Quick Product Review – Covercraft “Noah” after 2 years

[civdiv99]

Quick Product Review – Covercraft “Noah” after 2 years

After reading and replying to RedXray’s thread in “Off-Topic” on his looking for suggestions on a car cover, I realized that I went through some of the same decision processes when deciding on a cover a couple of years ago. And since I make use of forum opinions on stuff here, this seems like an opportunity to give a little feedback.

To help put the descriptions into real world photos, I walked outside and took the following shots this morning. Nothing staged, even a trash can in the background (no, I DON’T mean the PT Cruiser!), etc. These area shots taken “in the wild,” with the Covercraft Noah in its natural habitat. I decided to uncover the car for the first time in almost 3 weeks. It stayed covered because we had rain, winds, and general "WTH happened to summer?" weather.

The cover will be 2 years old in August, and is used about 90% of the time, meaning sun, rain, snow, whatever. Sometimes the car is inside, but from maybe April to Sep/Oct, it is outside, but like I said, mostly covered. While the fit may appear a bit loose in spots, it actually fits the car quite well in person. In these pictures, I am only using the cover lock which was originally ordered with the cover. I do have “gust locks” also, but like MarkD51 mentions in his reply to RedXray, I also use “aftermarket” tarp holders. Mine I got from Home Depot, but the idea is the same as MarkD51’s – they are more robust in holding better than the ones that came with the cover. I have 2 of these covers now, and I did not order the “gust locks” with cover #2, so there’s the “walk the talk” on that. If you are subject to gusty and even brisk winds, you’ll want something in this area. It doesn’t “flap,” but what happens is the air can get underneath and poof it up, and if that happens it can billow enough to lift the cover off one end or the other. I’ve never had one come off, but I’ve found it after a windy episode “showing some leg” if you will.

The little “here’s what ya gotta do” card that comes with it says roll it out on the car, roll sides down and put the mirrors in their pockets, then stretch the bands over the front and rear and snug it down. It does just take seconds. Removal is reverse, and the instructions correctly remind you that you have to take the front and rear ends up before you can roll the sides and clear the mirrors. The fit is not so loose that you can take just whatever approach.

I have never done anything to this cover except that it's been rinsed down a time or 3 with plain water. The mfr recommends washing it, and then letting it dry, right on the car. I would agree with that. It sheds water wonderfully, but allows the car to breath. I can uncover the car at any time and it is not damp, no condensation visible under the cover. To me, that’s a big deal. The other reasons I went with this cover (going off other various forums and comments) was for some UV protection, and “oops” protection. It is all a compromise since there are covers that are better for primary UV protection, others that maybe protect from physical damage (but at the cost of bulkier cover). For me in WA state, this was a great compromise, and as noted, was good enough I didn’t hesitate getting a second (ok, yeah, for the 8 year old PT, but hey, it's the wife's car, and she IS the cook……)

The cover is of multi-layer construction. The various sites can describe what the materials are better than I, but in our terms, the inside of the cover is soft and very short-threads (I know - what does THAT mean?) Best I can do for ya, but I included a picture of the interior fabric as well.

So the pictures – begins with as fitted at about 2 years of age. Sorry I can't help the sun angles as it's early morning and so not much light across horizontal surfaces. But, after a few weeks of “not nice” weather, the uncovered car is ready to drive as is, or if you prefer, it is QD ready. Note: If you keep a slick car (BFWD on this one) the removal is almost a challenge because as you are rolling up the sides, it wants to slide off (cover landing in sand/debris = NOOOO!!!). I’m just sayin’

[5.4 Shelby]

Note: If you keep a slick car (BFWD on this one) the removal is almost a challenge because as you are rolling up the sides, it wants to slide off (cover landing in sand/debris = NOOOO!!!). I’m just sayin’

Use the mirrors as anchor points. Roll/Fold the cover from front to mirrors, then back to mirrors. Fold up the sides. Then fold it on the windshield as you take it off the mirrors.

then reverse the process to put it back on. I marked mine to make sure I knew which direction the front and back are since it is hard to tell when starting at the middle of the cover.

This technique will reduce the movement of the cover on the paint therby reducing marring.

