Descent quality boat cover?

[wild.coast]

Hey folks! A few months ago we got our first RIB! It's a new to us 5.2m custom RIB with aluminum hull, hyperlon tubes and a 50hp Yamaha outboard.

Trying to figure out how to take good care of it and the question of some sort of boat cover came up, curious if anyone has any advice?

We live in the Pacific Northwest (NA), a mix of some snow for a month or two in the winter and lots of rain throughout! UV is still an issue in the summer with June-Aug usually being pretty hot and sunny, but it's no Florida! The boat trailer is parked in our driveway, so looking for something to keep the pontoons protected, something that could also handle some wet snowfall.

I tried to look on Amazon.com and there are a thousand cheap boat covers for sale all with great 5 star reviews but I'm pretty certain most of these are total garbage and will only last a year. I've had some bad experiences with cheap plastic tarps that literally disintegrated after just one summer because they weren't treated with a UV protective coating.

I'd rather spend a bit more and buy once, but I also don't need anything fancy! Just a good value boat cover. Any advice?

p.s. we're in Canada but near the border so US retailers work as well!

[Peter_C]

Sunbrella is a good material, and can be re-treated for water repellency aka DWR. Hardest part is going to be to find an outfit with your boat pattern. You might need to have a local shop make one. Running a rope over the top of boat helps form a ^ so water doesn't collect.

[davej]

Hi, over many years I have used local guys who make custom covers for all sorts of users and they have all been made at what I think is a reasonable cost. The last one for my personal 5 m RIB was about 250£ here in the U.K. the guy came to visit twice from our local town for measuring up and then showed me a few grades of material before making it.

It’s much better to deal with a local business. I have also had covers made for the consul and engine for my dive club, again very good quality and not silly money.

It’s a bit of a faff chasing things but the end result is excellent, the guy I used last year did lots of work for farmers and truckers so was very used to doing custom work.

A bit of ringing around should get you a positive response.

Happy new year from a very wet and windy U.K.

Dave J

[Wave Rider]

Topgun is another good material for covers. It has some weight to it so less likely to flap in the wind.

Sailmakers that make sprayhoods & dodgers for yachts will be used to custom work.

Ducksback uk have set standard sizes covers on the shelf but won't be a custom fit.

£550 for a custom fit in my part of the UK.

[wild.coast]

Ended up find a cover that works and seems like descent quality.


Flex-Fit Pro cover by Carver Covers - https://www.carvercovers.com/flex-fit-boat-covers/


For the 18ft zodiac ended up going with model 79005 -> a bit too long but the 102" beam width meant it actually covers nicely over the sides of the pontoons and protects them from UV rays.



USA made, build quality and stitching seems pretty good - we'll see how long it lasts. Paid $350 for it.