I saw a video on YouTube where a guy covered his kayak with a kayak cover for transporting. I never thought about that before, but that's genius.

You could leave everything on the kayak, cover it with said cover, and go.

the kayaks that have these covers on them, don't look like they have all the gear on the kayak, at the same time. the cover seems to have a very slim profile.

so my question is this. does anyone cover their kayak with a cover while leaving all their gear in place? If so, how do you go about getting the correct size to accommodate the kayak and gear height? I have a 12'-9" kayak. common sense would tell me to go with a 14'+ cover to achieve this. Does anyone have experience with this?

I do a lot of long distance travel with my kayak, and for a time I traveled with my kayak cover on it. However, that meant that I had to take my graphs off of my crossbar. While it's not a big deal to take them off and put them on, it became annoying. Between that and the cover, it did add time when it came to launch or break everything down at the end of the day.

So now I travel without the cover. The graphs stay on. I remove my Sniper Marine FFS pole from the holster and place it on the deck when I travel. This way the holster doesn't encounter any undue shearing forces. My telescoping paddle also sits in the deck. My YakAttack crate stays in the tankwell, as does my battery box for my 100Ah accessories battery. I also have four tackle trays that stay in the storage area to the left of my seat.

Speaking of my seat, when I travel I also Velcro it so that it stays in the folded down position to cut wind resistance. My motor and net are in the back of my Bronco, and my rods are stowed in my Yakima rod box.

You shouldn't assume that any cover will fit. With the different widths and lengths of kayaks, you want something tailored to your kayak or at least close to it. Carver has a wide range of kayak covers available. You can search by make and model to find the one that best fits your kayak: https://www.boatcoversdirect.com/products/boat_covers/styles/kayaks-and-canoes

thanks, I will check that site out.

if you had a cover in place, why did you need to remove things from the kayak? couldn't you have kept them in place?

On 2/11/2026 at 8:47 PM, crankbait2009 said:

so my question is this. does anyone cover their kayak with a cover while leaving all their gear in place?

Almost everything goes inside my truck.

I'll keep my net and paddle in it but that's about it.

Last year I lost my measuring board driving to a lake so I'm always conscious of items blowing out.

All my rods go in the front passenger seat so if anyone comes with me they have to sit in the back. LOL

14 hours ago, crankbait2009 said:

thanks, I will check that site out.

if you had a cover in place, why did you need to remove things from the kayak? couldn't you have kept them in place?

I use the Dugout Bait and Tackle crossbar and two nine inch Garmin units on my kayak. That extra height means the cover doesn’t fit properly. It fits OK with the graphs off.

At my old lake house I did not have a garage, so I would remove the graphs and put the cover on while it was stored outside. At my new house I can back the loaded trailer into one of the garage bays.

It all depends upon how the cover fits with what you keep in there. Crossbars and crates may impact the fit. And you do want a good fit and tie it down properly so the wind doesn’t get under it while you’re driving.