Dinghy engine covers - what are they good for?

[fatherchronica]

Bam, the preserving my engine hoisting straps pushed me over the top. I am ordering one from the sewing department onboard right now. She laughed at me, but she will come around.

[roland stockham]

It is a fashion that started in the tropics where the UV is high enough to make many plastics go brittle and crack. Not sure if that is even still the case or if the plastics used have changed.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

in some locales Yamaha engines are in such high demand that the local thieves almost exclusively target them. Keeping a cover on it so that the brand of engine is not obvious might save your dinghy.

... Except now they KNOW the engine is pretty and re-sellable. You may have this backwards.

If anything, it will retain moisture in the motor. No way, I see no up-side other than some keep-up-with-the-Jones's need for shiny stuff.

[Scaramanga F25]

In South Florida we use them for protection from the sun. After a few years in the sun the paint fades a lot.

[senormechanico]

Thinwater gets it.

[ramblinrod]

Originally Posted by poiu

A lot of dinghy engines have these things. A sunbrella or similar cover for the engine cover. What's the point? I inherited one, I used it, but never saw the point. It is now tired and weather beaten. Now that I have a new engine I am not at all sure that there is a point in getting a new one.

I don't bash my engine on the dock or anywhere else for that matter, that I might need protection for.

So for those who like them - why do it?

Asset value retention.

[norwegian vikin]

having a cover seems to me just vaste of money.
my motor does not have it ,and after 10 years it still look good.
protecting against scratches---that depends on how you store the engine ,and beeing carfull when manuvering?

[JPA Cate]

For someone who is concerned about UV-caused degradation in the exterior of the engine lid, then a Sunbrella or WeatherMax cover of a dark color will significantly protect the surface. It is a personal choice whether that matters to you or not.

Polyester or nylon lifting straps do degrade, and may have to be replaced. I think a rope sling lasts longest, but we made our straps to open and close with a snap buckle. If you place a cloth cover over your o/b lid, sew on some retroreflective tape. If your dinghy ever goes walkabout at night, it will help you find it. We just used stick on tape for motor, but it is not covered.

Ann

[janicew13]

we have one on our engine and it helps with keeping the sun damage on the engine cover - with being on the boat all the time, the sun does its work and the cover helps it last longer. Also as mentioned in another posting it does help cover the HP of the engine which is good for those wanting to "borrow" it. Much cheaper to replace the cloth cover rather than the engine cover.

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by dlymn

Some possible reasons might be:
Keep the paint work bright and stop it oxidising in the sun ...

Yep! An unfaded (or not faded so much) original hard cover with fewer scratches and gouges makes the outboard more valuable, thus easier to sell, whether it is alone, with the dink, or even as a part of a transaction for the the whole boat.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Shiny says steal me. Though I think that OB covers in general make sense for engines kept topsides when at sea, in preventing moistue ingress & such. But for when the mothership's in port, go naked. Or in a reflective SOLAS tape "bikini".

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Vikin.

[smj]

Hides the fact the hp of the outboard is above the stated max on the dinghy.

[rwidman]

I made a simple Sunbrella cover for my Honda. As some have said, it protects the cowling and upper parts from the sun, rain and salt.

It can't be used when the engine is running of course, I have to remove it.

Since it was made from scrap Sunbrella, The cost was only my time and since it's nothing more than a bag with a drawstring, there wasn't a lot of that spent either.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by smj

Hides the fact the hp of the outboard is above the stated max on the dinghy.

Spray paint will do the same thing. It looked beat up, but never got stolen in 4 years in Mexico.
Our old Tohatsu 9.9 two stroke became a 15hp simply by throwing away a key stop in the twist throttle linkage and doing a little bit of readjustments at the Heim joints.
We could blast through the surf break and then plane with four people and all their stuff in our Avon 3.10 RIB.