Fluid_Drive Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 Gday all i was wondering if its common practice to put some sort of sock type cover over the front of the hulls during transport. Trying to remove all the chips out of the leading edges of my hulls and would hate for a great big stone to chip the hull again. any ideas would be great alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard campbell Posted October 12, 2010 Report Share Posted October 12, 2010 Hi Alex, How handy is your wife,girlfriend,partner,mum. I have brought some material from spotlight or the like and made them ourselves, The only cost is the material and a few hours of time. I have also seen cloth surfboard covers used also Just a thought Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2010 Thanks richard. just a question what sort of fabric do you use? is it a stretch type? and do you put any type of padding to reduce the liklihood of stones doing damage? cheers alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard campbell Posted October 13, 2010 Report Share Posted October 13, 2010 Hi Alex I was lucky enough to have some light weight canvas that i used. I have used for other bow covers stretchy material. It was OK until it got wet then it way too loose. I have never put any padding in. I have also used some pre-padded material (like the material that they used to cover table tops with) And i try to make them fairly firm in fitting. Hopefully this will help Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coremeister 2 Posted October 13, 2010 Report Share Posted October 13, 2010 Over the years I have tried most types of bow covers for trailering with the following thoughts. Vinyl covers on a 5.8 Nacra - really good at keeping the bows clean on longer trips, not much protection from stones and very difficult to get on if they havn't been in the sun to soften them up a bit (these ones covered the boat back to the front beam), don,t leave them on to long in the sun as the boat will sweat in them and change colour. Bubble Wrap on 16sq Nacra - when I bought my 1st 16 it was in Canberra, to trailer it back to Brisbane we wrapped the front of the boat in bubble wrap. Was a reasonable "emergency" soultion for a 1 of trip. Once you get over the strange sound of the bubbles popping for the first few km's it does'nt work to bad, no good at keeping the boat clean as water will make its way through the wrappings and its a real pain keeping it wrapped tight around a tappered shape even with the use of tape. Soft Stretchy type material - had these on that same 16sq after it got back to Brisbane, cheap to make and easy to fit, mine covered the boat all the way back to the front beam, easy to throw in the washing machine when the get dirty, can be left on for long periods as the material will breath. No good at keeping the boat clean as road water will make its way through very quickly, no good a protecting from stone impacts as they are very thin, when the get wet they will hang limply from the boat (looks shocking) and will move around in the wind behind the car. Padded Vinyl fiited covers - this is what I use on my current 16sq, they are easily the best that I have used to date, the upsides are that they protect the front of the boat from road water and grime (they don't let water through so the boat stays clean), being padded they protect it from stone chips, being tighlty fitted they dont move around on the boat while towing (I have a small string tie to the forstay tang to keep them in position). They are quite easy to keep clean as you can hose them and wash them with detegent, if the inside gets dirty you can turn them inside out wash them and let them dry. The down side is they are more costly to buy, you cant leave them on to long or the boat sweats under them, they are a bit tight to put on when they havn't been left in the sun for a while but are really easy to put on if they have been left in the sun for a while, they only cover the boat back to the forestay tangs, this doesn't seem to be a big problem as most of the stones try to attack the very front of the boat or the first couple of feet on the under side. The ones that are on my boat are actually from a 5.2 Nacra but as they share the same bow shape as a 16sq they fit really well. To get set made you would probably have to take the boat to a vehicle trimmer (maybe a sailmaker but the type of material is a long way from what they are used to), I would try a truck trimmer as they would be experienced in this type of material. Hope this helps Corey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluid_Drive Posted October 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Thankyou very much both of you, will see how eagre some of the family feel about helping make a set of covers, thinking of putting something like poloflece to absorb some of the shocks. will post some pics up of what i come up with cheers alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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