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Airboat Covers

Ron Miller

Ron Miller

Well-known member
Glad to hear everyone is ok after last nights storms..
Dose anyone make complete airboat covers for when we are going down the road???
1st I think it would help the gas mileage by reducing the wind resistance.
2nd Up here in Mich. with the salt and slush on our roads a cover would help me find our boat when I get ware I'm going.
 
Ron we offer custom boat covers but we only sell them at the time of ordering your boat. Due to the fact that we build it in place for a custom fit. On the intial shipment we can also shrink wrap the entire boat.
Most covers are designed for storage but it can have numerous straps added when building the cusotom cover to be able to use it for transit use.
However, they are not cheap either! I think they range from $800 cage cover to $2,000+ entire boat cover. I tell my customers if you can dream of it, we can build it!
 
Ron, I priced having one like that made a while back ....... they're expensive.
The 'towing' part seems to be the trick, something tough enough to take the wind from hauling it. A guy who runs a shop here at home offered to make me a cover for $1200.

If you come up with something let me know. I agree that it's a great idea. olf
 
Hey Ron, I put a full mooring cover on my boat and a full length bimini and it was pretty pricey. I have an 18 footer, when I asked about trailering with the cover on the guy just laughed. He said it would not work due to the airboat design, nor would he want to try a pull it down the highway with all that drag. Just passing along what he said.
 
My boat is 14' long, so just sitting around here a 12'X16' tarp from Home depot, plus a couple of bungies and a couple of tyraps does a pretty good job.

I've wondered if you couldn't make a simple framework out of 1/2" PVC that would sit inside the boat and be enough support for that tarp if you laced it pretty well all along the edges with a piece of clothesline ..... :?: . Might try it. olf
 
i have found that a way to get some gas mileage increase while pulling an airboat with a truck, is to put a camper shell on tha bed, it helps direct tha wind over tha boat alot better
 
Thank you all for the information . I was hoping someone had road covers for sale --- But now I have another thing on my list to develop.. It will only take some aerodynamic design and simplicity for easy on and off. Plus to keep it in a reasonable price range so the gas savings will pay for it in one or two years... Not to mention the time saved in keeping the boat clean from road dirt. This is another reason I love airboating their are so many things we need for our airboats and they have not yet been developed.
 
Well, due to a painful experience, don't use sunbrella for your road cover---its a static product, and the moment it starts to move and rub, it has a hole in it. For a product that will be flappin in the wind at 70mph, you need to try something else. And when you find one that is easy on and off, I will buy one---it just isnt possible with all the weird gizmos on our boats like steering sticks, antennas, lights, grass rakes, rudders, etc. Charles
 
When the weather gets a little warmer I might play around with this some.
I'm thinking that with a tarp it might be best to allow some air in at the bow of the boat, rather than try to cover the bow.
That would sort of inflate the cover and give it shape, but because of the wedge shape of an airboat from the bow back to the top of the cage, it should deflect a lot more air (and bugs and rain) above it.

The size of the opening at the bow would control how effective it is I think.

We'll see ........ :? . olf
 
"Top Gun" is much heavier than Sunbrella. It still needs to be re-enforced any where it touches something even remotely sharp.

jim
 
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