Shrink It

With Winter breathing down our necks it is time for live aboards to defend ourselves. We chose to wrap our boat in shrink wrap for our first Winter experience. Unlike boats in storage we use clear plastic in stead of the white to allow some natural light to filter in. The process starts with building a frame work as shown below.

After the frame is built we pulled the plastic wrap over and secured it to the lines we had previously strung around the boat.

Waiting for a weather window, you need no wind and no moisture, we started taping holes in the plastic from where the mast and rigging go through and attached a door. The out came the propane shrink gun and lots of careful heating and shrinking the plastic until it resembled a greenhouse. So far it has been great. The wrap added another area we can live, store and hang out in. It protects us from ice and rain when we open the companionway to go inside which keeps the interior much drier. Last week it was 85 degrees inside during the day while it was 40 degrees out side. 

With a few small snow falls and some stormy rain days under our wrap so far we hope it lasts out the season and makes Winter a fun experiance.