A Cover For The Quig

When you tow a vehicle on dry roads and in nice weather, you don't, as a rule, worry about doing damage to it in tow by throwing stones and other debris up behind the coach that damages the paint, the windshield, the radiator- that kind of thing. But come across lousy, wet weather and add to the mix a lumpy bumpy coarse gravel road and you can do all kinds of damage to everything I mentioned. We demonstrated the truth of that to ourselves when we drove the coach, Honda Odyssey in tow, all the way to Alaska back in the summer of 2007. About half way through the summer (we spent the entire summer up there) we realized the damage had already begun and was getting worse fast. Our stop gap solution was call Coastline Covers outside of Los Angeles, CA to make a cover for that van and ship it up to us in Ninilchik, AK. They made the cover and got it up to us in short order and we used it all the way back to the lower 48 and then all the way across the country heading back east. It's the only tow cover we know of that comes in a single piece and it is custom cut for most all vehicles that are towable. There simply isn't a better product on the market. It's fine quality crafted and comes with a lifetime guarantee. What could be better?



But when we traded vehicles last Fall from the Odyssey to the Quigley 4X4 Chevy Express van, we found ourselves towing a vehicle that noone else tows in this fashion. There was no pattern in the repertoire of Coastline Covers, so we made it a point, and an appointment, to visit them at their shop in Rancho Cucamonga for a custom fit job on the Quig. Before any damage can be done! Gloria met us on arrival and set things in motion. Master pattern maker(who has been doing this now for 14 years) Gumecindo set about the task of turning a custom fitted paper pattern into the heavy duty vinyl cover- a process that took about 2 hours. He did the same for the rear view side mirrors. Alma made the necessary revisions to the cover, cut and stitched the openings for antennas, wire and air harnesses and emergeny breakaway cable. Then we helped Gloria check the final fit. Perfect.

In addition to the tow covers, the company also makes spare tire covers, tire sun guard covers, coach masks, boat covers, mesh window covers for Rv's, bicyle and motorcycle covers, gazedbos and umbrellas, and a whole host of related items. Many items are stocked but there really isn't anything they can't makeup if they can just get a measurement for what you need. They've always provided great service and we are true believers in the quality and the effectiveness of their product line. Watching the process was both educational and fun, especially since it was made "in the shadow" of the snow covered San Gabriel Mountains you will see in the background of the pictures if you look closely.

Here comes a little slide show on our cover being made, fitted, finalized and refitted: