Skeeter Boat Cover

Has anyone used their Skeeter boat cover to cover their boat while on the water overnight? Any tricks? We are headed north in a few days and the boat will be on the water for about 8 days. I almost always covered our old boat while it was on the water. I was thinking of tucking the straps that hook to the trailer under the cover and into the boat. Then I was going to try to use just the ratchet to keep the cover on the boat. Do you think this will work?

Thanks for any advice,

FDR

francisco4 wrote:

Has anyone used their Skeeter boat cover to cover their boat while on the water overnight? Any tricks? We are headed north in a few days and the boat will be on the water for about 8 days. I almost always covered our old boat while it was on the water. I was thinking of tucking the straps that hook to the trailer under the cover and into the boat. Then I was going to try to use just the ratchet to keep the cover on the boat. Do you think this will work?

Thanks for any advice,

FDR

I just used this exact method last week up on LOTW at Sunset. Having the rachet straps on each side versus below the waterline at the transom made getting the cover on tight very easy. As for the straps I just let them hang in the water. I just didn’t think the nylon webbing and plastic clips would be damaged by getting wet.

Thanks James. Just to be clear, did you run the ratchet strap in front of the motor to keep it above the water line?

FDR

i always cover the boat on our fall trips to keep the frost and dew off the seats. i cover it in the summer only if there’s heavy rain forecast overnight.

the new covers moved the ratchet so that there’s one on each side now instead of one in the back. it’s a better design and more user-friendly too.

for my last boat i had a cover with the ratchet on the back…i’d simply put it into place over the boat at the corners and bow and then just lay on the motor cowling to get the ratchet pulled snug in back. i didn’t worry about tightening it too much because the bumpers and cleat ropes needed to come out from under the cover on the dock side anyway.

Thanks for the clarification and tip lambeau.

FDR

Wait…what the rachet is on the side now?!!!

carver wrote:

Wait…what the rachet is on the side now?!!!

From the way I understood it. There were two ratchets. One on each side. May be they connect at the same location as the trailer ratchets.

FDR

francisco4 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Carver wrote:</div>
Wait…what the rachet is on the side now?!!!

From the way I understood it. There were two ratchets. One on each side. May be they connect at the same location as the trailer ratchets.

FDR

yeah, i really like the design.
it’s the familiar ratchet strap around the circumference of the boat. however, rather than running the strap across the back/motor, the strap ends at the corner of the transom on both sides with a hook that grabs onto the boat eyelets (the same ones where you connect the rear trailer straps). the strap runs forward on each side about 3′ to a come-along ratchet, which is accessed via a panel through the cover. from the come-along ratchet a strap runs around the bow of the boat to the other side where it ties into the other ratchet.
connecting the strap to the stern eyelets like this makes it easier to tighten, and having the ratchets on the side makes them much easier to use.

Interesting.

Does it appear that by simply replacing the strap, the old style cover can be updated?

Jack
1825 Owner in TN

yeah, i really like the design.
it’s the familiar ratchet strap around the circumference of the boat. however, rather than running the strap across the back/motor, the strap ends at the corner of the transom on both sides with a hook that grabs onto the boat eyelets (the same ones where you connect the rear trailer straps). the strap runs forward on each side about 3′ to a come-along ratchet, which is accessed via a panel through the cover. from the come-along ratchet a strap runs around the bow of the boat to the other side where it ties into the other ratchet.
connecting the strap to the stern eyelets like this makes it easier to tighten, and having the ratchets on the side makes them much easier to use.

I took this idea to a twin cities canvas shop a couple of years ago. After they got done laughing,they said it can’t be done.
I wanted to use my cover when the boat was on the lift.
Will be stopping at SBC to take a look.

Here’s some pics of the updated travel cover.

There’s a rachet on each side towards the rear of the boat hidden under a velcro flap for a clean look when trailering down the road.

Each strap has a hook that is secured to same point where a boater would attach transom tie down straps.

Having a rachet on each side allows for a tighter fit than was possible with a single ratchet at the rear of the boat and works great when you want to cover a boat overnight when it is moored at a dock.

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More pics…

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Here’s one of the full cover. Sorry for the hard shadows.

I do not think it would be possible to easily update a single ratchet cover to the new double ratchet design.

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