What is the fabric on my cover called?

[jperry]

Hi all. Quick ? Bought my nautique from Ron's marine in Ohio a whopping 14 yrs ago (had it transported to me here in WA). When I got it, it had a sweet cover on it which lasted until now (boat sits covered on a non canopy lift from 'bout April to sept and in the garage in the off months). I know it's not sunbrella-this is lighter and had kind of a rubberized coating on the exposed side. I've read that sunbrella is the best, but this one lasted the whole time before the coating wore off and tears started to occur (this one has vents, holes for 2 poles, and also snaps that attached the cover to the underside of the rub rail around the boat-weird but worked great) so would like to stay w/it. No labels anywhere on it either-so any ideas what fabric it's made of? Thanx for any ideas!
Jp

[CMW]

sharkskin???

[jperry]

thanks jason-that is kind of what i was thinking after reading various descriptions about it, but i have never seen sharkskin in person so i'm not 100% sure (all the covers i have seen here in the PNW have been sunbrella). i do know that mine has (or used to have!) a really rubbery coating on the exterior surface. since my lift doesn't have a canopy, i really liked the waterproof aspect and it was pretty light/easy to throw on for sure.

[TRBenj]

Your cover must have been pretty well made to last this long. In order to get that sort of longevity out of another cover, you should be more concerned about who made it than the material.

FYI, sunbrella would have lasted at least as long under the same conditions- probably longer. As far as I know, the original sunbrella cover is still being used on my dad's former '92. The new owner had it restitched in 2004 or 2005 and it still looked brand new. Same usage as yours- lift stored (no canopy) all summer, garage all winter.

Sunbrella wont require the vents your old cover did (the material itself breathes) and is actually among the lightest materials out there. Its very comparable to the single layer poly and poly blend covers (sharkskin included) in terms of weight. Cotton/canvas and the 2-layer covers are heavier. I have had one sharkskin cover and it worked well for a few years... then it started absorbing water instead of shedding it, and no amount of re-waterproofing has been able to change that. Sunbrella on the other hand, just keeps going and going and going... its really the only way to go if youre looking for a high quality cover that lasts.

[shag]

I 2nd. the Sunbrella material.... Always have had good luck with Sunbrella covers.

[bscott]

My experience with sharkskin was that the color rubbed off on any upholstery that it touched and it didn't breathe very well.

[jperry]

crappo-may not be sharkskin as I didn't have any color bleed-but mine was gray though. On the underside of the cover, the white cottony/thready material is visible, and it is like they coated that with a rubbery stuff for the exterior. I know that the sunbrella material is the primo choice by far! Just trying to save some $$$ if the material mine was made of would be cheaper (even tried to google search rons marine in ohio, but looks like they are no more!)

[ski4evr]

Being up there in WA, you might want to check out http://www.cover-sports.com/index.html. There have been some negative press on here, but mine is the best engineered piece of work I have ever seen. It needs no tie downs at 80mph, needs no poles for support, goes on in 5 min, and is very light. I had a "sharkskin" type of cover before, and the color bled onto some of the upholstery. They are not cheap, but again, is one very impressive cover. I believe these guys are in WA. You can search them on this site. That's how I found them.

[Mikeski]

I did not like my Sharkskin cover, it would sweat on the inside and get moldy. I doubt it's sharkskin as I could not see it lasting that long. I have 3 boat cover's now for my 2 boats. I have 2 sunbrella covers for the 211, one of them is a Rankin the predecessor to Coversports. I also have a full side cover as well for the 211 that works well for storage outside. On the ski boat I didn't want to spend the big bucks so I bought a different cover made of Sun-Dura from Carver and it is very nice for what I paid.

[BigJohnson]

I have a 1999 that came from Ron's also, like you have already said they are out of business. My cover sounds just like yours 2 vents, 2 poles, and no name or tag at all. You may have some luck if you call Boat House Marine at Tri Lakes some of Ron's old employees work there now. Good luck

[hondaprlud]

jperry, call Chris @ Boat House Marine. 330-325-1822 he'll be able to tell you. I bought my 96 Sport from Ron in 99 and it had a sunbrella cover that I had to replace in 06ish. Chris replaced it with the cover you're describing.

[jperry]

sweet! thanks tons-i'll give chris a call today

[jperry]

Thanks hondaprlud-Got in touch with chris-he was great! Said the material was "Aquaknot". Even told me where they had them made at-I guess Tumacs in Pittsburg did them all. Since mine lasted 14 years, I cant see a reason to switch now (he chuckled when I told him I bought a boat at rons marine-heard him say he worked over 20 years there I think!)

[hondaprlud]

Good to hear! Chris, James and the crew at BHM are great to work with.