Carver or Fisher boat cover experience?

[JAdams1]

Hi All,

Just purchased a 2007 Tournament 205 and looking for a cover. I live in snow country (RI) and boat and will be stored outdoors on a trailer. I am looking at Carver and Fisher covers. The Fisher covers are externally suspended by (3) 2x4's while the Carver one requires an under cover pole/support system. In addition to providing winter storage, I will also use the cover in the summer to keep the boat clean. Any recommendations and experience you can share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[TUNAHUNTER197]

I purchased my boat cover from Boatcoversdirect.com 2 years ago. I think it may be a Carver. Not custom at all but fit nicely and does it's job to protect the boat. Easy to take off and put on by myself. Don't have snow problems in California, sorry can't comment on that.

 

[drbatts]

I have used both fisher and carver covers on previous boats. We are in CT so probably have similar winters to you. The cover goes on in December and comes off in march. The fisher is definitely a heavy duty cover compared to the carver. That being said I have used a carver cover for my last and current gradys, both expresses. I got 9 seasons out of my last carver cover and sold the boat with the cover. On both boats I needed to run supports from the hardtop to the bow, to support the front of the cover. I made these out of a combination of 2x4 and 1x4's and just reused the same supports every year. The slope was pretty significant from the back of the hardtop to the engines so I have never needed to support it. I will get some snow accumulating on and in front of the engines but nothing significant. These covers have seen wet heavy snow, wind, ice etc. and have preformed well. In both cases the carvers are not a perfect fit, as they were off the shelf rather then custom made cover like the fisher cover. The fisher covers also extended further down the hull sides and fits the boat/hull perfectly. The standard walkaround carver cover was made for narrower beam boats then my expresses so there was a little exposed area midship above the gunnels. which is really not a big deal, and does allow for some ventilation. I would say the fisher is the premium product, but the carver is a good compromise and has worked very well for me. The carver is also very easy to fold back to work on the boat in the winter if you need too.

 

[suzukidave]

good luck with this. it took me a while to get to a happy place.

i live in canada. i looked at the fisher, and was skeptical of the cost so i decided to go with a conventional cover but the problem is adequate support everywhere so you don't get pockets of snow that melt and stretch or tear the canvas. also, with the weight of the snow you need to eliminate all pressure points and sharp corners so getting the supporting beams right is tricky.

i wrecked a couple of covers with not enough support undeneath or corner protection. i don't think i had a carver but i bought a decent sharkskin cover for $300 that was done in two seasons.

after trial and error i have settled on two identical $75 amazon "600 denier" chinese covers fitted one over the other as being better than any single cover. i support it underneath with doubled up 2x4s hooked over the windshield going both fore and aft, and then i have a series of pieces of light gauge 3/4" pvc irrigation pipe as rounded ribs bent perpendicular to the 2x4s and spaced all along the hull. these prevent snow pockets and keep the canvas taut to avoid sagging.

the 2x4s are cut at one end to match the rake of the windshield to minimize the projecting wood and then there is a short 1x4 nailed on that end as a hook to hold them in place.

the pvc ribs go over top of the the 2x4s and are bent into a rounded shape under tension and cut to the width of the gunwales. i drill holes in the ends of the pvc pieces so i can tie them down (either to the cleats or trailer rails) with poly rope so they stay in tension.

i have a 2' square piece of rubber garage flooring that goes over top of the 2x4s where they terminate at the centre of the windshield to smooth out the shape there to protect the cover. i also have some 1" pipe plumbing foam insulation pieces (like pool noodles) cut and slotted over the windshield corners .

it takes me about an hour to rig it.

good luck with your solution

 

[suzukidave]

if you are interested i checked my amazon history and these are the covers i use on my 190 with one purchased in 2015 and one in 2016. it is decent quality and i have found them to be waterproof. i think it would fit your 205. they should be long enough for the 205 as they fit over my outboard at the stern with lots of slack. two should definitely be wide enough because you can cheat the strap adjustment to have each cover extend a little further to port or starboard to get wider coverage as needed. my 190 has the old fashioned high raised bow rails and so i adjust the two covers at the widest point of the bow flare in each direction to get good coverage down well past the gunwales. the small area of "single coverage" is fine. you might not need to do that.

https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-S...pID=41RhUv92iTL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[Ky Grady]

When I purchased my 228 it came with a Carver cover. I've used it a couple of times and seems to be made very well. Fairly easy to get on. Majority of the time my boat is stored indoors out of the weather. I had a small snow while it was on and it did fine, not sure for you northern guys.