Semi-Custom Covers? Anyone have experience?

Hey guys -- I've got a 1987 Supra Saltare with a tower, so it's not realistic to find a truly "custom" fit cover. The quotes I've found locally to have one made are $1500 - $2000. I currently have a snap-on custom cover but it doesn't come down far enough and the top of my boat ends up getting sun-baked pretty bad.

I'm going to wet-sand and buff it this spring but want to make sure that the same thing won't happen all over again. So I need a cover. They make some "semi-custom" fit covers that are more generic fitting but have cut-outs for the tower. Like this: http://shop.monstertower.com/p-125-b...ith-tower.aspx

Anyone tried one of these and have any feedback? Does it stay somewhat water-tight around the tower legs? Will it stay tight enough to not let water pool all over it?

Any other suggestions appreciated..... Very frustrated as I was planning on having a custom cover designed and made -- it's just not financially feasible here!

2 grand for a cover is highway robbery.

I agree. The first guy I talked to quoted me $2800 with a straight face. I told him I thought that was completely unreasonable and he said.... "oh, wait... did I say $2800? I think I meant $2200." AND this was a guy working out of his garage!

Hope he buys you dinner & kisses you first.

This is a long shot, but try http://www.evolutioncovers.com. They are in the Seattle area & do a lot of Malibus. But maybe he's done an old Supra at some point too. Last deal I referred to him, a 20' boat with a tower, was $800 shipped. Their worth that & more in my experience. Mine is 5 yrs old, still in good shape & a trailerable at freeway speeds.

You could also pick up an off the shelf cover made specifically for your boat (Commercial Sewing, skiboatcovers.com, etc.), then bring the boat, tower & cover in to a local shop & have the new cover modified to fit around the tower legs. I've done this with factory Mastercraft covers & it cost me like $50 - $75 in the winter. Might be a bit more expensive now if their getting busy.

It seems like you can find a custom cover for $700 - $1000 in other parts of the country.... but I've checked with 3-4 shops in St. Paul/Minneapolis and they all pretty much laughed at that price. The main guy in my town told me $700 would barely get me a bow cover.

I looked into the Monster one and nobody, including Westland/GreatLakes who makes the cover for Monster, would guarantee the fit with anything other than a Monster tower. I was planning on using it with an Aerial tower which mounted quite differently than the Monster. So, I decided it's not worth the risk.

I currently have a plain Sharkskin Westland Exact Fit for my boat that fits very well accept for the tower legs. The problem is that the fabric is shot. It rips very easily and leaves gray stains everywhere that it rubs. I have no idea how old it is since it came with the boat.

My current plan is to get a new Westland Exact Fit for my boat then modify it for the tower legs. I experimented with cutting the old cover and it came out pretty decent. Didn't sew up the loose ends or anything but it worked out pretty well. I will do a couple of things slightly different with the new cover but now I have a template to cut the new one from.

Originally Posted by bill_airjunky

Hope he buys you dinner & kisses you first.

This is a long shot, but try http://www.evolutioncovers.com. They are in the Seattle area & do a lot of Malibus. But maybe he's done an old Supra at some point too. Last deal I referred to him, a 20' boat with a tower, was $800 shipped. Their worth that & more in my experience. Mine is 5 yrs old, still in good shape & a trailerable at freeway speeds.

You could also pick up an off the shelf cover made specifically for your boat (Commercial Sewing, skiboatcovers.com, etc.), then bring the boat, tower & cover in to a local shop & have the new cover modified to fit around the tower legs. I've done this with factory Mastercraft covers & it cost me like $50 - $75 in the winter. Might be a bit more expensive now if their getting busy.

I think you've solved my problem... First, skiboatcovers.com needs to hire a SEO firm to make them show up in google searches! Second, they now have an option to add custom tower cut-outs! HELLZ YAH!

Now I have a new question --> TOP GUN or SUNBRELLA?

The boat lives outside and is frequently covered while it's still wet. Should I go with Sunbrella as it breathes or go with Top Gun and add the pole vents?

Very cool, Robert.

I've only used Sunbrella. Breathes, reasonably waterproof, and doesn't fade.

In my experience poles can be a problem if you tow with the cover or have any chance of getting any snow or a lot of rain on it. If the cover pools up (and they all do at some point), the poles tend to punch thru & then you have a big problem. If you have to use a pole, spread the load across a big area so it won't just punch thru in one hole. Overtons & Skilimited have such a system that you can buy or even reverse engineer pretty easily.

Oh, one last tip, get a dark color. Keeps the bugs & spiders from ever wanting to live underneath it (because it gets so damn hot under it).

http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=367489

No ponding, no sun on the hull, can be put on in water or on dock and does not lift off.

this guy is somewhere up north...I have used him to add skirting to my exsiting cover...did a good job.

http://www.skiboatcovers.com/index.html

Evolution doesn't have any patterns to make a Saltare cover. I was considering skiboatcovers.com before going with a local shop to custom make a snap cover. I already have a generic/whatever that came with the boat that covers the full sides and works fine for when on the trailer. I can't believe $2000+ for a cover though, that's insane.

will be trying out monster towers new one. I will let you know. It is close in all measurements, so we will see. My boat, a 96 wellcraft has a narrower beam than most i/o's(90"). The "euro tournment" cover is only a 96" beam so we will try it.

I just had my existing cover modified with openings for the tower and zippers. I have done that twice and each time it was around $100 ata canvas shop.

Last custom cover I did for a customers Malibu VLX was right around 1k. Almost half of that was materials but it was two colors. Sunbrella is best if you ask me.