A question around towing with the cover on

[rkluck]

I bought a new cover last year and it came with the anti-pooling pools. I never had those before and they are great. My question is when towing with the cover do you keep the anti-pool poles up or not?

 

[Speedling]

Not supposed to.
I have done it with no ill effect.
What ended up destroying mine was not having it tied to the middle cleats because I needed the extra slack to go around my new tower mounts. This created an extra bubble on the back of the boat which whipped around and split it open really quickly.
Time for a new cover for me!

 

[bronze_10]

If u are just moving on back roads it's prob fine... I leave mine in for that but I am towing on the highway a faster speeds then I take them out

 

[Julian]

Most of the covers I've seen have a tag near the wratchet that provides instructions. The older boats for sure say to take the poles out for highway towing....assume that holds true for the new models too....

 

[MrMoose]

I'm going to call Yamaha on this regarding my 2015 AR240. Mine was delivered (with 2 hrs of highway driving) by the dealer with the poles in place. When I asked the dealer about whether I should tow with the poles installed, he said "That's how we receive them from Yamaha, so that's how we deliver them." My shipping cover split open (seam just in front of the windshield) at about 1800-2000 miles of highway speeds with the poles in. Its hard to say whether this matters in any way because it was just the shipping cover, not the mooring cover.

 

[dan144k]

I have always towed with the poles installed and the cover very tight. Both shipping and the mooring cover.

I think I have the directions form yamaha which came with the cover, I will find and post a scan on sunday or monday.

 

[octavio3311]

I have always towed with the poles installed and the cover very tight. Both shipping and the mooring cover.

Same here.

 

[Speedling]

Hey, what about the snap on covers? Those to be towed with or no?

 

[Ronnie]

I'm pretty sure that the instructions say take the poles out. The vac u seal system (vents on the top) is supposed to suck the cover down into the cockpit under way which keeps it from buffeting and eventually stretching and tearing. If you tow with the poles in the vac u seal system still does its job but tends to stretch the cover out/leaving high spots where the poles are. Theses high spots eventually and prematurely get weak / thin and tear. Just my observation, I've been through a few covers (shipping and mooring, all of them costly enough to maintain / extend the lives of) now over over four jet boats, two of them Yamaha's.

 

[Bill D]

For what it's worth, here's the doc from my new Premium Cover (the black one). It doesn't mention anything about towing with the poles out, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that somewhere before too...

 

[rkluck]

Thanks for al the responses. I am towing on the highway about 2 hours. In the past I didn't have poles so of course I never thought about it and never had a problem. I was worried if I had the poles it that the cover would end up with extra wind resistance especially in the front which may rip the cover. I may stick with no poles since I know I have done this without issues in the past.

 

[KXCam22]

I always tow with the poles in, the covers are pretty tough. The only thing that has destroyed the cover is sitting in the weather for 7 years. Mine just died last fall while towing, 140kmh forward with a 100kmh side gust. It was pretty thin and sun damaged anyway and we did expect it to die soon. Cam.

 

[Jackew]

Poles in for my boat

 

[subysti]

I tow every weekend and always keep the poles in.

 

[rkluck]

Thanks everyone!

 

[njmr2fan]

I towed 700 miles with the poles in with no ill effects. With that said, I now have an extra large beach ball that I wedge in the bow seating area to provide a larger surface area to hold the cover up from wind pressure.

 

[Ronnie]

For clarification - Towing with the poles in does not usually cause an immediate problem, it causes the cover to stretch over time where the poles are. Those are the areas that failed first when I used to tow with the poles in, I think this puts additional strain on the seams of the cover as well. If you have ever seen what the cover is doing while it is installed (I.e., sucking down into the cockpit and bow) while the boat is being towed at freeway speeds you should know what I mean. For me, all covers are sacrificial so they will all need to be replaced sooner or later but at $250 for a shipping cover , if you can find one for sale, or $500 to $750 for an oem mooring cover I try and do my best to make each cover last as long as possible which means towing with the poles out imho.

 

[BobJohnson]

i really like the large beach ball idea in the bow to support the cover. I am going to have to pick one up before I go get my baby out of storage.

 

[rkluck]

Yes the cover is expensive so I want it to last as well. I think am going pole less as I have before. Thanks for all the info.

 

[Wayloncle]

When I bought my boat the previous owner put the shipping cover on for me to travel home, about 4-5 hour drive, he told me to leave the poles up, when I got home the front pole was bent and broken in half. It was bent from the start I'm pretty sure.
When I moved from FL to TX I put a big beach ball in the bow, I liked how that seemed to support it on the drive.



Just put the ball in before you put the cover on....it's not easy to squeeze it through the passway. Under the cover. In August. In FL. I used my sweat to lube the sides to push it through