Trailering with Canvas On

[BigSioux232]

I think the common advice out there is that you should not trailer your boat with the bow/cockpit covers on.  The argument being that the whipping in the wind causes sharp surfaces on the boat to eventually cut or wear through, making the canvas more susceptible to all out self-destruction.  I do trailer with my canvas on, especially if I believe I'll be driving down wet roads where grimy road spray will blow into the boat that I just cleaned for the next trip out.  I make a couple of slight and inexpensive modifications which I discovered after ruining one set of canvas.  First, I had my local canvas shop sew reinforcements at any point that has a protrusion or sharp corners on the boat.  Then, I place that gray foam pipe insulation (purchased in packs of four 3-foot pieces at the hardware store) over the top rail of the windshield.  The insulation is cut down the side so it just slides on and takes seconds.  That keeps sharp edges like the top of the walk-thru hinge from cutting the canvas.  I haven't had a problem since and towed thousands of miles over 4 years.

Do you tow with your canvas on?

[nwaring]

Yep.  I beleive one of the keys is make sure it is tight.  When we brought our boat home, 7hrs of rain, I did put shrink wrap tape on the leading edges.

Niles

[kcsteve]

I do tow with the cover on. I have a custom made cover that is reinforced at several points. The foam sounds like a good idea. Think i'll give it a try this year Don't want to be replacing a cover every couple years.

[slawson]

The cover that came with mine seems fairly reinforced at the critical points.  The foam idea, however, is very good.

I think the trick is to make sure it's 'tight'.  Use the center poles and push them up as high as you can.  That way there is minimal slapping of the canvas and wear and tear.  I'm on year three and I've noticed no wear marks anywhere doing that.  And the boat has been towed close to 8000 miles on a couple of pretty long hauls without incident.

Steve L.

[BigSioux232]

Steve,

I also put the center pole in, but only under the cockpit canvas which is more succeptible to whipping action.  You need to be careful if you are putting one under the bow canvas.  The area around the pole needs to be reinforced.  There's a lot of direct wind pushing against it and if it's not reinforced, it could actually cause a tear there.  It happened to me.  If you've gotten by for this long, you should be okay.

You are right, getting the cockpit cover tight is the key and it doesn't take as much as you might think.  Putting the foam pipe insulation on the top of the windsheild tightens it up for me.  

Dave

[slawson]

I have the filler cushions, and trailer with them in the front.   The cushions help keep the pole right where I want it.  The center section is fairly well reinforced where the pole mounts also.

You are right, it's not quite so necessary to keep this one from flapping....i put just enough tension on it so it stays taught but not too tight.

So far so good, anyway.....no seeming wear and tear from the mileage.

Steve L.

[RicLata]

Like Big Souix i did the same thing.  Also for added safety i have taken and tied a few pieces of short rope onto my trailer then i take ratchet straps across the front middle and back of the boat.  Hook the straps into the ropes and tighten down and this will help keep your tarp from blowing in the wind.

[kcsteve]

I have a custom made cover that I tow with. It's reinforced at several points. No sign of wear, but the foam over the windshield frame sounds like a good idea

[tennja]

I always tow with my cover on. I have the factory cockpit cover. It is already reinforced at the major points of stress.  It is only fastened by snaps though. I did  have the unfornate event of the leading edge of the cover lifting off on a 500 mile journey.  It stayed on but got torn up a bit.  When the canvas shop made repairs I had them take out some of the snaps on the leading edge and replace them with swivel snaps.  Now the leading edge stays in place and no problems so far.

[slawson]

I've found the most important factor in towing with the snap on cockpit and bow covers is to make sure the poles are firmly in place and extended as far as possible to make the covers as taught as possible.  This reduces the 'flapping around' that you get with an unsupported cover which would tend to break away some snaps and cause problems.    I made a trip from central IL to Dallas Tx a couple of summers ago through wind and rain and as long as the covers were 'tight' I was fine.  I did have to readjust the poles a couple of times during the trip as the constant down pressure does tend to let them collapse some.

Steve L.

[boboh]

Although we have not towed long distance we do tow with our cover on.  Our cover is a once piece cover that snaps just below the rub rail all around the boat.  At the back of the boat the cover covers the swim  also.  Makes for a pain when covering the boat in a slip.  To help secure the cover when towing I also have  a draw string that is in the very bottom edge of the cover just below the snaps.  When the cover is on and snaped the drawstring in pulled tight.   Nakes for a pretty tight package.