Shrink wrap vs tarps.

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PasadenaPhil

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2019
Messages
29
Location
USA
Vessel Make
1986 Fu Hwa 42’
I am preparing to pull the boat this Mid November. I already have the spot reserved and paid for winter haul out and storage. Now. I was just quoted 1000$ for shrink wrap with vents, access door and mildew packs. Does this seem high? I am re-launching the boat April 1st. I will be doing my own bottom paint, zin=CSU and hull and deck polish as well. The boat would have to be unwrapped mid March for me to start these projects. I think 1000$ for roughly 4 months is a bit much. I think I will just purchase 3 or 4 big 20 X 80 Tarps and completely tarp and ratchet strap everything for the winter? Thoughts please.
 
It depends on how much snow and ice you will get. The shrink wrap will shed the snow and ice much better than a tarp. The shrink wrap is slicker and gets tighter so the snow will slid easier. If the snow and ice sits on the tarp it will eventually get inside. I guess if it were me I would take into account how much you normally get and then flip a mental coin. How big is your boat, how many square feet. Here they charge $1 per square foot.
 
Shrink wrap is definitely nice for shedding snow. And it tends to hold up well in wind too. But it's expensive, and depending on how it's framed, etc. it can put a lot of pressure on some areas of decks, etc. Some boats seem to develop a lot more stress cracks while shrink wrapped, it seems.
 
Every boat outside here gets shrink wrapped and there is no evidence of stress cracking. If that were happening there would be a huge uproar and there isn’t any talk about that.
 
Price seems consistent with or better than what I used to pay several years ago in Massachusetts for a 47ft without the added doors etc. The tarps always seem to get shredded no matter how they start out. Also, the shrinkwrap with door will enable you to work on / inspect the boat during the Winter. It can get quite warm under the wrap when the sun shines.
 
It would cost me $574 here for my 41’ boat to have it shrinked but I store it inside for $1450.
 
Comodave said:
Every boat outside here gets shrink wrapped and there is no evidence of stress cracking. If that were happening there would be a huge uproar and there isn’t any talk about that.
Click to expand...

If it's done well it shouldn't cause stress cracks. But depending on how strong the decks are, how well the framing spreads the load, how tightly they shrink it, etc. it can be a (minor) issue. I've never seen it cause anything concerning, just a few small gelcoat cracks where things flexed slightly under the load.
 
How do you know the stress cracks were because of the shrink wrap?
 
Comodave said:
How do you know the stress cracks were because of the shrink wrap?
Click to expand...

On one boat, they switched from using canvas winter covers to shrink wrap. The first couple of winters with shrink wrap, the boat gained a few new gelcoat cracks each winter until they figured out which areas needed the load spread more by the framing. Of course, condition and strength of the decks in that case is unknown to me.

And of course, I've seen plenty of shrink wrapped boats with no unusual cracks or anything, so I'm sure any concern varies based on the boat and the skill of the people doing the framing and wrapping.
 
Well, when you get a boat shrink wrapped you should actually get someone who knows what they are doing. I guess I assumed it was someone professional doing the wrapping. The people here are good at it and don’t have problems.
 
We pay about $750 to shrink wrap ours. Looks like our boat is roughly the same size as the OP's, ours is 42 LOA, aft deck hardtop, pretty tall boat, etc. I just hated the idea of spending $750 only to throw it all in a dumpster in the spring, but the shrink wrap does shed snow very well. Much better protection for the boat in our harsh winters. The tarps were a huge hassle and awkward and even if I secured them well with a million bungee cords and weights (a number of owners in our marina use plastic milk jugs filled with sand), I still had to check it every few weeks and adjust/repair. For the past few years we've decided the cost of shrink wrapping is worth it. Swallows (or some messy birds) would fly through the openings between tarps and make nests under the aft deck roof and I'd have to power-wash big piles of bird guano off the carpets in the spring. Of course unlike the OP (Maryland, relatively mild) our storage period is closer to six months and winter is brutal, snow, wind, etc.

