You spent thousands of dollars on your boat; make it last by protecting it from the elements when you are not using it. Our 18 oz heavy duty vinyl tarps will ensure that your boat stays clean and dry while protecting it from harmful UV rays. Whatever the size of your boat, we can cover it. Reinforced with nylon and polyester webbing (seat belt material) our vinyl tarps provide the superior protection that you need for your boat. The cost of a good tarp will be more than offset by savings in maintenance costs and increased life expectancy for your boat. Tarps also make great Boathouse Curtains.
When ordering a boat cover, you will need to decide whether you want a "fitted cover" or just a rectangular cover that you can tie over your boat (like the one shown above). In order for us to make a fitted cover you will need to provide very detailed drawings to ensure that it is sized correctly. You will need to decide whether and where you need cut-outs or special contours to accommodate the profile of your boat.
Some people pay hundreds of dollars to have their boat shrink wrapped for the winter. Not only is this terrible for the environment it is also a waste of money since you need to have this done year after year. This also doesn't offer a solution for keeping your boat dry and out of the sun during the boating season.
In terms of the cost, your most economical option is to order a flat rectangular tarp that is large enough to drape over your boat to protect at least the deck area. You may need to place something under the tarp to elevate the center to promote rainwater run off so be sure to account for this when sizing your tarp. The white tarp shown above is an example of a rectangular tarp that covers much of the hull. One of the problems with using a rectangular tarp is that you often end up with too much material near the bow of the boat so you have to do a lot of folding to gather this excess tarp material. To avoid this issue, we can shape the tarp to have and oval or pointed end that follows the contour of your boat's bow. The brown tarp pictured here is an example of this. Although the creases in the material show that some folding was required, it was much less than if a rectangular tarp was used. The third option is to have us make a 3-dimensional tarp that is fitted for your craft, such as the black tarp shown above. This is most expensive option and, in many cases, we can't even make such a tarp without having your boat on site.
Usually, option two is the best compromise for ordering a tarp that works well and looks nice for most of our customers. That is, you order a 2-dimensional (flat) tarp that roughly matches the shape of your boat so that it can be draped over to protect the deck and much of the sides. Sometimes it may be helpful for you to purchase an inexpensive poly tarp (or even duct tape some old tarps or plastic sheeting together) so that you can drape this over your boat and then cut into the desired shape to form a template that you can then measure to create a diagram that we can use to make a heavy duty cover.
Sometimes you may need to add sealable slits to wrap around obstacles on the hull. If you take a look at the first boat cover on this page you will see that the tarp had to stop short of covering the bow and aft portions of the hull since these areas have chrome railings. One option for dealing with this is to have us cut slits into the tarp to wrap around such obstructions. We can also add Velcro on either side of the slit to seal the tarp onto itself to reduce leakage. The grey section pictured here shows an example of this.
Whether you have a large yacht or a small canoe, we can make a tarp that is just right for you.
Overview
Here we show a custom cover made for a G3 fishing boat. Grommets were added along the center of the cover in order to support poles to elevate the middle of the tarp to facilitate rainwater runoff. We added a pull strap around the perimeter of the tarp so that the sides can be drawn in tightly from the rear of the tarp where the straps terminate.