Picking the boat (Ar192) up Tuesday, towing question

[Englewoodcowboy]

My experience with the towing question. I trailered my 192 from TN to Ft. Lauderdale for Bimini with the trailer down (bugs, drag, fuel mileage, low bridges, trees, etc were my concerns) and one of the aluminum brackets broke in half at some point during the trip down. I do have tower speakers which add more weight to the tower and thus the brackets had more weight to support than they were designed for I guess.

I have always trailered it with the tower up from my house to the lake, about 45 minutes on the interstate. So now this will be my plan regardless of the distance.

Shipping cover on, poles down

Thats what I was afraid of when I was trailering mine home. The brackets shake quite a bit as I watched in the rear view mirror. The easy solution I saw would be to have some gussets welded to the brackets but I had to flex mine just to install them. 2" wide easy off masking tape is a lot easier I think. My biggest concern is the powder coating getting chipped by a rock or something on a long trip. I too plan on adding speakers like yours. My Aerial racks are on their way to me already, hoping I can mount them to the arched support bars though I do like how you mounted yours as well but the ones I have coming are a quick release mount. I got both shipped for $230.00 off of eBay if anyone is thinking about it. That is 1/4 the price of the yamaha brands and 2 for less than the price of one shipped during regular season and they only have a few left... plus they will hold a wake board and a surf board.

I wonder how much a zippered boot for the tower would cost to have made and if any would be interested in buying one if I had some made... I think I would have it made big enough to cover the tower with the bimini top folded and attached. Would make keeping things clean real easy on trips and quick install.

 

[CFD3Captain]

Home safe and sound!! Love this thing and I haven't even put in water yet. Oh yea I was wrong. 4.2 hours lol. I had on water earlier because I needed a pic of engine serial numer. Couldn't get one of the cover screws out.

 

[Englewoodcowboy]

So you ran it to heat it up to loosen the screw... nice! Let the mods begin!

 

[Matt Phillips]

One suggestion on that bimini cover: get some small bungee cords and wrap them around the edges. Also, get some safety pins and tack the zippers in the closed position to the bimini cover.

I didn't do this on my boat when I took delivery of it in LA. Got up over the grapevine to check out how it was doing and a zipper had worked itself loose and was a flapping in the wind (luckily not for long). Now they always get tacked down.

1 of the 4 zippers on my bimini cover was toast and the second one was 1/2 way unzipped. Luckily there was no damage to the bimino cover and the local taylor shop put in a new plastic zipper for about $15. Way cheaper than a boat top shop.

 

[CFD3Captain]

Not to create a debate, but the shipping cover was designed to tow with anti-pooling poles in when towing, as well as the Premium Mooring/Trailering cover. The previous Deluxe Mooring/Trailering cover was designed to be towed with poles NOT installed. And yes, always tow with the tower in the upright and locked position, but watch out for low bridges and overhanging limbs. If your cover is black and has side caps over the cleats, you have the Premium Mooring/Trailering cover. Congrats on the boat and good luck on the long haul!

@txav8r I just installed the Mooring cover and I don't think its the newest style cover. It is different than what I had before, but only that the vents are up on top of the by the windshield and the ratchets are on the sides. There are no caps over the cleats. They are open like the old covers.

So.....pulls in or out when towing with this cover? I can get a pic in the morning if you like.

 

[txav8r]

Get a picture, but look at the tags and read them too. I don't know for sure with the differences you describe, but the 190/192 covers may be different than the 210/212/240/242 covers. I think the new premium cover moved the side vents to the top and caps or covers over the cleats. So you may have a deluxe instead of premium. But the tag on it, or in your paperwork that came with the boat, they may have a care sheet for the cover that includes those instructions. If you find definitive info, post it up!

 

[CFD3Captain]

I did a little research (all on Yamaha's website) and it appears they have two covers available still for the 190 series boats. There is a premium mooring cover which is what I have and there is the deluxe premium mooring cover. The deluxe has the zippered covers over the cleats and is an upgraded design etc.... The premium is similar to the old covers except the vents and ratchets are moved. I could not find anything about towing with the poles in or out. The paper that comes with the cover doesn't say one way or the other, it just says how to install them.

I pulled it about 45 min to the lake yesterday with the poles out and it seemed fine. Not sure if this is right or not.

 

[GiddYupJoe]

I did a little research (all on Yamaha's website) and it appears they have two covers available still for the 190 series boats. There is a premium mooring cover which is what I have and there is the deluxe premium mooring cover. The deluxe has the zippered covers over the cleats and is an upgraded design etc.... The premium is similar to the old covers except the vents and ratchets are moved. I could not find anything about towing with the poles in or out. The paper that comes with the cover doesn't say one way or the other, it just says how to install them.

I pulled it about 45 min to the lake yesterday with the poles out and it seemed fine. Not sure if this is right or not.

From what I know the factory covers are designed to suck down and tighten around the boat when towing. If you look at the bow when you are trailering you will see the cover sucking down around the sweats and creates a big bowl effect. That all neon said, if you leave the poles in it will create added stress to the cover. This was the way that it was explained to me. Never had an issue.