Touchless Boat Cover

[Cnewbert]

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.  

Edited July 7, 2023 by Cnewbert

[S1Pitts]

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.

[Cnewbert]

@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!

[BugHunter]

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. 

[MitchellM]

This looks great!  Thanks for sharing the videos.

[Andre]

What a great looking and functionnal set up! Congrats!

[Drew_Wright_OBXtoFl]

Touchless boat covers are worth it. You get more time. Your boat last longer and has better resale. It is a no brainer IMO

[Andre]

I will add that the boat look amazing too!

[MitchellM]

I finally got my Touchless Boat Cover installed this weekend.  So far, I'm impressed with the product.  Six weeks from final measurements to installation.  We shall see how it holds up over time.

[6balls]

Cost of doing business--a MUST have in your situation--I'm sure you are a combo of pleased/relieved/proud/thankful.

[aupatking]

I was quoted $15k. That sound about right? I only ask because these guys had zero experience with ski boats. 

[MitchellM]

I paid just under $11k.  Cost was high due to the tower and the way my lift motor was positioned. 

A quote of $15k seems absurd for a ski boat.

[Jody_Seal]

I used to be a dealer for them.... never sold a one! reason, way to much $$$$$. Michele and i would go out and measure and put together a quote! probably quoted 20 or so around the area.. $15K does not sound out of line though.

[2Valve]

On 7/7/2023 at 9:40 AM, Cnewbert said:

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.  

Glad you got it figured out. And here I am fighting nesting swallows for the 100th year it seems.

[Cnewbert]

@aupatking ours cost $7,500 installed, with color upgrade. No tower or other complications.  $15K??  I’d get someone else to quote 

[dave2ball]

@aupatking I agree with Cewbert.  7500 seems to be the going rate with the standard 5’ drape.    

[MitchellM]

16 hours ago, Cnewbert said:

@aupatking ours cost $7,500 installed, with color upgrade. No tower or other complications.  $15K??  I’d get someone else to quote 

The issue here is that Touchless has regional installers.   My local installer is just down the road from me on the next lake.   When I got my initial quote over $12k, I tried to contact your installer for a competing bid but was unable to get one since I was not in his region.  Same response when I spoke to the Orlando installer who was recommended to me by Jon Travers.  I then complained directly to corporate about my pricing since I felt it was too high.  I received a phone call from the southeast manager who reviewed my entire quote.  We went through all of my measurements and installation requirements.  He reassured me that my bid was fair.  Each installation is obviously custom and unique.

I felt a little better and I'm happy I was able to use my local guy.

[Cnewbert]

@MitchellM I understand your boat has a tower, which I'm sure increased your price.  @aupatking didn't mention if his did or not.  Also, ours was readily attached to our existing structure without additional supports needed.  As well, AC power was already in place at the location.  So ours was a pretty easy install.  I assume if a particular installation required additional work in these areas the price would be higher.  But if not, then it's hard to justify a price double what ours cost.

[aupatking]

Yeah, my quote was for my 196 with no tower in a boathouse for a lifting ring “Nautique style” lift. Power, supports, everything already there. I think the guy just didn’t know anything about the ski boat type setup. Pretty much everything down here is for coastal fishing boats. Oh well, I’ll find something different. For $7,500 it would be there right now

[Cnewbert]

@aupatking I wonder if you could appeal directly to Touchless, noting that others with essentially the same boat and dock setup have recently paid half of what you are being quoted. 

[MitchellM]

On 5/23/2024 at 12:14 AM, aupatking said:

Yeah, my quote was for my 196 with no tower in a boathouse for a lifting ring “Nautique style” lift. Power, supports, everything already there. I think the guy just didn’t know anything about the ski boat type setup. Pretty much everything down here is for coastal fishing boats. Oh well, I’ll find something different. For $7,500 it would be there right now

You should definitely appeal directly to Touchless and ask to have your regional manager review your quote.  This is what ultimately happened  with me.  The manager pulled my quote and went through it with me to explain the details.  He claims many local installers quote high and then come in lower when the job is finished.  The prefer refunds to cost overruns.  Not the way I would do business.

[thager]

@Cnewbert If you're a DIY type I did this about 10 + years ago. Ran me about $120.00

I got sick of fishermen bouncing lures off my SN 196. Still  looks pretty good, keeps the sun off and completely covers the boat. Main components are Tennis netting, 1/2" pvc pipe, 1/4" hollow braid rope, pulleys, rope grabber, 9" bungie cords and safety ties.

[Cnewbert]

@thager pretty slick!  I’m impressed!

[thager]

Thx. Not as pretty or convenient as a Touchless Cover for sure, but it solved a lot of problems at a price I could afford. 

[MitchellM]

2 hours ago, thager said:

Thx. Not as pretty or convenient as a Touchless Cover for sure, but it solved a lot of problems at a price I could afford. 

That's impressive and essentially functions as a manual touchless cover.  Pretty ingenious.