I really haven't noticed any more or less stress cracking with tarps or shrink wrapping. With shrink wrapping I don't have to worry about flapping of loose tarp edges and grommets against the gel coat in high winds either, that was a persistent problem.
 
One issue with shrink wrap is on a painted boat. The wrap if it is put against paint can ruin the paint because it can trap moisture against the paint. If your boat is painted you need a small spacer between the wrap and the painted parts.
 
In marina around here if you choose your own tarp instead of having them wrap it they decline any responsibility in case your tarp is damaged by snow or wind and you are responsible to periodically go there to check it as if the tarp opens they won't put it back or even touch it. For peace of mind I was choosing wrap before as the boat was 45 by car from my home and I did not want to go there all the time to check. Now the boat is stored under a shed, so no wrap nor tarp.
If you choose to wrap put moisture grabber in your boat as even if ventilated it has tendency to keep humidity on the high level.

L
 
You might want to consider investing in a canvas cover. Our boat came from MD and had a custom cover. We are going into our 4th season (it is 7 years old) and it has held up great through wind and snow. I have built a frame so it sheds snow better but that was easy. At end of season we just roll it up and store. I priced a new one and it was around $8500 but was told it would last 10-15 years which is less than shrink wrap over similar time. Added benefit is we are not disposing of mass load of plastic every year.
 
I pay almost a grand for a 34 Marine Trader to be shrink wrapped every year.

It's worth it.
 
Settled then. I met the guy and we discussed all the options and I feel better knowing the boat will be dry and safer than tarps and that’s the general consensus on the reply’s you have all provided. I think the east coast is in for nasty weather this year. I’m originally from the Lake Michigan area and it seems like things here in the Annapolis area are already getting colder than usual. Shrink wrap it is!
 
Comodave said:
One issue with shrink wrap is on a painted boat. The wrap if it is put against paint can ruin the paint because it can trap moisture against the paint. If your boat is painted you need a small spacer between the wrap and the painted parts.
Click to expand...
Yes but... tarps usually contain glass reinforcing and the damage they can do with wind etc can far exceed any moisture probs w paint.
It's all about wrapping properly.
 
Yes it is a bit of a skill. Also I would not do it myself. Boat/US has a lot of fire damage claims resulting from a DIY shrink wrap job.
 
I get my boat wrapped to keep leaves, rain & snow off it.


And on a sunny day it does put some warmth in boat as a bonus.
 
Just make sure they put adequate vents in the wrap to let the moisture out.
 
Hmmm

My boat was designed to be outdoors.

I have never shrink wrapped a boat here in Alaska, although some do...perhaps 25% of the non sail boats.

frankly if my boat cannot stand to be outside in the weather then I need a different boat.
 
I keep ours under a covered berth. Never gets moisture on it. Does not freeze but couple days a year; hits freezing here in early morning. Warms during the day. We can use boat all year!

When I was in New England during 50's, 60's early 70's... before shrink wrap was available... we built frames onto boat and wrapped in good canvas. Worked well and we often worked on the boat in winter months.
 
PasadenaPhil said:
I am preparing to pull the boat this Mid November. I already have the spot reserved and paid for winter haul out and storage. Now. I was just quoted 1000$ for shrink wrap with vents, access door and mildew packs. Does this seem high? I am re-launching the boat April 1st. I will be doing my own bottom paint, zin=CSU and hull and deck polish as well. The boat would have to be unwrapped mid March for me to start these projects. I think 1000$ for roughly 4 months is a bit much. I think I will just purchase 3 or 4 big 20 X 80 Tarps and completely tarp and ratchet strap everything for the winter? Thoughts please.
Click to expand...

PasadenaPhil said:
Settled then. I met the guy and we discussed all the options and I feel better knowing the boat will be dry and safer than tarps and that’s the general consensus on the reply’s you have all provided. I think the east coast is in for nasty weather this year. I’m originally from the Lake Michigan area and it seems like things here in the Annapolis area are already getting colder than usual. Shrink wrap it is!
Click to expand...


