The best kayak covers for outdoor storage

What a cover is actually protecting against

Three things damage a stored kayak, and a cover addresses two of them well, one of them badly, and can make a fourth problem worse.

Sun. Ultraviolet light makes polyethylene brittle over years. A chalky, faded hull is the sign, and it is the one storage fault that is not economic to fix. A UV-resistant cover does exactly what it says, and it is the strongest argument for buying one.

Water, leaves and animals. Rain fills a sit-in cockpit; leaves rot in it; mice find a dark dry hull very attractive. A cover stops all three, provided it actually encloses the boat rather than draping over it.

Deformation. A cover does nothing about this. A hull takes a permanent set from resting on its bottom on a hard floor regardless of what is over it, which is why the cover and the storage rack are two separate purchases.

Heat and condensation are the fourth. A tarp laid directly on a hull in the sun traps hot air and moisture against the plastic, and over a summer that does more harm than the sun it was blocking. This is the mistake, and it is the whole reason the next section exists.

The rule: air must move under it

Whatever you buy, rig it so there is a gap between the fabric and the hull. Over a line strung above the boat, over the rack arms, over a couple of pool noodles laid across the deck — anything that holds the cover off the plastic and lets air through.

A fitted cover is not exempt. A fitted cover on a hull in direct sun is a fitted oven. Store the boat in shade if you can, upside down or on its side so water runs off, and let the cover shed weather rather than seal it in.

The honest consequence: a cheap cover rigged correctly beats an expensive one laid flat on the deck. Both picks on this page are only good buys if you do this.

How we ranked these

Four criteria, weighted equally and published on how we pick: coverage (how much of the boat it actually encloses), fabric (what the maker publishes about the material), fit (published sizes against real hulls), and value.

The two picks are not competing for the same job, and the ranking reflects that rather than pretending a cockpit cover is a worse full cover. One is for a boat stored outdoors. The other is for a sit-in stored under a roof.

Full cover or cockpit cover

The transport row is the one people miss. A sit-in on a roof rack in the rain arrives full of water, and a cockpit cover is the only thing on this page that solves that — Seals publishes a tether hook on its nylon cover for exactly this, so it stays on at speed.

Sizing a full cover

Classic Accessories publishes the Stellex in two lengths: 144 inches, fitting boats up to 12 feet, and 192 inches, for boats up to 16. Buy by boat length, then check the width: a fishing sit-on-top at 34 inches of beam and a touring boat at 22 are very different shapes under a cover cut for “kayaks.”

Full-cut is the term to look for, and Classic Accessories publishes it — extra room for the paddle and a vest inside. That matters because a cover that just fits the hull does not fit the hull plus the seat back plus the rod holders.

Too big is a nuisance that flaps. Too small does not go on, and a cover stretched over a rod holder tears at the rod holder.

Sizing a cockpit cover

This is the same problem as a spray skirt, and it has the same answer: measure the outside of the coaming, length and width.

Seals sizes its cockpit covers on the same proprietary scale as its skirts — 1.2 through 7.0 — so if you already own a Seals skirt you already know the number. If you do not, you work through the maker’s fitter rather than a tape alone. The full sizing argument, including which brands size by dimension instead, is on the spray skirt guide.

A cockpit cover that is slightly loose still works for storage and blows off in transport. One that is slightly tight works for both and is a wrestle to fit. Err tight.

What the fabric specs do and do not tell you

Classic Accessories publishes UV protection, mildew resistance and shrink resistance for the Stellex fabric, plus a two-year limited warranty — and does not publish a fabric weight or denier. Seals publishes “medium-weight coated nylon packcloth” and double-stitched seams.

Neither gives you a number to compare, and it is fair to say so. What you can compare is the warranty, and two years on a cover is unusual in a category where most are sold with none. A maker that warrants a fabric against UV for two years has an opinion about how long it lasts in the sun.

The practical test is the closure. A zipper enclosure — Classic Accessories publishes a dual zipper with a locking feature — actually shuts the boat in. A drawstring shroud is a tarp with ambition, and mice treat it accordingly.

How fast the sun actually works

The UV argument is the strongest reason to cover a boat, so it is worth being specific about what the sun does and how long it takes.

Polyethylene hulls are molded with UV inhibitors in the plastic, and those inhibitors are consumed over time by exposure. Once they are used up, the surface begins to chalk — a fine powder that comes off on a finger — and the plastic beneath it loses flexibility. That is the brittleness you test for when buying used: press hard on a flat panel and listen for a crackle.

How long that takes depends entirely on exposure. A boat stored in a shaded carport is fine for a decade. The same boat on a sunny south lawn can chalk in a few seasons. The cover moves a boat from the second column to the first, and it is the only thing on this site that does.

The same UV that ages the hull ages everything on it faster: deck cord goes slack, seat webbing fades and stiffens, plastic buckles go brittle. A covered boat keeps its rigging as well as its hull.

Winter under a cover

A cover in winter has a different job, and one new hazard.

Snow load. Wet snow is heavy, and a cover that holds it in a sag over the cockpit is holding a lot of weight on a hull that is stored at its stiffest. Rig the cover with a ridge — a line or a noodle along the keel — so snow slides off rather than pooling. A boat stored upside down does this on its own.

Ice in the cockpit. Water that gets into a sit-in and freezes expands, and a bulkhead or a seat frame can be damaged by it. The cockpit cover is the answer, and it is the one time of year a sit-in stored under a roof genuinely needs one.

Mice. A dark, dry, enclosed hull in winter is accommodation. A zippered full cover keeps them out; a draped tarp keeps them warm. Check the hatches and the seat foam in spring either way.

The ladder: indoors, shade, cover, nothing

The fourth row is the one this page exists to prevent. It is the most common way a cover is used, and it is the only row where buying the cover made things worse than not buying it.

The cover as a resale item

One observation for the reader this site is written for. A used kayak that arrives with a cover has usually been stored by someone who cared, and it shows in the hull. A used kayak that arrives with no cover and a chalky deck has spent years in the sun.

When you come to sell, the same logic runs the other way. A cover is a cheap thing to have owned and a visible one, and the boat under it is worth more — the arithmetic is on what a used kayak is worth.

One more use case that gets missed: transport. A full cover is for storage only and will shred at highway speed, but a cockpit cover with a tether is designed for the drive, and the drive is where a sit-in fills with rain. That one distinction is the reason both are on this page.

Fitting a full cover so it stays on

A full cover that blows off in the first storm is a cover that protected the boat for a week. Three things keep it on.

Close it. Classic Accessories publishes a dual zipper with a locking feature; a zipped cover is an enclosure and a half-zipped one is a sail. The lock is not included and it is not for theft — it is to stop the zipper walking open in wind.

Tie the handles down. The handles that make the cover easy to carry are also tie-off points. A short cord from each to the rack or a ground stake is what stops a gust getting under the cover and lifting it off.

Do not rely on the fit. A cover cut for boats “up to 12 feet” on a 10-foot boat has two feet of slack, and slack fabric flaps and fatigues at the seams. Gather it and tie it off rather than leaving it to move.

What we would buy

If the boat lives outside, the Stellex, in the length that fits, rigged over a line or the rack arms so air moves under it. The zipper enclosure and the warranty are what you are paying for.

If the boat is a sit-in under a roof, or rides on the car in the rain, the Seals cockpit cover, with the tether clipped. It is a fraction of the price and it solves the specific problem a sit-in has.

If you have neither budget nor a rack yet, a tarp rigged over a line, never on the hull, and the boat on its side in the shade. The rack comes first; the cover is the finishing touch.