot nicer not having to deal with straps. Whichever way you go, the important thing is that the cover stays snug when you are going down the road - if it's flopping all over the place, the canvas will wear out much quicker.

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North Country Canvas in Robbinsdale!! I've had my custom snap on tarp for 5 years. Lots of travel. Never had a problem. High quality all around. My father was so impressed with mine (His Crestliner custom tarp fell apart after 2 yrs), he traveled 2 1/2 hours for his and is very happy. Boat sits on uncovered boat lift when not going down the road. Very durable and tight fitting. Excellent product and service. I can't remember the gents name, but he's a pleasure to deal with. Not a BIG outfit. Nice warranty also.

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I'm a fan of straps under the belly of the boat. It gives you the ability to tighten the canvas over age, and snug it up when travelling down the road plus you don't end up with a ton of snaps on your boat.

The drawback is that it doesn't work that well for a cockpit cover (which allows you to put the cover on the boat while it's in the water) like you'd have with the snaps.

For me, a couple of straps to toss under the boat is a lot easier than snapping or unsnapping a bunch of snaps or dealing with tore out snaps.

marine_man

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Straps are okay - they are often used on the semi-custom type of covers sold through the chain-stores. The snap-on covers are painstakingly fitted to the boat. Shrinkage is a non-issue with the modern polyester & acrylic fabrics. If you ask your cover fabricator, he can probably provide you with a low-cost snap repair kit, if the need should arise to replace a snap while traveling.

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I am a snap guy all the way. That way it doubles as a mooring cover. If I am fishing a tourney I can snap the cover on at the dock overnight and keep the bugs and bad guys out. My Stratos had a strap cover and it was a great cover but I got tired of crawling around the landing trying to get the straps hooked up.

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Here is a thread from about a year ago.

I rebuilt/repainted my Lund Mr Pike about eight years ago and bought a custom made snap on cover from The Canvas Shop in Embarrass. I could not be happier with it. I have not broken a single snap and have not had a single bit of wear on it. There is just enough elevation from the seats that no bows are necessary. It takes about 4 minutes to put it on and less to take it off. When I picked it up, the owner said that if I ever have any issues bring it back and she will fix it for free. Initially I thought I paid too much, much now that I have had it this long, it was worth every penny and then some.

Boat Cover Thread

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The new Lunds have a rail built into the underside of the gunwale to accomodate snaps so you don't have to drill into the sides of the boat. (Crestliner has had a nice ledge on the upper side of the gunwale for the past few years for the snaps so that works slick)

The downside of the new system for the Lunds is that the anchor part for snaps for the rail are molded nylon, and you can only get them from Lund at this point in time. They are spendy!!

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