quote:
Originally posted by Anchor Management
For years I had my boats stored inside. No heat but out of the elements. Put a Home Depot tarp over just to keep dust and bird poop off. Unfortunately this boat will not fit. I'm sure I will continue to shrink wrap but sometimes I get to thinking. I do see some out in the elements. I believe I pay over a grand to have it wrapped so if an occasional repair needed to be done, it would probably be worth it. Again, not going to but sometimes it seems crazy to cover for that much. I have never considered having a permanent tarp made because I usually don't keep boats long enough for the payback.
I've never seen a tarp survive it's second season, even framed properly.
Insight from someone that moonlighted winterizing and shrink-wrapping boats for many years until I moved out west and, to be immodest, was really good at it:
If your boat is a 52' SeaRay, it's going to be ludicrously expensive for an independent guy. A boatyard will give you a straight rate on it, but that's the kind of boat I'd quote an "I really, really don't want this job" price on. The taller the boat and the more structure, the (exponentially) harder it gets. A trailered boat, or even a small one on stands, that I can work from ground level, I can do fast and not worry about getting knocked off a ladder or staging when a sight gust catches the plastic. I don't have to juggle enormous pieces of plastic trying to keep them from touching the ground. One of the boatyards that I had a contract with had a few Grand Banks. Had to have them hang me from a crane to do most of the boat. It sucked. Absolutely hated it, but the easy boats made up enough of the contract I'd suck it up.
My favorite jobs were the handful of small, less profitable ones, where the owners wanted it done as cheap as possible - but they were the GOOD kind of make-it-cheap customers. NOT the kind that told me exactly what they wanted and nothing more, but the ones that ASKED me what exactly they could do to make it cheaper. If they moved the boat to the middle of a driveway, put up the framing the way I marked it the year before, and have it completely ready to go, I could belly band it, pull plastic, trim and tuck, seam, tie down, and shrink it without even bothering to shut my truck down. 16-24 foot trailer boat like that could be done in 15 minutes or so for a few bucks a foot.
A sailboat where I need stands, pull lines, ladders and planks, lots of framing and padding, up and down ladders (and up and down and up and down once I'm at the point where I can't just hang on and move the ladder over with my feet) - it sucks. Especially when the mast is still stepped. $5'ft minimum for favorite customers (read: nice people), ten a foot minimum if the mast is still stepped.
A 52' SeaRay is about as difficult as it gets. Even a Banks is easier (enough structure to create enough 'natural' angles). Lot of solid framing and padding forward, death trap to cut proper vents (stick on vents are garbage, cut a rectangle, cover with tape, diagonal slits in tape, squeeze the 'slats' together, tape eyebrow over it). You have a low angle and have to lean way in, and of you fall, not only does your ladder kick out so you're falling off the boat, which sucks, but you'll probably wreck about $50-$100 worth of plastic and a few hours of labor. And an independent guy is probably not carrying much 34x, mainly 20 and 24 by.
My customer base was loyal repeat customers and friends of in short order, but they got that way because I did what I said, when I said I would, did it well, and did it as inexpensively as possible. But a boat like yours - even a fair quote, not a "I really really really don't want this job because I'll make more doing three easier boats in the same timeframe" price would probably be close to a grand. You're looking at 65-75 feet of plastic, probably at least 32' x, at cost 5 years or so ago would probably be close to $2/ft, framing, padding, strapping another $50-$100, all told in the neighborhood of $250-$300 in consumables. You're not doing a boat like that solo unless you're suicidal, so you're looking at another $15/hr for a helper that knows what they're doing, so consumables and labor you're up to about $400. The remaining $5-600 would be eaten up in time, aggravation, gas, propane, wear and tear, and more profitable time lost, disposal of plastic in the spring, making the job only worth a few hundred in profit.
Now that I think about it...materials costs what they were when I stopped doing it, I'd have probably done that boat for right around, maybe a bit under a grand, first year. Slightly less next year.
If you've got the time and someone to help you learn to do it, you'd probably be ahead of the game by year two doing it yourself. Shrinkfast 998 (don't even bother entertaining anything else) will set you back $5-600, plastic probably a couple hundred after shipping.
