I used to buy a very expensive custome made heavy canvass tarp from Vessel's Trim Shop and had to pay cash only for it. They would not take credit or checks at that time. It was reinforced at points of contact like where the canvass touched the anchor and the console etc. It lasted about 4 or 5 winters before it finally tore while I was towing the boat on a trip.

Since then I have been using the cheaper boat covers from Walmart. I have to replace the cover about every 3 years.

But I found that if you support the cover better with curved fiberglass flat bows that the cover will not leak as much and will last longer. I get my fiberglass bows from BPS and they are about 7 ft long in total and come in two pieces. They are about 1/4" thick and about 2.5" wide and about 4 ft long each. You can buy the steel holders for the ends at Walmart in the Boating section. I added two more sets of holders to my boat and now have three of these bows to help support the boat cover and that's working much better. This keeps snow from weighing down the cover along the sides of the boat. Sometimes without adequet support the snow will accumulate along the side of the boat and wieight down the cover and then cause it to leak.

One winter I had a lot of snow fall and a lot of snow got onto the cover and weighted it down badly. I forgot to take the plugs out and when the snow melted the water leaked into my boat where it sat for a few days. The floor of my boat is made out of wood and it's about 33 years old now and the more it gets wet the softer the wood gets. So now I make sure that I pull the plugs out and rise the front of my boat up with the trailer wheel to make sure that any water that gets in the boat does not sit there and drains out the back end right away.

The past few winters I've stored my boat in the garage and left the truck sit outside. But I may put the boat back out this year. I need to keep my truck protected from the cold weather this winter.