Boom Up or Down?

bubble wrap on the decks helps with breathability on flat covers, My wooden fireball 13661, had a flat cover never had any problems with that. leave the bailers open and more air circulates

Originally posted by Villan [edit] Here it is .. all the sails were in the 5k, tied in, all the Fireball had was boom tied to mast gate and thwart, and padded at the transom end. Cover was on as this was taken the day we loaded up, and it was forcast to rain.

Good job you loaded them that way round - would have been a mare to go round the bends with the 5 tonner on the top!!

Yup, Its fine towing without the cover as long as everything is secure. Foils in the car (Wouldn't EVER leave them in the boat anyway), boom tied down, sails tied down.

Its a lovely deep cockpit on the Fireball, so the sails will fit in nicely under the thwart / fordeck. Kite in the car of course.

I currently tow the Vareo with the cover on, but thats still got a decent boom down top cover. When we took the boats up to the Tiger last year, the Fireball had no covers on at all! (But then it was shielded from the road by 5 ft and a Laser 5000! )

I might dig that photo out later ... That was a very silly weekend! I'm glad we had a Disco towing that beast!

[edit] Here it is .. all the sails were in the 5k, tied in, all the Fireball had was boom tied to mast gate and thwart, and padded at the transom end. Cover was on as this was taken the day we loaded up, and it was forcast to rain. (Didn't want the boat filling up over the course of the week)




Edited by Villan

Originally posted by vscott I know someone who puts an enormous plastic sheet between the boat and the undercover - to make sure diesel fumes don't go through the cover onto the surface, then no cover on top, just lots of undercover lacing keeping the excess plastic sheet from flying around - and it works!

bit ott aint it lol. i take a bucket and sponge for that lol.

 do the sheets and ropes slap about when trailing topless? is there much windage back there when towing? i guess if you had a forward qand aft hatch it would be a great way of drying your boat, even better on a roof rack. I dont really know why i wouldnt tow topless apart from the fact id be scared of everything falling out. i gues i wouldnt want a pidgeon taking a dump on it either

Originally posted by Noah Villan, There's absolutely NO WAY I'll trail without the cover on. That way lies madness. Right now I have a tired old heavyweight PVC boom up cover, which trails OK-ish, but it does tend to flap about in a 60mph breeze! I've found the best way is to make sure the under-boat straps are REALLY tight.

Sorry but why would you not tow a boat with a cover on? I can't see a problem with that, after all it saves the cover been knackered.

I would though trail with my Laser cover on cos the spars are kept on the decl for trailing.