Mooring covers

[DocPit]

Just got my first pontoon boat. It has a mooring cover. At our marina, I see most pontoons left w/o a cover unless the boat is not going to be used for some period of time. Is that OK? Does rain hurt a boat's upholstery? I suppose that theoretical "best practice" would be to remove/replace the mooring cover after each outing. In my case, I use the boat almost daily; so that would be a pain. I'm trying to figure our what "normal" good care would be. I do use 303 Protectant.

[steve1313]

It just depends what your standards are. If you have any birds that frequent your marina, cleaning up bird is no fun, and it can stain the seats and floor. My boat is three years old. Everybody says it looks brand new. It does. But it's lived its whole life in a covered boat slip and I use the playpen/mooring cover every single time. I've put 303 on the vinyl once a year, and I never have spent another moment cleaning any of my seats. My vinyl floor is light gray and I use deck cleaner and give it a good brush cleaning twice a year.

I can stand in my boat and put on the cover by myself in about 6 or 7 minutes, snapping every snap as I go, working from front to back, and then exiting through the back door. The only snaps I can't get from within the boar are the 5 or 6 along the very front, but it's easy to snap those while standing on the dock. Taking my cover off is a reverse. I unsnap the front snaps standing on the dock, then I stand just outside the back fence, unsnap the back snaps, enter through the back door and unsnap from side to side, back to front, kind of folding and rolling the cover as I go. In 3-4 minutes I've got the boat uncovered, and the cover sitting on the dock and I'm ready to roll.

For me, those extra 10-12 minutes I spend each time I use it are well worth it for having a boat that looks new all the time!

[jrolin1]

I cover mine when I am not using it the next day. Rain is not hard on it. The sun will destroy it though. 303 helps and I use it. But keeping the sun off the floor and seats is the key to a long life for your interior.

[BobL]

My boat stays on a covered lift at my camp. It stays in the water uncovered when we are there (2-3 days at a time). When it goes back on the lift, the cover goes on.

Is your marina slip covered?

If it is a pain in the butt to cover each day then you may want to look into furniture covers.

[DocPit]

Many thanks for the responses.

[steve1313]

My boat stays on a covered lift at my camp. It stays in the water uncovered when we are there (2-3 days at a time). When it goes back on the lift, the cover goes on.

Is your marina slip covered?

If it is a pain in the butt to cover each day then you may want to look into furniture covers.

My boat came with the furniture covers, too. I used them for the first few months, but I found them to be a bigger PIA than the mooring cover. My boat had 7 separate covers. It was always a pain to figure out the right orientation, and then snap everything down. I can put the mooring cover on quicker than I could do the furniture covers. And my floor stays clean, too!