shrinkwrap

[trojanmanXS]

wondering here how many of you shrinkwrap your boats during the off season ? We have three marinas here and lived here all my life know most of the boaters"diehards" theres a big demand for shrinkwrap but am curious what one actually spends to have their boats done any rates from your local yards ?

[Mike Kulp]

I shrink wrap mine every winter, cost's around $400.00 I hear that is cheap.

[prowlersfish]

Very few in our area have it done . l

[Nancy]

We shrink wrap every year (F-32). We think it's worth it in this climate not to risk water intrusion and freezing. We could probably do it ourselves, but the divorce would be a lot more expensive than the $550 it costs.

[trojanmanXS]

I'm confused here two of you said you do it every year . does this mean you get new shrink wrap every year ? Ive shrunkwrap boats with a marina here including my own hunter h23.5 and I'm going on the 4th year with reusing my shrinkwrap. doesnt whoever does your boat remove / store and reuse it every year ?

[Torcan]

Cost $400 to join the group, this was the cost of sharing the cost for the flamers etc
The air vents are re-used every year, along with the door. Shrink wrap for my F25 is $105
so..going forward, it will be $105 plus around $25 for the propane every year.

Up here, in the great white north, it is important to not have the snow, melt and seep into the cracks, and then freeze up again. So the preventative maintenance by shrink wrapping is well worth it.
Most of us know what kind of damage can happen when water freezes in tight spots.

Except of course, the ice cubes in the drink

[Commissionpoint]

I'm old skwel and build a frame, then I A-frame a huge tarp over it. I find that if you do it right you won't have sags that fill with snow. I also think shrinkwrap is not only expensive, but wasteful. No need for me to help fill up the transfer station when so many others are already doing it.

[jefflaw35]

wife and I came up with a 5 year plan last week, Florida keys in 5 years, we can dive, fish and make $ all year round with the boat. no need to wrap up anything for winter

[Nancy]

I hate the waste. Unfortunately, the plastic does not get reused, although it does get recycled. That's still horribly wasteful IMO. I think it would be difficult to remove the plastic carefully enough to be able to re-use it even if that were a possibility.

As for tarp, we have one sitting in our attic. That little adventure was not fun, Went back to shrink wrap. There are lots of things we do ourselves. It turns out that covering the boat isn't one of them.

[Big D]

+1 Nancy. A lot of marinas are starting to have the wrap recycled instead of just throwing it in the trash bin. I think that's a good thing. Some city recycling programs will also take such plastics and recycle as well. All we have to do so it doesn't end up in the landfill is a little homework.

[boatsnbars]

Some guys I know reuse the wrap for a few years. I am too lazy to take it off neat enough. When it's time for the butterfly to emerge from it's cacoon I can't spare a single minute. All kidding aside, reuse has it's place, but it never shrinks up the same way. If you live where the snow load is possibly heavy you don't want to take a chance with a collapse under the weight. If your further south and only worried about occasional snow then it might be more feasible.

[Big D]

Some marinas put the stuff out by the road and it's not long before folks take it all away. The used stuff is great to cover all sorts of things left outdoors in the summer or the following winter. Also great to lay under work pieces that you're refinishing in doors.

[k9th]

I pay about $500 per year to have it shrink wrapped and it is new every year. My boat yard recycles the plastic.

[Paul]

Mine gets shrink wrapped every fall by the marina's crew. The cost is about $375 CDN. I then install two zipper doors myself, one at the bow and one at the cockpit. I buy the doors from a marine store for $15 each and use the shrink wrap tape to put them in. The reason that I install the two doors this. When I want to get in and out of the boat I use the cockpit door but in the spring when I'm working on the boat and its still too early to remove the plastic, it gets pretty hot under the plastic on sunny days. That's when I open the bow door as well to get good cross ventilation, It keeps the boat cool enough to be comfortable and really helps when working with chemical or paint vapors.

My hull is painted so to prevent any rub marks from the bottom strapping of the shrink wrap, I use pieces of an old pool "noodle" and slip them on all around the bottom of the shrink wrap. This keeps the shrink wrap off of the paint and also provides ample ventilation.

In the spring when the wrap comes off, I remove the doors and save them for the following season. (usually get 2 or 3 seasons out of them) Then the rest of the plastic gets cut up, bundled up and picked up by the marina for recycling. They actually give us a small rebate for recycling it.

I do know people with smaller boats that will carefully cut the plastic off in the spring and reuse it the following season to get a couple of years out of it but it never seals the boat up like the first time. It would also be very difficult to do this on a boat that has allot of features to wrap such as radar arches, search lights, etc.

Although I have the marina wrap my boat for me, I also have my own torch and equipment to wrap things myself. My inflatable tender sits outside on a trailer all winter so it gets wrapped as well as my patio furniture which get's stacked up and wrapped.

[Rich Schwochow]

I've been shrinking my own F-32 for over 15 years. I am lucky enough to buy it at a wholesale price. One 36'x110' rolle costs $170.00 and change, and will do the entire boat down to the waterline twice. Roughly, $85.00 per season. I also have enough scrap left to cover a few yard things.