What is a semi custom boat cover?

[zeke67]

The admiral acquired a 1982 Lund S-16 Deluxe from her father. It has a snap on cover supported by two battens. The cover is in bad shape and needs to be replaced. We need something that can be left on the boat while it is tied to the dock at the summer cabin. The cover needs to stay in place and be able to keep most-to-all of the rain water out for about a month at a time. What she is finding are semi fit covers that have elastic hems and a pocket for a support pole. Can snaps be added to these? Will they be able to be tight enough? Can the support pole be sufficient to shed water if the cover can't be made tight enough to rest on the battens? Or, are we looking at a custom made cover?

 

[smokeonthewater]

A "semi-custom" cover is a cover that isn't custom at all....

If you want something like your old cover you need to find an upholstery shop and have one made for your boat.

 

[airshot]

I will second that last post, nothing is going to work like you are looking for except a custom fit cover from a quality boat cover shop. Anything already made is just a temporary cover, with that said....can you turn that into a custom cover? Maybe.....but is all the work necessary to make a poor cover into a good cover really worth it? Probably not.... bite the bullet and get a "good" custom fit cover...in the long run you won't be sorry.

 

[oldjeep]

One that sorta fits based on length. You should be able to get whatever the factory cover was for your Lund without having to go through the hassle of taking the boat in some place for a custom job. For example my factory Malibu cover is made by Commercial Sewing, if I need a new one I can just order it and have the same perfect factory fit of the original.

 

[zeke67]

Thanks Smoke, we've looked up covers on these search engines that take you to year, make, model, etc. But then results look pretty generic. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

Airshot, Thanks for the info. I have no issue "biting the bullet" so to say. I'm in Houston, the boat is in Chicago and it needs to go to Minnesota. Not easy to coordinate all this from a distance as you can imagine. No issue at all with getting the right cover from a cost or quality perspective. If I could make the semi-custom into a custom with a little work that'd be great. Your answer confirms that while technically it's possible, it's not feasible. Precisely the perspective I need as I don't have any experience in this area.

Oldjeep, good insight. So far, haven't been able to locate on the web a place to get a thirty year old factory fit cover. Not even sure what's on there now is a factory cover. Because the snaps are the only thing on the hull not painted.

Thanks all. more comments are welcome.

 

[JASinIL2006]

If you still have the old cover, even if it's in tough shape, I think that would give a fabric shop a place to start...

 

[oldjeep]

Thanks Smoke, we've looked up covers on these search engines that take you to year, make, model, etc. But then results look pretty generic. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

Airshot, Thanks for the info. I have no issue "biting the bullet" so to say. I'm in Houston, the boat is in Chicago and it needs to go to Minnesota. Not easy to coordinate all this from a distance as you can imagine. No issue at all with getting the right cover from a cost or quality perspective. If I could make the semi-custom into a custom with a little work that'd be great. Your answer confirms that while technically it's possible, it's not feasible. Precisely the perspective I need as I don't have any experience in this area.

Oldjeep, good insight. So far, haven't been able to locate on the web a place to get a thirty year old factory fit cover. Not even sure what's on there now is a factory cover. Because the snaps are the only thing on the hull not painted.

Thanks all. more comments are welcome.

If it has snaps then chances are pretty good that it wasn't factory. JASinIL2006 makes a good point, if you have the original cover then a shop could just make you a new one using that as the template.

I assume that you are not trying to tow the boat from Chicago to MN with a cover on. I'd just remove anything that can fly out and tow it uncovered as long as it isn't raining so that the upholstery gets all full of wet road crap.

 

[bruceb58]

If you still have the old cover, even if it's in tough shape, I think that would give a fabric shop a place to start...

A shop will never make a cover off an old cover. If they do, they won't guarantee it to fit correctly.

I make boat covers and I have never used an old cover for a pattern. When I re do my current boat cover, I won't even use it and I made that one!

 

[zeke67]

Thanks all.

 

[airshot]

Forgotten about making a new cover from an old one, have had that done on a couple occasions. Now the new cover is not guaranteed to fit like the old one however the guy that made it told me to use adjustable bows so the tension could be adjusted in case the fit was not quite right. In both cases it worked well, they did not fit quite as well as a custom fit but I was able to make up for the slack with adjustable bows and believe it or not all the snaps lined up!! Just a thought for you.