Bad fitting travel cover

[harleyharry]

I recently purchased a new Otter Cabin, with hitch, hi-fax and travel cover. I purchased the Cabin with the seats instead of the bench.

The problem I have is with the travel cover. With the seats in the tub, and folded down, the cover does not come down far enough on the sides of the tub to completely cover the materail for the flip up. After about an half mile on the lake with any amount of snow, the front skirt is dragging and there is snow blowing into the tub on the other side.

I make sure the material for the flip up is tucked inside the poles as far as possible, and tuck the skirt into the seats as far as it will go.

I contacted Otter about this, but did not get much satisfaction from them. They emailed me back, but did not answer my questions or solve the problem.

The package the cover came in was marked medium. I assume this is the correct cover as the tub is a medium tub.

Anyone out there with a Cabin that has this problem?

Thanks

Harry

[Chode2235]

My otter Den travel cover also does not fit as well as it should. It is a little smaller than it should be. I think Otter has the travel covers produced at a different location, but yeah they don't fit that well. But its better than the bungee/tarp option my friend uses.

[Lisa Almquist]

I have an Otter Cabin too. I have the type of seat that have the adjustable metal bracket (Otter seat) so I just remove the entire seat each time I move and store it in the bottom of the sled. It doesn't take much time to reset back up and my cover then fits fine. Hope this helps?!

[jwhjr]

I have the magnum cover for my lodge and it does seem to be smaller than it should be. Even when I take my seats off it's tight.

[Northlander]

I have the Camo series in the cabin size. I have no problems at all with my cover. I make sure to take the front skirt and tuck it under the seat supports. That holds it in the tub and it cant flop out and drag.

If the seats being up keep the cover too high then try them in the tub. If you dont have room I dont know what to tell you.

I do know that I have had 3 Otter houses and I had different covers on all 3. 1 was a lighter more flexible material, 1 had a very stiff thick material and the one I have now is sort of in between. All have been very tight fitting though. I like it like that so I dont have to worry about it blowing off on a long run, never to find it again.

[Sandmannd]

I have an otter two that I modified pretty good. It's got wood across it and then I put boat seats in it so it sticks up good. I put my cover on and it was tight the first year. I think I got it stretched out now as it fits fine.

[wallmounter]

 Originally Posted By: Sandmannd

I have an otter two that I modified pretty good. It's got wood across it and then I put boat seats in it so it sticks up good. I put my cover on and it was tight the first year. I think I got it stretched out now as it fits fine.

I noticed the same thing as Sandmannd. The cover seems to stretch and fit better with use.

[harleyharry]

I guess that I got spoiled with my Otter Lodge. I have had the Lodge for 4 or 5 seasons now. The travel cover is large enough that I can put my day pack, my tip up tote, my coffee and lunch bag, and my Thorne Brothers rod bag in the Lodge, install the cover and never worry.

The cover on the Lodge has a very strong elastic around the cover, and the side and ends come down past the lip of the tub, allowing the elastic to tighten all the way around the tub sides.

I can travel down the freeway at 75 MPH with the lodge on my trailer, and the cover will never come off. The cover on the Cabin will not come down far enough to reach the lips of the tub. When the cover is installed, and ready to travel, you can see the green cabin material sticking out on both sides.

I carry my auger in the tub, so there is no place to carry the seat in the tub.

I have left the seats out, and installed the cover, and it still is a skimpy fit.

Thanks for all the responses. It looks like Otter has a fabrication problem with this cover, or may be cutting costs on the manufacturing of the cover. I can't be the only one that has had a complaint about the cover.

Harry

[Northlander]

It sounds like you need to get a hold of Otter and if they dont replace the cover I seen them on sale at GM.

[tom fellegy]

i built a custom seat for my otter, it is high enough to fit the tall 5gal buckets under it. i also strap my auger on top of the seat. they don't make a cover that is even close to fitting my setup. i bought some bulk bungee and a blue tarp and used wire ties to connect the two. it dosen't look as nice as a otter cover, but it keeps the snow out. tarp and bungee were less that $20..........tom fellegy

[EBass]

I have an Otter Cottage and my cover doesn't fit well either. It's WAY TOO TIGHT. It works, but the fabric shows on one corner that I can get it over. Oh well, I only use it for first ice when being pulled by a wheeler.

[blueroof]

The cover for my cottage is too tight also. It nearly takes two people to get it on correctly, which is kinda ironic for a one man trap..

LB

[Sandmannd]

That's funny blueroof, kinda hard to believe. How old are your guys' covers? Have they stretched at all for you?

[efgh]

You can modify the cover, put the cover on the fishhouse, slit the cover with a knife over the area the seat sticks up too high, pull the cover down to where you want it to fit, measure the open area. Then take it to a canvas shop and have them sew in a patch the size the open area was. Good thing about it is you can always tell its your cover.

