I think naugahyde is way overkill, and I still think it is important to have it breathe some

What's wrong with Sunbrella?

Other than the price it's great. Mine is going on three years with no signs of deterioration.

Sunbrella works great, though it obviously won't be as durable as naugahyde (which i think is vinyl). I use something called weathermax which I got off e-bay (was labelled on e-bay as Surlast, which it clearly isn't) and it works well also even though it is lighter than sunbrella. You do have to pick the correct color sunbrella though. Seems as though none of the colors really work as well as their standard pacific blue in terms of showing dirt, etc

We got 11 years out of Sunbrella cover on our SeaRay. Reordered new cover from Great Lakes, the original mfgr. Great service, they made the covers for SeaRay, had the records, and made an identical copy.

I get 3-4 years out of Sunbrella and getting ready to order some when I saw the same yellow Naugahyde used for my rudder covers on eBay for $5/yd. I figured at that price it was worth an experiment.

Years ago somebody made black Naugahyde Hobie 16 covers for trailering. They seemed to last forever and nobody mentioned a mildew problem. One person mentioned, they dried the hulls out nicely. Then again, in the direct summer sun here, they were too hot to touch.

Conversation inspired me to go to the lake and check the Blue Tarp on the H14. I painstakingly added extra grommets, made a little tent over the tramp with two scraps sticks of pvc conduit (mast/s hang in garage), tied it off way low between the hulls so the snow would slide off. Been bitterly cold, plenty of snow, hadn't checked on it in over a month...it's TOAST, ripped right down the seam.

I bought a tramp cover that was touted to be "as good as" sunbrella...looked just like it. It disintegrated in three years, $50/year mistake

Remember the Billboard vinyl thread? Got my Vespa scooter sign for free. Made a cover for the H20, worked great, heavy material with UV coating on lettering side, bugger to put on and off.
IIRC that full size Billboard weighed 120 to 160 pounds, took two of us to load in my trunk.
Have half the billboard left, time to dig it out and make individual hull and tramp covers this time.

For me it is the cost/work/longevity ratio ....

I stopped using the "blue poly" tarps since I thought they just look "hokie" when I cover my H18Mag on it's trailer in the back yard (w/ the wings folded up)... so I've been using either brown or silver tarps. I get 3-4 years out of a tarp .... I use 3/8" bungie or doubled 3/16" bungie (old trap bungies) to hold the tarp in place.

The tarps cost approx $25/ea .... and the re-used "old trap bungies" are free since I include those in the cost (in my mind) in my racing budget of boat parts/maintenance.

For my P19 I have from Murrey's a Nitryl Polyvinyl Cover ... and that cover has lasted 6-8yrs so far and is still going strong .... except this year it has snowed before I got my lazy procrastinating butt in gear to put it on the boat for the winter after I brought the P19 home from the YC in December. The cover for the P19 is used all year long most years .... as I haven't been sailing her too much in recent years since I haven't been doing any open class handicapped "distance races" (ie: point to point) which is what I used her for the most. (But last year she sat down at the YC w/ the "mast up" all summer after the "Down the River Race" ....) So we'll have see just how much longer the Nitryl Cover lasts .....

So we'll have to see how these covers comparitively cost out ...

I would like to get a custom boat cover for my TheMightyHobie18 ... but the cost-benefit ratio seems to lean to the cheap tarp and I haven't found a manufacture of a sunbrella custom boat cover that doesn't cost lots of $$$$$.

Harry
H18Mag/P19MX

How many poor Nauga's have to die for your precious cover? Nauga's have made a strong comeback in the wild, since fine Corinthian leather is now being used in most automobiles. This onset of Naugahyde boat covers may set the recovery back many, many years. Oh the humanity!!!!

per the Naugahyde website

Q: With all the cruelty in the world, how can you kill those cute little Naugas just for their hydes?
A: We don't. Naugas shed their hydes without harm to themselves, making Naugahyde the Cruelty-Free Fabric. For more information and pictures about Naugas, their history and their habits, read the Nauga Story

No animals are harmed ......

Just like those Hats and Neck Warmers I have for sking with, made of "Turtle Fur" ....

Harry

and my fox coat. and alligator boots

pimps gotta have 'em

So long as you've got goldfish in the heals, It's okay.

haha

holy crap, you saw that movie too? I thought I was the only one.... Go Fly Guy!

Fly Guy Movie?

I haven't seen the movie,

But I've read the book. So have my sons. ;-)

bzzz!!

Pimpin ain't easy...

Now ... don't you be pickin' on my Lucchese real Texa-ican boots made from "Gater" hide !!!!!!

Harry