When I was in high school my Dad went all around our area looking for a pontoon boat. Having a boat and a house with water access was the concession for us moving out of the woods and into the city.
The pontoon boat was pretty cool, but needed work. Dad got the pontoons replaced and then went around and about looking for a boat cover. Eventually we found a pontoon boat cover at a local merchant, for many of the reasons cited in the article on boatcoversadvice.com. It’s hard to keep the boat clean, and if you’re stuck out on a lake when it’s cold and wet the cover can double as a wind and water shield. It kept us dry many times, although it could be very hard to put on as snug as it was. It took us several months to get the cover on our boat. Dad wanted things customized and that meant a lot more negotiations and work, and one of the big things I disliked about the cover was all the work we had to put in to maintain it. We would have to wipe things down, spray off the plastic window parts.
Overall the issue with keeping things clean didn’t compare to the fun we had out on the lakes on the boat; but when you’re a teenager these things make you whiny and pouty because it’s just so horrible that you’re parents are expecting you to work.