Outboard Motor Travel & Storage covers

[Dave A]

Has anyone ordered an engine travel or storage cover from Outboard Covers & Accessories and had it shipped to Ontario? (outboardcovers.com) Orders are placed on the US site but I hear they are all made in Australia. What did you think of it? How long did it take to receive? What did you get hit with for import duties and fees? Does anyone run with or use a Full Motor Cover when travelling / towing?

[Fisherman]

I just went to Princess Auto and picked up one for the motor, (3 sizes) and a few more for lawn chair covers.

[Dave A]

Thanks for the info. I guess my concern with the ‘universal’ type covers is that they flap around and ultimately tear or scratch, but thanks for the suggestion. 

[Dara]

12 minutes ago, Dave A said:

Thanks for the info. I guess my concern with the ‘universal’ type covers is that they flap around and ultimately tear or scratch, but thanks for the suggestion. 

What are you covering?

[Dave A]

200XL Big tiller and 15 Pro-Kicker tiller, but really it could be any motor. Dockstore can provide for the 200XL but the kicker would have to come from Outboard Covers. (Thats where Merc orders their 'branded' covers).

[aplumma]

All covers will rub the paint if you cover them as you are driving down the road. They also have the problem of when wet they hold the moisture in contact with the paint and decals will be more likely to delaminate the decals. Your best friend is a coat of wax and only cover when you are parked.

Art

[Dave A]

Thanks for your views. If covers scratch and ruin the paint, then they are likely either poor fitting, improperly lined or dirty inside. Like a poorly fit boat travel cover, if it moves, it will scratch and rub. Have you used an OEM cover or maybe a custom cover from Outboard Covers?  I haven’t had that type of poor experience with my Yamaha cover’s this past 12 years and I run on average about 6k kilom per season. Both motors have benefited from having covers. Of course, I ran the OEM covers and not one of the $50-$80 type aftermarket covers. The OEM’s (many made by Outboard Covers) are properly ‘fit’, lined and manufactured with a Top Gun type material, which is water repellent etc,. I have to disagree with your statement. 
 

Back to my original enquiry, If you have imported either a boat or engine cover, what were the import duties and fees, on top of the exchange and GST charges. 

[lew]

3 minutes ago, Dave A said:

Thanks for your views. If covers scratch and ruin the paint, then they are likely either poor fitting, improperly lined or dirty inside.

I had a custom cover for my 150 HP Yamaha that fit like a glove and also had a cinch strap that snugged it right down and there was no movement at all and after 8 years the paint on my motor was still like brand new.

I would imagine cheap generic covers would/could cause issues though.

[Sinker]

What are you covering it from? The sun? I'm obviously no help here .....LOL 

S. 

[AKRISONER]

19 hours ago, Sinker said:

What are you covering it from? The sun? I'm obviously no help here .....LOL 

S. 

I was once told that the idea behind covering your outboard is that they aren’t designed for the wet road driving environment of fine sand and salt that we have here in canada. One drive down the highway in the rain and you all know the horrible thin layer of road grime that coats absolutely everything. 
 

a car’s air intake typically has a pile of bends/collection points plus a large air filter for this kinda junk, meanwhile my personal outboard has a small piece of foam before the intake and that’s about it. Hence, I cover the motor to try and keep some of that road grime out of the intake and engine bay in general.

[glen]

I put duct tape over the air intake for dirt road travel.  Sometimes I put a cheap cover over the motor and tape it down.  
I don’t like covers flapping in the wind. One thing I found is if you use two covers they work against each other and stop most of the flap.  My boat cover is always two at a time. The top cover is over ten years old.  No rips.  

[misfish]

I am going to grab one of those BIG BERTHA driver covers for my 30lb electric. I like it shiny. 🤣