Boat cover ON or OFF?

[Bassaholic]

When you’re pulling your boat a significant distance(up north to a cottage), do you travel with the cover on or off?

[Disco]

Depends on what the cover is made for. A mooring cover often isn't suitable for towing and will rip.

I have towed with a trailer cover both on and off and it made no difference in fuel consumption but the cover does keep the boat cleaner.

[mykola]

What’s a boat cover?

[Goshawk]

I've driven back and forth several times to FL towing my boat. I only keep the cover on the boat each morning long enough to blow off the morning dew then put the cover in the back seat of the truck. I just get tired of having to adjust the cover after it getting blown around and out of place at 70MPH! The support poles under the cover aren't very stable for driving, but work great when parked to let the rain drain off. If I could figure out a way to keep the poles stable, I'd probably leave it on while driving down there.

[mephisto_lake]

I don't pull with covers on, one more thing to go wrong.

[fish hawk]

For very short trips ( Lake Simcoe) I don't use the canvas cover.

I have custom made boat cover ( Top Gun) material ( Secured by riveted all around ) and I use it on long road trips like going up Norther Ontario.
It is very good for several reasons!!

Keep the boat clean .
You don't worry about loosing anything from boat by the strong wind ( on windy days)
Gives you security ( accessional thief ) when you stop for bathroom break)
Better air flow around ( air dynamic)
Takes only 2-3 minutes to remove cover and fold it put it away.

[sabmgb]

covers are too expensive to take a chance of it ripping or some other damage. So it would have it in vehicle or tied down in boat with rods and net.

[sdcaller]

Always trailer with the cover on. Keeps the inside of the boat clean, stops things from blowing out and stops theives from seeing what is inside if I'm stopped somewhere.

SDC

[Andy14]

Cover. Every time. There's never a time my boat is completely empty. I don't want to get into all the reasons but the one main reason is the Ministry of Transportation

[naturefan]

I always order custom cover made from good quality Sunbrella Fabric for all my boats, it's good for highway,
but any cover should be used on highway without pols, that's manufacturer recommendation.

[reelinginthebigone]

If I put a cover on my boat when towing it, I'm confident it'd be paragliding behind me.

[fish hawk]

I keep my boat cover on 24/7 . Boat is parking on my driveway . The cover keeps the carpet clean!! No dust, no bird's crap, no tree leaves, and the boat is 22 years old and still ORIGINAL CARPET!! And the carpet looks like it would be 6-7 years old!
Having a good canvas cover is a small investment to protect the boat from the elements!
Buying new boats are EXPENSIVE nowadays!

[Longshank]

lol, I do the opposite cause i have a relatively inexpensive cover, so it's on in my driveway but comes off if i plan to fish with the boat the next day...I have a relatively short distance to trailer..say 50 k one way, so I get everything ready the night before


that includes putting the plug in

[markwang]

lithium has gotten a lot cheaper nowadays. can get decent ones on Amazon for about $300/100ah. I have some vanlifer friends get the cheap chinese ones for about $100/100ah, they went that route cause them needed 1000ahs in their vans.

[Collingwood Dean]

Boat coveron...ALWAYS...for all the forementioned reasons. Trailer my boat all over the place... never have had a problem...boat is nice and clean...batteries etc, never stolen.