[RedXray]

Thanks for the write-up civdiv and taking the time to snap the pictures! The cover has held up very well in the two years and fits nicely. I'm sure I'm going to be happy with the Noah Covercraft! Nice looking Camaro also

[RBJR]

The Noah is a real nice cover. I use 1 on a car that I can't get in the garage. My 86 year old neighbors 4 outdoor cats have discovered it and been using it as a scratch pad.

[MarkD51]

I never saw this thread, only just finding it through a search about Covercraft Covers.
Sorry that it was two years!

My Covercraft NOAH cover is somewhere about 2-1/2 years old at this point, give or take a few months as I believe I got the Cover in the October Month.

It has not held up as well as I had thought it would, and a couple of the reasons may have been my fault-doing.

The Gust Guard Cords-Clamps had actually placed more stress at the bottom of the cover, had begun to cause tears-rips in the fabric.

I commonly only just sprayed the cover down with a garden hose, but did once manually wash it, as I had to fabricate a large 55gal plastic drum with drain cock so that a mild wash and rinse could be done. (Not a washing machine large enough for this large cover locally)

I simply used just a mild mixture of liquid fabric detergent.
This again may have been a mistake, compromising the fabric's durability. My intentions were only to help rid the cover of adhered dusts in and out. It was hung to dry mostly, then re-installed upon the vehicle for final drying.

The other possible mistake, was that after a time, the cover seemed to considerably lose its water shedding abiliy, and was barely a "waterproof" cover anymore. Thus one day after a good hose wash, I decided to coat the cover with Aerospace 303 Fabric Guard.

Again, another possible mistake in which this product may have also weakened and compromised the material. The waterproofing improvement only seemed to last a short while, and one other nasty side effect, was it appears that the fabric guard caused a fine white dust that I see all over the entire vehicle when I remove the cover. I assume this is not the material "dusting" but the fabric guard turning to dust.

Luckily, I know basic Upholstery Skills, and after Covercraft sent me a decent amount of the NOAH material, I purchased a Singer Sewing Machine, and have been making repairs to the cover for the past 6-7 months Lately, about a month ago, looks like a feral cat used my cover as a climbing "ladder" and tore two baseball sized holes in the rear by the tailgate. Luckily, no paint damage was done. I'm only holding off the inevitable at this point, this cover is pretty much at the end of its life here.

The damage was tears at the bottom hems from the gust guard clamps, mirror pocket's seams starting to come undone, and the corners of the cover where more stress is placed, and was mostly caused by high winds stressing the material in these critical areas.

In retrospect though, the cover has been the sacrificial item, and has done a fairly admirable job of keeping the vehicle protected against the ravages of UV, dirt, dusts, prying eyes, birds, bird bombs, cats, etc.

I figure I'll be at the 3 year point and I'll be disposing this cover, and will probably order another. This time, will probably either be the Covercraft Weathershield HP or HD Cover.

I might contact Covercraft soon, and see if they can possibly send me a couple small swatches of both Weathershield HP and HD Materials to examine, so I can then possibly make the best choice. At this price point (TOTL), the difference in price is not that considerable.

As you may read, and as I've concluded with hindsight, there will be some things "I won't be doing" to another, new cover, have learned some things the hard way, and thought I'd share some of this with other owners, or possible future prospective owners of a Covercraft Car Cover.
Mark

[Mike Phillips]

Nice review and thank you for sharing your experience I know this will help others into the future.

[MarkD51]

Nice review and thank you for sharing your experience I know this will help others into the future.

Thank you Mike.
Again, with a bit of further research, I believe my cover was bought in October 2012, so this coming Oct will be 3 full years of service with the Covercraft NOAH Cover.

[civdiv99]

I was the OP on this thread in 2013.

A couple of days ago I took the attached pics. Same cover on the same car, now all going on 4 years. The car has lived outside (and thus the cover has also) full-time the last year and a half. The first couple of years it alternated inside/outside for months at time. I suppose the cover has equivalent of maybe 2 1/2 years of outside time now.

The cover in the background on the wife's car is about 3, maybe 3 1/2 years old, but has spent a lot of time indoors. Probably not representative.

[civdiv99]

Well, I thought I uploaded 3 photos, but only one at a time shows up. I'll gladly admit to being less than adept at this if users accept my apology for ending up with multiple posts trying to get multiple pics uploaded......

[civdiv99]

I dunno. One at time if I am in a tablet perhaps?