sail cover at hiway speed.

[Jer.]

 What is the general opinion on the sail cover when traveling on the interstate? Tie it down by raping with line, leave it alone.
It seams like it will destroy itself in a 60/70 mile wind. I have not traveled over 40 mi so am asking advice.   

[Bob23]

  Sounds like you have a boat with the Mastender so the boom and sail are on the boat. Don't know about highway speeds but while at my mooring, I always wrap the cover with a loose lacing of 1/4" line. In high winds, I've seen covers come off, get destroyed and the main unwrap and also get shredded, all the while the boat is trying to sail itself to death. I'd wrap it pretty well depending on how far. If you're traveling far, why not take the sail off?
Bob23

[Craig]

When I took delivery of the Suncat the sail was wrapped with Saran "tape"(like Saran food wrap) with clear packing tape wrapped around the sail every couple of feet and the ends to lock it in place. Came from Fl to New York with no problem. Also helps protect everything from whatever you might encounter on the road.

[Duckie]

I've probably got 5,000 highway miles on my weekender.  I don't use a boat cover.  I only wrap the sail to keep it from being destroyed by the wind.  I use a plastic tarp for covering firewood piles that is three feet by twenty feet.  I throw it over the boom, gaff, and flaked mainsail and loop a line around it tightly so that no wind can't  find its way inside.  I also cut the tarp so that I can wrap it around the front of the mast which is where the wind would most like to get inside.  My first tarp lasted four years.  Without doing any special cutting or stitching this has worked marvelously.  Cheap too.   

Al

[blighhigh]

After buying a used Horizon Cat, I changed sail cover colors.  When traveling on the road I put the old sail cover over the new one and tie them down with the line used to raise the mast. The old sail cover works as a good protective layer.   

[Vectordirector]

Hi,

Just pulled my Eclipse from Chicagoland to Punta Gorda, Fl in October.  1400 Miles in 3 days.  About 23 hours of drive time.  I Shrinkwrapped the main and boom with sailcover on with the 12" wide stuff from Home Depot. It is where the moving supplies are.   Took all of 5 minutes.  Stayed on pretty well although I couldn't go over 58 mph in the Jeep without a little shimmy in the steering.  Maybe not "highway speed" in a big pickup but seemed very secure if you wrapped it tight.   When I got to Punta Gorda, removed it, took all of 10 minutes.  Sail and cover looked like they did before.  No dust, bugs, etc.  I highly recommend this method.  I don't know how well it would work on other boats.  I've seen pictures of factory delivery boats and this appears to be what the factory does too.  The Jib?  I just wrapped in in a big U and put in in the cabin.  Easy Peasy.  I also tied all the stays, mast, boom, engine and tiller down with shock cords.  Removed the rudder.  That's about it.  Boat was dirty when I arrived so I had it washed for $30 in the driveway.  Had a good coat of wax so it now looks great.  Sails perfectly clean.  Didn't have to wash them at all.   

Have Fun and Fair winds,

Vectordirector

[Jon898]

I used to regularly trail with the sail and cover on with no problems.  That is mainly because removing the sail with a Mastendr is a PITA (you have to separate the system at the hinge as there is no gate in the track).  When I trailed from Indiana to North Carolina, I had removed the sail and found that the 12-year old cover wore through over the forestay attachment on the mast.  That was probably a combination of an old sun-damaged cover and the cover flapping around at 65mph as it was not filled with the sail.  The replacement cover is pretty taut on the mast/boom/gaff/sail combination, and I believe it will be fine for the regular 20-mile roundtrips I usually trail.  If I went long distance again, I would probably lash the cover down, just for added peace of mind.

Jon

[alsantini]

The PO of my Eclipse traveled up from Texas to Kansas with the sails and sail cover intact.  Based on my dirty sails, ripped bimini cover I can say to not do that.  I think using the packing wrap is a great idea and it is cheap at Home Depot.  I pulled Off The Wind down from West of Chicago to the Venice area of Florida last month and I probably over did it.  I pulled everything off the topsides.  Even the side stays, anchor, sails - the whole shooting match.  End result was a very clean sail, etc.  A few bugs on the spreaders - that was it BUT it took close to a day to get ready to sail again.  I think I will use clear wrap over the boom with sail and cover intact.  I will remove the side stays because I think if they bounce around any it will damage the gelcoat.

[PalmettoSailor]

I really like the "shrink wrap" idea. Thanks for the hint.

[redfishnc]

i shrink wrapped my mast with rigging and she (Catalina 30) rode that way from Toronto to Oriental.  Used carpet pieces around fittings.  It worked better than I could have imagined. 

[Tom L.]

I have a new to me Sun Cat. I have trailed maybe 500 miles at Highway speed and have no damage to the sail or cover.The cover is original from 2001. I don't know the history before me. What I do is after the cover is on, the mast lowered and all the halyards pulled back with the long pin I pull back the shrouds to the mast stub with a shock cord. The shrouds have plastic covers so if they rub on the deck they do no harm but they are fairly tight when pulled back and don't flop around. Then I put the type of shock cords that have a built in jam cleat (home depot) wrapped twice around the sailcover, shrouds and forestay and cinched up tight about every three feet. Works for me.

[raghaulerII]

I have pulled my Horizon in excess of 2500 miles a season for the last 3 years using 1.5" Velcro straps every 30" or so around the sail cover. So far my cover looks like new.