If it helps, I think shrink wrapping around here also includes building the frame necessary to support it, take stress off rub rails/stanchions, clear antennas, etc.... and you'd have to do all that yourself if you were to use tarps. I think the commercial shrink wrappers also come take the stuff away for recycling afterwards, too.

FWIW, we don't do either, but then we've got a load-bearing hardtop over our bridge, full bridge enclosure, etc.... and ice up there melts off fairly quickly... so even if we get some serious snow, it's mostly a cockpit problem. Although shoveling a couple feet of snow out of a boat cockpit -- in the water, at our slip -- brings with it a certain amount of irony...

-Chris
 
IF you have a place to store it, you can re-use the shrink wrap and frame.
You just have to be creative on how you remove the shrink wrap.
 
ksanders said:
Hmmm

My boat was designed to be outdoors.

I have never shrink wrapped a boat here in Alaska, although some do...perhaps 25% of the non sail boats.

frankly if my boat cannot stand to be outside in the weather then I need a different boat.
Click to expand...


If you boat (or are even on the boat) year round, I can fully understand that. But if it's in storage for the winter and not being used, having it covered means no shoveling snow off the decks, no worries about melt/re-freeze forcing water into places it shouldn't. Plus the boat stays cleaner too. And if you have any work to do, it means you're not doing it out in the weather.
 
A 42' FB trawler is probably just a bit too big for one tarp. Trying to fit multiple tarps is always a challenge. $1K seems to be in the ball park, but you might want to shop around just to be sure.

I'll be tarping again this season. My primary reason is to avoid damage from an overly rushed shrink-wrap crew. Every year I've had it done, anywhere, it's the same story. The weather is bad. They're way behind. There are two snowfalls before they get to my boat. They walk all over my decks and white vinyl seats with muddy boots. They secure the frame to the radome, or to some other fragile part. They always break something. They don't leave room for me to move around or access things inside.

The last straw came when the 1x3 pine ridge pole they were using for the frame broke, and the snow collapsed my entire Bimini. I'd asked them to either take it down, or let me know when they were going to wrap it and I'd take it down. But they were in too much of a rush.

Tarping isn't easy. You have to get the slope right for shedding snow. You have to keep it 100% tight so the wind can't lift a corner and take it away. You have to make sure you don't leave any section that can collect rain water and make a "pool" which will pull the whole tarp in. But to me, it's better than the alternative.
 
When we purchased our boat in Connecticut (Chester Point) it was to late in the winter season to get her home and we knew she had a few leaks so we had the yard wrap her. I have no prior experience with the process, but we felt that they did a great job. We are in Florida so we didn't get to see them wrap her, but we did take off the wrap ourselves in May. It struck me as being very well done. I remember the price being in the neighborhood of $700. Well worth it to us, and we are cheap.[emoji16]
 
CaptTom said:
A 42' FB trawler is probably just a bit too big for one tarp. Trying to fit multiple tarps is always a challenge. $1K seems to be in the ball park, but you might want to shop around just to be sure.

I'll be tarping again this season. My primary reason is to avoid damage from an overly rushed shrink-wrap crew. Every year I've had it done, anywhere, it's the same story. The weather is bad. They're way behind. There are two snowfalls before they get to my boat. They walk all over my decks and white vinyl seats with muddy boots. They secure the frame to the radome, or to some other fragile part. They always break something. They don't leave room for me to move around or access things inside.

The last straw came when the 1x3 pine ridge pole they were using for the frame broke, and the snow collapsed my entire Bimini. I'd asked them to either take it down, or let me know when they were going to wrap it and I'd take it down. But they were in too much of a rush.

Tarping isn't easy. You have to get the slope right for shedding snow. You have to keep it 100% tight so the wind can't lift a corner and take it away. You have to make sure you don't leave any section that can collect rain water and make a "pool" which will pull the whole tarp in. But to me, it's better than the alternative.
Click to expand...


You need to find someone else to do your wrapping. That is terrible work.
 
shrink wrap vs tarp

With care and some tape you can re-use the shrink wrap the next year. I once got 3 years out of one.
 
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