For me it is the cost/work/longevity ratio ....

I stopped using the "blue poly" tarps since I thought they just look "hokie" when I cover my H18Mag on it's trailer in the back yard (w/ the wings folded up)... so I've been using either brown or silver tarps. I get 3-4 years out of a tarp .... I use 3/8" bungie or doubled 3/16" bungie (old trap bungies) to hold the tarp in place.

The tarps cost approx $25/ea .... and the re-used "old trap bungies" are free since I include those in the cost (in my mind) in my racing budget of boat parts/maintenance.

For my P19 I have from Murrey's a Nitryl Polyvinyl Cover ... and that cover has lasted 6-8yrs so far and is still going strong .... except this year it has snowed before I got my lazy procrastinating butt in gear to put it on the boat for the winter after I brought the P19 home from the YC in December. The cover for the P19 is used all year long most years .... as I haven't been sailing her too much in recent years since I haven't been doing any open class handicapped "distance races" (ie: point to point) which is what I used her for the most. (But last year she sat down at the YC w/ the "mast up" all summer after the "Down the River Race" ....) So we'll have see just how much longer the Nitryl Cover lasts .....

So we'll have to see how these covers comparitively cost out ...

I would like to get a custom boat cover for my TheMightyHobie18 ... but the cost-benefit ratio seems to lean to the cheap tarp and I haven't found a manufacture of a sunbrella custom boat cover that doesn't cost lots of $$$$$.

Harry
H18Mag/P19MX