[Chris Burkard]

The covers smooth the water flow over the hull bottom and keep turbulence out of the props. That is a long way to say "Reduce Cavitation".

Can you run without them? Yes, but they were designed, manufactured and installed from the factory for a reason and I personally would keep them. If you have a chunk missing, have them repaired. Any good fiberglass person should be able to repair them for less than the cost of new ones. The other issue is finding new ones. Older modes that have been out of production for a while are going to be near impossible to find.

Good Luck!