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Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 12:24 pm
by thunder550
Got a 430 mile trip with the boat coming up this week. Was planning to tow with the bow and cockpit covers on...they were on the boat when it was delivered from MD to AZ with no issues. Since then I've added tent poles to keep rain from pooling up. Question is, should I tow with the tent poles in place to help take up slack in the cover, or go without?

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 12:34 pm
by Big Block Power
Keep it tight. When I towed mine to Tr and back that way no issues. I'll be going 5 hours north too lake superior in 2 weeks the same way.

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 2:50 pm
by thunder550
Cool, will do. Thanks BBP :)

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 3:08 pm
by Big Block Power
You going to Powell?

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:02 pm
by thunder550
I wish. Navajo Lake in northwest New Mexico. Going to visit my aunt, she lives about 10 miles from the lake. We decided to take the boat with us and explore while we're there :) It's at 7200 ft elevation, should be interesting to see what the performance difference is coming from 1700 ft here

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:16 pm
by Big Block Power
thunder550 wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:02 pm I wish. Navajo Lake in northwest New Mexico. Going to visit my aunt, she lives about 10 miles from the lake. We decided to take the boat with us and explore while we're there :) It's at 7200 ft elevation, should be interesting to see what the performance difference is coming from 1700 ft here
I'm sure it will be better. Lol

Do you have any lower pitch props. Or take one of your turbos off the suv.lol

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:35 pm
by thunder550
I only have the 21p Rev 4 and the original 23p Mirage 3 blade. Going to take both, doubt I'll go through the trouble of swapping though. Big block torque may be less but should still be plenty to get us up and moving.

I'll pack a leaf blower and a can of Pringles though just in case :lol:

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Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:46 pm
by klennop
We put the bow cover and poles in. We towed 6 hrs that way with no issues and regularly tow about an hour at interstate speeds with no issues. The 1 time I towed without the bow cover on, we lost the large cockpit piece of carpet on the highway.

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:38 pm
by Big Block Power
That's factory on the Mercedes. Lol

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 7:17 pm
by Ytmsn
I tow with my poles all the time. It helps that the rear pole has a snap to keep it in place,and the front is tight enough not to need one. Occasionally it will fall over, but only if I'm in very high wind.

When sliderule sees your engine mods he's going to throw up a little.

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2018 3:24 pm
by thunder550
klennop wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 5:46 pm We put the bow cover and poles in. We towed 6 hrs that way with no issues and regularly tow about an hour at interstate speeds with no issues. The 1 time I towed without the bow cover on, we lost the large cockpit piece of carpet on the highway.
Thanks! Does your carpet snap in?
Big Block Power wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:38 pm That's factory on the Mercedes. Lol
The hamsters love running through the Pringles can too.
Ytmsn wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 7:17 pm I tow with my poles all the time. It helps that the rear pole has a snap to keep it in place,and the front is tight enough not to need one. Occasionally it will fall over, but only if I'm in very high wind.

When sliderule sees your engine mods he's going to throw up a little.
All 3 of my poles snap in, so that should keep them upright I hope.

I found those pics on a 24 Hours of Lemons page, they were legitimately discussing the merits of leaf blower forced induction. They even had someone try to drive a turbo compressor with a windmill :lol: :lol:

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Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:10 am
by BIGGUSBLOCKUS
Roadkill did an episode where they put 6 gas powered leaf blowers in the rear hatch of a car and rigged a forced induction system that actually worked!

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 6:31 am
by AsLan7
Man that’s some funny stuff looking at those engine mod pics. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:15 am
by sailor55330
I guess I would beg to differ. I have my poles tight and my front cover comes unsnapped at 60-65 mph about every 50 miles. On top of that, one of my rear snaps pulled out---for the second time, leaving a hole in the gelcoat that the dealer will have to fix for the second time.

As much as I like to tow with covers, it hasn't worked out well for me.

Re: Towing with cockpit and bow cover - tent poles or no?

Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 8:20 am
by Tuscany
Sailor, it may be as simple as replacing some of your weaker snaps with new ones.