Choosing Your Boat Cover Fabrics

Owning a boat is a great investment. For this reason, you want to prolong and protect the value of your boat, maintaining its condition for the happiness and pride it offers. Winter is approaching, which means that you will have to put your boat away. It is therefore essential to find the best location for storing your boat during the boating off-season. While there are many boating storage options with varying sets of pros and cons on efficiency, price, and security, there is one more thing you will have to consider: boat covers. These are important especially for boats stored outside. For this reason, choosing the right fabrics is essential. To help you, here are three choices that may work for you:

Polyester

Polyester fabrics are among the strongest materials that will offer you the greatest outdoor durability compared to other fabrics. Sometimes, premium polyester covers will come with a unique coating of urethane or acrylic to add waterproofing as well as durability. With its outstanding abrasion resistance and tear strength, polyester will make the best cover for towing. Polyester is not only as durable as some fabrics that are even twice its weight, but it is also highly water repellent.  In addition, it is stain, UV, mildew, and rot resistant, making it an excellent choice for long exposure to rain and sun. Besides, it does not stretch or shrink like other comparable fabrics. Nonetheless, polyester fabrics are not breathable and may not be ideal for humid areas.

Cotton Canvas

These types of boat covers may be the least expensive. Nonetheless, they will offer an all-round protection for your boat, particularly in mild climates because cotton is a highly breathable natural fibre. However, it is not completely waterproof, although some types such as marine-grade cotton may be treated to produce an excellent water repellent, as well as rot and mildew resistant, fabric. It is an ideal choice if you want to combine air permeability and strength. Adding tie-down straps on cotton canvas makes them suitable for highway towing, and if you have a choice of weave as well, duck canvas will have tighter weaves, making it more durable.

Poly Cotton

This type is often a blend of both polyester and cotton fabrics to get the best features of each. This is done by combining water repellence and strength of polyester with breathability of canvas. Poly cotton would work best for you if you're compromising between performance and budget.

For more tips on preparing your boat for the winter, you may want to contact a local boat storage facility. 


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