Boat cover or shrink wrap?

[Polaris]

Have had shrink wrap the two winters I have owned my Searay 270, but am thinking about alternatives. The boat will be on the hard. The cost of a cover seems to be about 2X the cost of shrink wrap, but should last for several years. It looks like a cover will protect the entire boat but am concerned how it would handle snow load, which should slide right off wrap ( and, it looks like a lot of snow expected this year.)

Any suggestions and experience welcome.

 

[KC_Sundancer]

I have always been "covering" our 270DA with no issues and as you can see we get plenty of snow.

There are numerous ways to support a canvas.
Used a fabricated wood frame similar to a swing set for a few years - in the pictures below.
The forward a-frame and large mid-frame are no longer used.
Now I have a single post clamped to the tongue of the trailer and a short mid-support on the deck just in front of the windshield.
I span the length with two 14 foot 2 x 8's bolted together as a beam up above the radar.
There are also sets of 2x4 ribs used to keep the tarp from sagging and holding snow.
.

A 30 x 40 heavy duty silver tarp fits perfectly and I do not need the blue filler seen in the picture.
The silver tarps do not break down and make a mess like the cheap blue ones do.
Just bought a new silver tarp for $153.00 after getting 5 winters out of the last one.
It's been the most economical and clean winter protection for us. :thumbsup:

 

[cfd95]

If you carefully take the shrink wrap off in the spring you can reuse it again.
Fold it up and store in a dry place.

 

[Smokeio]

If you carefully take the shrink wrap off in the spring you can reuse it again.
Fold it up and store in a dry place.

I got 8 years reusing my first shrink wrap on my first boat. I'm on my 3rd year with this wrap and it looks great.

 

[Strecker25]

Having ours wrapped this year but would love to save it. Any tips on removal so it can be reused?

 

[cfd95]

Having ours wrapped this year but would love to save it. Any tips on removal so it can be reused?

I start at the transom carefully pulling it over the swim platform corners the carefully work my way to the front.

 

[Strecker25]

Great, thanks! I look forward to being able to reuse it, a few hundred bucks a year is a nice savings.

 

[cwiert]

I got 8 years reusing my first shrink wrap on my first boat. I'm on my 3rd year with this wrap and it looks great.

THat's great. I got 5 years our of my shrink wrap on my last boat. By the 5th year, I had used a bunch of gorella tape to tape up the holes and thin spots starting to wear through.

The key is to save the framing. You need to hold on to that over the summer so you can reuse the shrink wrap in the fall. I kept my boat at the marina for the winter, so I took the framing home with me in the spring, and brought it back to the marina in the fall so I could reuse the wrap.

 

[Polaris]

Thanks for the tips about saving the shrink wrap. However, what I am actually considering is one of the commercially available whole boat covers, like from Empire and National Boat Covers. Anyone have experience with these?

 

[Big Dave]

I used shrink wrap for the first year at a cost of $840 and that was the last time I did that. The next summer I had a custom cover made in Detroit for the cost of $800 it was a no brainer, that was 5 years ago and the cover still looks new.

 

[Tonka Boater]

I had mine shrink wrapped again this year but I'm leaning toward getting a custom cover going forward. Part of the decision depends on your storage situation and your ability to check on the boat over the winter to brush off heavy/wet snow that could accumulate.

In my case, I keep it at an outdoor storage lot within 2 miles of my house. The downside with my location is that there is always a possibility of field mice or raccoons in this area. The shrink wrap is tight enough that it keeps the critters out and the snow slides right off. If I go custom, it needs to be tight and I won't sleep unless I check on her after every snowfall. I will likely go custom and also cover with a plastic tarp to help the snow slide off.

 

[rondds]

To answer your question, I have been covering my boats since winter of 2004.

Below is my previous boat, with a cover from Fisher Canvas Products. It lasted 8 winters and it took Hurricane Sandy to kill it (and kill the boat!)

Further below that is the cover on my current boat. It is from H. F. Fisher and Sons. This will be my 3rd winter with the white one.

The grey cover is very heavy and hard to handle on a boat this size. The white cover is about 1/3 the weight. The payback time on both these covers was 3 winters.

 

[rondds]

Frame for the grey cover (PVC)

Frame for white cover - PVC and a couple of 2 by 3's

 

[Quint4]

Another frame option with 2X4s: