Baller Cnewbert Posted July 7, 2023 Baller Share Posted July 7, 2023 (edited) After realizing our dream of buying a lake house in Florida and having our Prostar on a covered lift at the end of our dock ready to go at a moment's notice, we soon got a dose of fowl reality: Florida has billions of birds. Roughly half of all Florida's birds immediately began to roost on our boat. And every one of these damn birds was incontinent. Our spotless Prostar instantly turned into a revolting bird latrine. Our only choice was to cover our boat with the MC factory ratchet trailer cover, which, while easy enough to use when the boat was on the trailer, proved awkward and unnecessarily time consuming to use with the boat on the lift. It defeated the goal of having a boat instantly ready to go on the spur of the moment. And after the hassle of putting it back on and ratcheting it tight after skiing, it merely kept all the bird crap out of the boat. It didn't dissuade the birds from perching on the cover itself and relieving themselves with unnerving frequency, quickly turning it into a gooey mess. Desperate for a solution, I got some positive feedback on BOS re: Touchless Boat Covers (thanks @Buxrus!), a few of which I had seen on our lake, and we decided to spring for one. We ordered ours at the end of May through Ian Larson at Touchless Covers of Crystal River. It arrived within weeks, much faster than we anticipated, and Ian and his crew installed it on Sunday almost 2 weeks ago. It's been a game changer for us, as it has dramatically streamlined the entire routine of using our boat. Now, at the touch of a button and a matter of seconds, we can not only cover and protect the boat from the birds, but the cover is waterproof, keeping blowing rain out, plus it extends over the teak swim platform and hangs below the water line of the boat when raised on the lift, protecting both the teak and gel coat from the intense Florida sun. As a plus, there is so much air volume under this cover, the boat's interior dries much better than with the trailer cover on. We can leave the Bimini and mirror up as well... small things that help add up to a big time savings. I can't recommend these covers enough, with or without a plague of birds, and Ian Larson was extremely professional and a pleasure to work with. From the convenience standpoint alone it is worth every penny. We'll get more use out of our boat and it will dramatically reduce the clean-up and maintenance time spent on keeping it beautiful. IMG_4385.MOV IMG_4386.MOV Edited July 7, 2023 by Cnewbert 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller S1Pitts Posted July 7, 2023 Baller Share Posted July 7, 2023 Glad you found a solution although it was probably costly. The things you don't know until you live there. Keep us posted for any other surprises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Cnewbert Posted July 7, 2023 Author Baller Share Posted July 7, 2023 @S1Pitts on the one hand, they are costly. But then, so are lakefront homes and ski boats. We will undoubtedly get more ski time in and more use of our boat in general, as we won’t hesitate to drop the boat into the water if time is short and we just want a couple of quick runs or maybe a sunset cocktail cruise. Ski time and ease of boat use are the whole point of us moving to the lake in the first place. So it’s definitely money well spent. We’ll let you know of any other surprises, though we’ve lived in FL for 10 years already, so hopefully all future surprises will be good ones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller BugHunter Posted July 24, 2023 Baller Share Posted July 24, 2023 We got our Touchless cover in 2007 and it we have not regretted it ever. It does hold up very well too. The only maintenance we do is replace the pulleys when they eventually wear out. We had to replace the motor in 2010 after a lightning strike on the dock, which fried everything electronic in the boat and melted the steel cables holding the cover, dripping molten metal on the boat 😞 And one of the near-direct-hit hurricanes we had ripped the cover. The company's advice is to keep the cover down in a storm, but we now take four heavy straps with ratchets and tie it to the roof of the dock. And it made it through the last storm without problems. The dock and cover were made initially for a 24' wakeboard boat with the tower up, so it is wider, longer and much taller than is needed for a ski-boat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller MitchellM Posted July 24, 2023 Baller Share Posted July 24, 2023 This looks great! Thanks for sharing the videos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Andre Posted July 24, 2023 Baller Share Posted July 24, 2023 What a great looking and functionnal set up! Congrats! 1 My ski finish in 16.95 but my ass is out of tolerance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Drew_Wright_OBXtoFl Posted July 25, 2023 Baller Share Posted July 25, 2023 Touchless boat covers are worth it. You get more time. Your boat last longer and has better resale. It is a no brainer IMO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baller Andre Posted July 25, 2023 Baller Share Posted July 25, 2023 I will add that the boat look amazing too! 1 My ski finish in 16.95 but my ass is out of tolerance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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