DIY shrink-wrapping?

[ted_reshetiloff]

Thanks Tom. I don't know why I am afraid of doing this one myself, but I am going to get some estimates on having it done before I try it myself. I am sure once I end up seeing it done I am going to be ashamed at myself for paying someone to do it. I have a finger pier on one side and could get the rest via the dinghy...

 

[marid22]

Gareth
Here is the people who did my canvas cover:

Patino Canvas
Haverstraw Marina (North Area)
Stony Point, NY
Phone:845-429-6146

I have also heard good things about these folks, but I have no personal knowledge.:

Seafarer Canvas
7 WESTERLY RD
OSSINING, NY 10562-4108
Phone: 914-923-3544


Good luck and let me know if you will be stopping by the marina, always happy to meet up with another viking.
Margaret

 

[marid22]

Gareth

Yes we had the mast up. Boom supports back end of cover and halyard front end. Zippers in middle to connect both halves and a zippered entrance on the stern. If that helps.

Margaret

 

[NateHanson]

Thanks for the tips and encouragement Ted. I did the job today, and it went well. Just two or three decent holes, and a few pinholes too. I built a conduit frame to support the cover without resting on the deck anywhere (since I'm planning to refinish the deck and rebed all deck hardware). Frame construction took the morning with removing the pulpit and pushpit, and shrink wrapping took the afternoon. That's one person working alone on a 26 footer. Not bad at all.

One tip I'd mention, is get a tall step-ladder. I had an 8-footer, and it was tall enough for the shrinking (standing on the penultimate step), but if I put a hole near the ridge I would not have been able to patch it.

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

FWIW I decided not to shrink this year as it looked like too much for me to do myself and local guys wanted 500-600 to do it. The other thing was the windage I was concerned about. We got some breeze in a blow the other day and had 25-30 kts at the dock. The boat was heeling quite a bit with bare poles. I wonder how it would behave in a winter storm as the slip is not that much wider than the boat. Oh yeah the otehr reason was that I got my 4 fixed ports rebuilt and they don't leak at all now!

 

[u079721]

That shrinkwrapping is amazingly expensive to have done. My yard's rates for my boat were $800 storage outdoors, with an additional $500 to shirk wrap the boat. Or you could store indoors for $1500 (just $200 more!) which is what I chose for the 11 seasons I owned Rag Doll. A bit more money, but I really liked not having to worry about the tarp coming undone or the snow load on the deck.

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

Indoors would be sweet especially if I could work on it. Problem is space in the annapolis area I don't know ofd anyplace that could store a 38 foot boat indoors for less than a kings ransome...