My New Boat Cover!!

[Shoemaker Mobius]

Nearing end of season, I finally bit the bullet and bought a new trailerable boat cover. I looked at many different kinds, but I kept coming back to the sharp looking pictures of the Malibus with the Covercraft covers. This is the first one Covercrafts made for a 2004 Moomba Mobius LSV, but I really am stoked about it. I absolutely hated the stock cover with all the poles. In addition, I had to use a tripod in the rear and an upside down flower pot in the nose to keep the rain from pooling on the cover. The new cover has no poles and no rain pooling. I have no connection whatsoever with Covercrafts, but I would strongly recommend them. Here are some pictures of the old cover and my new cover. Pretty sad when a new boat cover makes your day. Now I just need to replace my guide pole covers. Click on the small pictures to view larger versions.

http://thumb7.webshots.net/t/57/757/5/64/48/2864564480054078187QHzXwx_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2864564480054078187QHzXwx)

http://thumb7.webshots.net/t/59/459/6/1/72/2740601720054078187saKKer_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2740601720054078187saKKer)

http://thumb7.webshots.net/t/59/159/4/9/20/2100409200054078187JBFJqW_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2100409200054078187JBFJqW)

http://thumb7.webshots.net/t/53/653/8/40/81/2598840810054078187bSBsrB_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2598840810054078187bSBsrB)[/img]

[SiglooLSV]

Shoemaker,
That is a really great looking cover. Where did you get it and how much did it cost? I have an '06 LSV in the same color which only came with the snap-on bow cover and main cockpit cover, not the full cover you have. I would love to get one like that for my boat. Thanks,
Sigloo

[Shoemaker Mobius]

Go to www.covercrafts.com. Cory Anderson is the owner who did my cover - excellent work. I really like the way it fits around the tower - all zippers and extremely well made. He can quote you, but his price was slightly below the price of covers from Rankin. Rankin uses thinner material that isn't warranted like the Sunbrella fabric Covercrafts uses. The price is about $150 higher than a full cover from Skier's Choice that uses poles and isn't trailerable. My Skier's Choice cover only lasted approx. 2 years. I expect 5-10 out of this cover, based on user feedback.

[zabooda]

I think a custom made cover is the way to go like Shoe did. I got a good local upholstery shop to make a snap-on cover for my boat four years ago and they modified my new Moomba trailering cover to make it last for a decent amount of time. The Moomba cover is doing well and should last 2-3 more years (around 7 year life). I keep the cover on outdoors all the time.

Shoe, I noticed the zippers around the tower posts. Do you have a means to tighten the cover around the gunwale? The modification to my Moomba cover has a strap from the back of the tower post to the front of the front tower post so that I can tighten the rope at the back of the boat and tighten the front and the back tarp sections together as if the tower holes didn't exist. Your cover looks sharp and worth the extra expense.

[Shoemaker Mobius]

zabooda,
Yes, the cover (it's a one-piece cover) has a rope that is sewn inside a sleeve all around the cover (except for around the tower legs where instead of a sewn sleeve, there are two zippered sleeves between the three tower legs and the rope is detachable via a solid stainless steel clip - similar to the Moomba cover with its velcro sleeves by the tower and the plastic clips to detach the rope). Note, the zippers are really heavy duty, (I think some type of hard plastic) that won't rust - the zippers are approx. 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide.

At the rear, you should be able to see a black rectanglular thing with the ropes going into it. This part is pretty cool. Inside the black rectangular leather pouch (which folds apart, held together by velcro), there is a heavy duty gadget that allows you to just pull on the rope and securely tighten the rope around the boat, just beneath the rub rail. This gadget looks kind of like a small pulley that cinches the rope tight. You push a lever on the gadget which releases the rope to loosen it. You don't have to tie the ropes at the back like you do on the Moomba cover.

To put the cover on, you start at the nose then unroll the cover from front to back. When I get to the first tower leg (front-most), I do the zippers on the rope and legs and follow back zippering each tower leg. The benefit of that is being connected to the tower legs as you unroll it makes putting the cover on in windy conditions very easy. Once you get it completely unrolled, you fasten the middle rear strap onto the grab rail, then get the cover positioned, fasten the two other straps to the grab rail, then fasten the two outermost straps to the rear tow rings. The sides of the cover have three large, covered hooks that clip under the rub rail. Note they are very heavily covered in some soft material that doesn't harm your gelcoat. These hooks are approx. one inch wide and are adjustable via a long velcro strip which attaches them to the underside of the cover (they are also attached to the cover by a heavy string so you don't need to worry about dropping them). You adjust the side-to-side tension by lifting the cover, holding the hook in place, pull the cover over the side and let the hood reattach to the velcro. I really is very easy, but not easy to explain. You only have to adjust the hooks to keep side tension tight as the cover stretches a little (according to the manufacurer, maybe once or twice a year). At that point, you cinch the rope in the rear and you're done. Nice and tight, cover taut, no poles, no pooling and trailerable.

[qb12]

shoemaker, i am the one that was chatting with you over on wakeword.

i have been in contact with cory and he has been very good to deal with and his turn around time is excellent.

doug

[redmobius]

Shoemaker Mobius,

Are you sure you are correct in saying that Rankin does not use sunbrella material. I just ordered one from Rankin and when I ordered it they told me that they use sunbrella. There website also states that they use sunbrella fabrc.

I also asked about the warranty and they told me it was 5 years.

By the way your cover looks great! I hope mine looks that good.

I went with Rankin because of all the good things I have heard about them and when I emailed covercrafts they could not make a cover for my 99 mobius since they did not have a template.

dj

[qb12]

shoemaker, cory is going to go to a dealer their in his area and see if he can make one for my supra.

hope it comes thru.... :?

[Shoemaker Mobius]

redmobius,
I thought the Rankin people told me they did not use Sunbrella, but I may be mistaken. However, I am pretty sure they don't use as thick a gauge of Sunbrella that Covercrafts does. BTW, my cover comes with a 5 year Sunbrella guarantee against fading, mildew and rot; Covercrafts provides a 10 year warranty on the cover.

qb12,
Cory did the same thing for fitting my cover and it fits great. For my cover he measured a boat at the dealership twice. After the cover was finished, he went back to the dealership and put it on the boat to be absolutely sure it fit correctly.

I think my Moomba may have been the first non-Malibu boats Cory did. I think he did very well doing Malibus and now he's expanding out to other boats.

[qb12]

Cory, you have a pm...

[Shoemaker Mobius]

qb12 - I pm'ed you.

[qb12]

check again

[bamaspiveys]

the web address does not appear to be correct. Can you double check that or give me an alternate way to contact them?

[Shoemaker Mobius]

Covercrafts changed their name to Evolution Covers. The website address is

http://www.evolutioncovers.com