TOPIC: Just a little tip about saving your boat cover.

I put my 1972 18' Sea Ray in storage in October, covered it with a good boat cover, and by the end of November the wind and rain storms had destroyed the cover. Looking at what happened, where the cover rest on the top of the windshield it was ripped by the aluminum frame, which has some sharp corners. So I bought a new cover, and spent several days pondering how to keep that from happening again. There are all kinds of solutions but I was looking for something simple and hopefully cheap.

I was preparing my motorhome water lines for winter by covering them with foam insulating tubes and it hit me! this stuff would be perfect. Slit down one side it would fit right over the top edges of the windshield. So all the sharp edges are covered and in the spring you just take it off. No glue or screws or anything. A little tape on each end keeps it in place. Best part, it was $2.29 per 6 foot tube. Just look for Pipe insulation. Comes in various sizes. Two lengths covered all the edges of my windshield. So now the new cover that cost almost as much as the boat did, will last a bit longer than the old one.

Very good advice!!!

I been doing stuff like that a LONG time. Its around great for a lot of things!

I used an old swimming pool noodle. Works great.

The people over at a Yamaha boat forum are notorious for pool noodles. Put em on window frames, on ski tow ropes, mooring lines. Find em cheap, and buy a lot.

Will

Good idea with the pool noodles. Our boat is stored in doors so I don't worry too much about its cover, but I have a vintage Dodge truck that I keep covered and stored under a carport at our place at the lake. I have had a problem with wind getting under the cover and the cover has taken some abuse from the apparent flapping. The corners of the cover at the hood are getting a bit thin and the trailer hitch has caused a tear at the back. I am thinking I can stitch up the tear with a needle and some fishing line. I was also thinking about making some patches for the hood corners also and running some bungee cords under the cover to keep it from flapping and blowing off. If not for the cable lock that runs under the truck from one side to the other, that cover would probably have been blown into the lake by now. Any other suggestions are very welcome.