[hanson]

The cover for my Otter Lodge fits like a glove. Its a bit tight but I can get it down over the lip of the sled just fine. Sometimes it takes a little pulling but I'd rather have it tight than loose.

I have the 2 swivel seats from Otter. They fit under the cover fine. I've also modified my Otter with the a plywood insert and I commonly carry my auger, rod bags, flasher etc on top of the insert, and they all fit under the cover fine too.

Anyone who's fished with me knows I can carry a ton of stuff in that Otter sled, it all fits under that cover, and I have piece of mind cruising across the lake with it.

[blueroof]

 Originally Posted By: Sandmannd

How old are your guys' covers? Have they stretched at all for you?

My dad gave me his cottage earlier this year, I believe it is 3 years old. The cover fits OK if you take your time when putting the frame down and pull all the trap fabric to the inside of the poles AND you pull the seat out and lay it on the floor. If you don't it's a pretty tight squeeze, feels like making a king bed with queen sized sheets..

In comparison, my X2 cover goes on easy yet stays snug. I could stuff a half barrel (keg) in there with both seats up and still get the cover on...

LB

[311Hemi]

 Originally Posted By: hanson

The cover for my Otter Lodge fits like a glove.

Mine too.....it fits perfect. I don't even know if the fabric mine is made out of can stretch.....I don't think it can. It a lighter fabric and the bungee part is fairly tight, which is good.

I can have stuff sticking up over the top of the tub and still have the cover fit fine.

[trro0901]

I just recently bought an Otter Cabin, I put a wood top on it, and I'm finding that the covers aren't snug enough to stay on, that is if its in the back of a truck on top of another house. The only thing that kept my travel cover with me was the strap going over the top of the ice house. The covers are different then the older ones. A buddie of mine has the Otter Lodge and his cover is nice an snug all the way around, and he has a very similar top. All in all I haven't been impressed with the new Otter products, especially the zipper...

[redtrucks]

Check the origin of where the cover was made. Seems like if it was made in the USA they fit fine the newer covers are not made in the USA and don't fit as well.

[harleyharry]

Wow. What a responce to my question. From all the posts, it seems that the lodge covers fit good. This is the same with my lodge. Perfect fit, and never have to worry if the cover will come off.

It seems that the cabin covers have a problem fitting. My cover is not too tight. It is just too small. If the cover were wider, there would not be a problem. This last weekend I trailered my Cabin to the lake and back. Had a lot of slush on the roads. When I got home and unloaded, I found the slush and sand from the road had migrated up under the side of the cover and everything in the sled was covered with slush, salt and sand. Not a happy camper. When you look at what is invested in this, or most of the portables today, and the price of the covers that are designed to protect your investment, you would think the company would do a better job of quality control.

I have contacted customer service at Otter, and I think we will resolve this problem.

Thank you everyone for all the input. Got about a month of ice fishing to go. I know that the Cabin will do me good for a lot of hours on the hard water.

Harry

[Chode2235]

Let me know what type of resolution you have, as I am in the same boat.... so to speak.

[Northlander]

Harry Im glad you got this taken care of with Otter. Their customer service has ben great in my experiences with them.

[Sandmannd]

Let us know what Otter does for you. I hope they take care of you.

[harleyharry]

I am in the process of getting a new cover from Otter. There is a possibility that the one I have was sewn incorrectly. Joe at customer service is looking to see if there is any of the older style with the Otter logo on. He seems to think they fit better.

The other solution that has helped was in the post from Northlander. He stated that he tucks the front skirt under the seat brackets, and that will stop the skirt from blowing out. I found that when I do this, it actualy allows the cover to come down around the tub lip a little bit more. This really helped the fit of the cover.

One of the problems with the cover for the Cabin, is not a fault of the cover. Due to the fact that the cross member supports for the flip over pretrude outside of the tub, this does not allow the cover to come down all the way to the lip of the tub.

If the new cover does not solve the problem, I will contact Canvas Craft and have them fabricate a cover that will completely enclose the lip of the tub all the was around like it does on my Otter Lodge. Might be a little expensive, but would be better than losing the cover at freeway speed. Wonder what the cabin would look like if it opened up at 7MPH.

Thanks again everyone.

Harry

[Mainehazmt]

I have the otter village and ordered the magnum village travel cover I have the oppesite problem it is too big! I also got for my second otter mag(to carry all the other garbage I take out with me) the standard magnum cover not the village cover when I travel I nestle the tubs together and use both covers I do bungee the top to make sure they dont blow off too expensive to replace! but on the ice I put the reg cover over the village and the village cover over the junk sled works for me!