# To Shrink or not to Shrink???



## ujk (Sep 12, 2011)

To all liveaboards out there: 
Am sure this subject has steered its way into the forum several times, but what is your latest view and experience(S)? Am liveaboard in NJ across from NYC - and what say you? To shrink or not to shrink for winter? Not talking about "third ear" either. LOL - though I've been told i could use one for taking the plunge to liveaboard especially during the winter! - Waterlily


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## cranki (Jun 11, 2006)

I am about to move aboard myself in Southwestern CT. Talking to the folks who run the marina I am going into, it seems like almost everybody shrink wraps for the winter. I am definitely planning on it and am going with clear for maximum warmth. I plan to replace all the ports while undercover this winter.


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

We lived aboard at Liberty Landing in Jersey City for two winters and did not shrink wrap and did not miss it. A few comments:
- they would not let you do your own and the approved contractor was very expensive and was still doing boats in late January which makes little sense
- a significant majority of liveaboard boats were not shrink wrapped
- we had a full enclosure for our cockpit and that was a very nice feature since it gave us a 'mud room' on wet days and an extra room on sunny days (a good feature of shrink wrapping too
- we had good heating (Espar with 5 outlets) so insulation was not as much of an issue


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## ujk (Sep 12, 2011)

Uhmmm, it seems i am getting mixed reviews on shrink wrap. I will wait and see as there other factors to consider....Thanks and Good day mate, Killarney - do you ever sleep down under? It seems you're always up and about!!!


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## Tim R. (Mar 23, 2003)

Definitely shrink if you do not plan to do any frost-biting.

We take the mast down every year and shrink using clear. The entire deck is our winter sunroom.


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## ujk (Sep 12, 2011)

Cool! Your weather is a wee colder than NJ? Also, debating whether to take the mast down. LHYC doesn't offer many services so nearest marina that I'd have to contact is Liberty (see Killarney). About when do you shrink? I'm thinking of covering it with Top Gun or Sunforger - which is my next thread...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
btw, is E.T. in there? LOL!


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## Siamese (May 9, 2007)

"third ear"?


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## killarney_sailor (May 4, 2006)

*In Vancouver airport*



ujk said:


> Uhmmm, it seems i am getting mixed reviews on shrink wrap. I will wait and see as there other factors to consider....Thanks and Good day mate, Killarney - do you ever sleep down under? It seems you're always up and about!!!


I have been in Toronto for a month for my son's wedding. Waiting in Vancouver for flight to Sydney and then back to Ainia in Brisbane.


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## DougSabbag (Aug 3, 2011)

For whatever value. We were in Boston last winter with a Gulfstar 50 sailboat. Well, most of our neighbors were shrink wrapped, while we were not. 

We were fine, with 2 cheap electric / ceramic space heaters. 

I think the major factors involved are how big are your windows? And, do you have inner walls?

I noticed that M/V s have those large windows, and therefore seem to need all the insulation they can get. Likewise, without our inner teak walls, we would have been missing all that insulating effect.

And, we do not want to live like that. It is almost claustrophobic to be inside a plastic bag.
We enjoy looking outside, instead of being in a bag.

We experienced one of the 3 worst winters on record last year in Boston, yet we were comfy, holding to no less than 65 at the worst, and usually we were at 70 degrees, or more.

I should mention that we shut off the crews' quarters, and the bow cabin. So we were only heating the main salon, galley, and aft cabin, plus 2 heads.

We also "did the math" and they wanted over $1200 to wrap our boat, which would in no way be offset by whatever conceptual electric savings we could possibly attain.

So, for whatever value, there you go.


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## SVAuspicious (Oct 31, 2006)

Five years aboard, never shrink wrapped in Annapolis MD. We don't stay cold as long as more northern climes but we do get as cold.

I use an oil-filled radiator to maintain a reasonable temperature and kick on the Espar in the mornings to get the boat up into the 70s.


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## lancelot9898 (Dec 30, 2008)

DougSabbag said:


> We were fine, with 2 cheap electric / ceramic space heaters.
> 
> .


Thanks for your input Doug. Sorry about being so hard on you on the other thread.

I too used ceramic heaters during most of the 20 years of living aboard on the maryland portion of the Cheapeake Bay. During the winter months I always removed the sails and installed a canvas tarp over the boat. It was not custom made just a retangular tarp set up above the boom so that a good slope was achieved to shed the snow. Two winters ago when we got two snowfalls of more than 30 inches each, it did a good job of keeping most of the snow out of the cockpit and off of most of the deck.

There was only one time during those 20 years when I needed to run another power cord to achieve adequate warmth in the cabin. The outside temperature was in single digits and I was pulling close to the 30 amp limit of the single power cord using the built in heater along with the space heaters. The thing to be careful about is the contact that the power cord makes with the boat. Be certain that good contact is made since any resistance might cause a fire.

I now miss living aboard and even during the winter when I couldn't go out sailing there was a certain charm about being there on the water. That lifestyle is not for everyone, but since I enjoy backpacking even in the winter living on a boat seemed easy.


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## Tim R. (Mar 23, 2003)

We do not shrinkwrap to improve heating efficiency. We do it to protect our boat. I would get better insulation if I let hte snow pileup on deck.

The shrinkwrap protects the deck from snow and ice and also allows me to do any work on the exterior while under cover.

The mast also comes down and gets stored inside simply to protect it and the rigging.



ujk said:


> About when do you shrink?


Last year it was about 2 weeks before Christmas. This year will likely be just after Thanksgiving.


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## ujk (Sep 12, 2011)

Siamese: "Third Ear" 'twas the name of my professor's boat- (psychiatrist by day) 
;-)


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## swaimah44 (Sep 5, 2011)

I wrote a "how to" post on shrink wrapping on the Maine live aboards web site, please take a look. It may answer some questions

Shrinkwraping | MaineLiveaboards

Travis


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## Umeds? (Jan 9, 2006)

Cool pic treilley!


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## fallard (Nov 30, 2009)

Ventilation has to be an issue for a liveaboard. While there are normally a few vents installed in the shrinkwrapped boats here in southeastern CT, you may need more to handle increased moisture (cooking, breathing, washing) and to vent combustion products from interior heat sources (e.g., stove,heaters, oil lamps) that otherwise aren't vented outside the shrinkwrap. A carbon monoxide detector would be a good investment, too.


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## boatsbikesburritos (Dec 15, 2011)

Shrinkwrapping isn't necessarily so much a function of heat, though it's a nice benefit. You can run an extra shore power cable and plug in double space heaters if you're getting chilly, but with all the caveats that constant high-amperage utilities necessitate.

Shrinking, at least the clear stuff, creates a layer of semi-trapped air, essentially a greenhouse. Sunlight permeates and warms up the area to the point where it's almost tropical in there on a 40-degree day. It also prevents winter wind from blowing heat right away from the deck, helping whatever heat source you have to be more efficient. It's essentially a great layer of insulation.

It also (more importantly) prevents the freeze-thaw cycle: snow piles on deck, the snow melts in the sunshine the next day, water seeps into tiny cracks in the deck or between stanchion beddings, then re-freezes that night, widening existing cracks and eventually (over years) doing significant deck damage which takes either serious money or time (or both) to fix.

Shrinking prevents that. Most other benefits are just ancillary, IMHO.


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