Blue gator cover, no antenna hole or sleeve.

[Austintatious]

For those who may be considering a Blue gator cover,  I ordered one from them through Amazon for 600 dollars shipped.  In every photo of their cover on Amazon and every photo on their website they picture a M20k with the stock forward antenna that sits just above and behind the pilot above the B pillar. 

I received the cover and there is no sleeve or hole to accommodate the antenna.

No where on the amazon listing or their website do they state that the cover has no provisions for the antenna that exist for 99% of M20K's.  They do mention it is field modifiable, which after the conversation with customer service today means that you just cut a hole in the cover and it is "self healing".  I do not want to do this as it will let rain get into and under the cover.  They also do not sell a sleeve that can be sown or glued into a hole.

The owner is supposed to call me tomorrow to work out a solution, which I suspect will just result in me returning the cover.

 

Ye be warned.

[Hank]

Things like this just make me so happy that my forward antenna was replaced with GPS puck, and both comm antennas are behind the cover!

Just a hint for people doing major panel work. That's the time to move antennae!

[carusoam]

https://bluegatorcovers.com/M20-M201205231252-MSE_c_2681.html

They don’t seem to have a presence on MS…

Best regards,

-a-

[Greg Ellis]

8 hours ago, carusoam said:

https://bluegatorcovers.com/M20-M201205231252-MSE_c_2681.html

They don’t seem to have a presence on MS…

Best regards,

-a-

I think one red flag on the fit of the cover is that they use the exact same stock photos on their website no matter which you choose (early models vs 201 and up).  Seems pretty generic that they do that.  I have also been burned by Amazon before advertising something and what I get is not what I ordered.  For instance, they will show a photo of something, say a 4 pack of something, advertise it as such and when you receive it there are only 2 of them.  It pays to read the reviews on Amazon but fish out the 4 star and up reviews that are just supporters of the company selling the product.  I feel there are a lot of fake reviews on Amazon to bolster the product on the website.

For instance, I ordered a compost bin off of Amazon.  It got great reviews.  But there were 2 reviews (out of hundreds) that stated that when they received the bin it was missing a key part.  I thought, well that is just a fluke.  There are so many great reviews it could never happen to me.  Sure enough, mine arrived missing that same part.  Called the company.  It was misrepresented on Amazon.  The other part that is important to the bin is sold separately but the Amazon ad did not tell you this.  All the good reviews were there to bolster the product and not legit reviews.  So that is my buyer beware on Amazon.  Sorry it does not add much to help but sometimes you just got to rant. 

[Greg Ellis]

14 hours ago, Austintatious said:

For those who may be considering a Blue gator cover,  I ordered one from them through Amazon for 600 dollars shipped.  In every photo of their cover on Amazon and every photo on their website they picture a M20k with the stock forward antenna that sits just above and behind the pilot above the B pillar. 

I received the cover and there is no sleeve or hole to accommodate the antenna.

No where on the amazon listing or their website do they state that the cover has no provisions for the antenna that exist for 99% of M20K's.  They do mention it is field modifiable, which after the conversation with customer service today means that you just cut a hole in the cover and it is "self healing".  I do not want to do this as it will let rain get into and under the cover.  They also do not sell a sleeve that can be sown or glued into a hole.

The owner is supposed to call me tomorrow to work out a solution, which I suspect will just result in me returning the cover.

 

Ye be warned.

I probably would just return it if I were you.  If you make any adjustment to it even if it is advised by the owner of the company and it does not work out right or something happens to the cover later on (that is not related to this issue) you may have voided any warranty by making an adjustment to the cover.

[Austintatious]

Update:

I wanted to give some more info and post what I did. 

First thing is that there were no reviews on Amazon for the listing.  So I got no information there.

I spoke with someone again this morning.  They were pretty dismissive of my concerns about water intrusion.  There was no resolution such as a sleeve they could send me to sew in, they really just expect me to cut a hole in a 600.00 cover.  Baffling.  

I put in for the return and called Bruce's custom covers.  For $100.00 more (700.00) they are making me a cover that has the tail number embroidered on it and has a sleeve for the antenna.  They were familiar with the stock location and verified it with a simple side photo of my aircraft.