Shrink wrapping or tarping O'day sailboats

[Panta Rei]

I've seen many ways to cover an O'day sailboat. Some techniques are expensive, some not so much. Are they effect?? I'd like to know.
Please let us know how you do it. Give us an idea as to the cost, effort involved, and effectiveness. Do you check on your boat often or leave it until spring?

Start your post with the O'day Model number.

Thanks in advance.

PS..Pictures would be helpfull

 

[rajhnsn]

1985 Oday 35 Upper Chesapeake Bay

I may have mentioned this once before but since you asked you'll have to put up with it again. I'll try to add something worthwhile but that is likely to be in the eyes of the reader. I bought several heavy duty canvas tarps several years and after they sat in my garage for a couple of years, my partner in sailing crime decided to use them as one of his first sewing projects to make a cover for the boat. It goes on in three sections. Although it is pretty heavy one person could put it on but it goes easier with two people. I take the batteries off and drain water systems. When there is a break in the weather, we usually find some excuse to do a few boat chores.

 

[Panta Rei]

O'day 39 shrink wrap

Your tarp looks great Jajhnsn. I may try and take that on once I learn the ropes with the shrink wrap. This way any mistake I make will only last one winter.

I spent the Saturday winterizing. I found out the straight 30 weight oil will not drain this time of year. I used a pump but got just two qts while the owners manual says it takes 8.
I think I will wait until spring at that time I will refill with multi weight, warm up the engine and then drain.
I built the structure for the shrink wrap using 2"X 4"s, 1/2" strapping, and buckles purchased at West Marine. I chose WM since shipping is free to the store and the shrink wrap is 90 lbs. Wisconsin sales tax is 5.5% I'm not sure if I saved anything.
I have 100 ft X 26 ft of 7 mill shrink wrap. I hope I have enough for two years. Total bill is $293 for enough material to last two years.
I have used cheap poly tarps in the past but I will not have a chance to check on this often. They have blown off during storms in the past. I have never been able to reuse the tarps.

I used low cost saw horse hardware and made a support over the cockpit. This will be the same height as the boom when the mast is up next year. I'll use strapping from stanchion over the boom to stanchion and from the mast to the bow. I'm missing one 2"X 4" for a vertical support just forward of the companion way. I will set that before I drape the shrink wrap. Click on the photo to enlarge.
I will post more once complete.

 

[jibes138]

electrical conduit makes a nice frame and is pretty cheap you make stations at the stanchions and then run a rib down the center. you need a tool to make bends in the conduit but that is a readily available item also.

 

[Panta Rei]

I just returned from northern Wisconsin to complete the job of shrinkwrapping the boat. I live near Madison in the southern part of Wisconsin. Some leaves have not yet turned. Up in Ashland on the southern shore of Lake Superior, things are a lot different. Leaves are nearly all gone and they have had a few light snows. It's time to get Panta Rhei covered!!

I purchased a roll of shrinkwrap 100' X26" . Enough I hoped for two years. I found 50 feet the correct length and could get by with 24' width if I ever find a roll in the width. I used 7 mil. I now think 8 mil is better for larger boats. We'll see come spring.
I used a propane torch used for burning grass and melting tar on roofs. $44 at home depot. This is not do as good a job as the $500 to $2000 shrinkwrap tourch guns available. The job we did was far from perfect. I need to work on a better torch. Modifying the $40 dollar torch may be the solution. Defender has a torch gun for $500 but it does not have a extension arm that is required for a 40 ft boat.
total cost so far is about $180 per year.

Panta Rhei is the boat cover in white in the center.

I'll add some tips and lessons learned on a future post.

 

[25yearslater]

I remember your cover from another post Raj. I used my former tent from the overhaul this year since it is in good shape and available. I used something similar to the conduit jibes is suggesting. Toprails for chain link fence. I inserted them in 1-1/2 inch schedule 40 plastic pipe and ran it down the middle with a support in the cockpit. I removed the stantions and lifelines since my mast was down for the compression post support repair. It looks and works well as everything is very low profile and covers everything which should cut down on the UV exposure during the winter.

 

[tfrench]

I remember your cover from another post Raj. I used my former tent from the overhaul this year since it is in good shape and available. I used something similar to the conduit jibes is suggesting. Toprails for chain link fence. I inserted them in 1-1/2 inch schedule 40 plastic pipe and ran it down the middle with a support in the cockpit. I removed the stantions and lifelines since my mast was down for the compression post support repair. It looks and works well as everything is very low profile and covers everything which should cut down on the UV exposure during the winter.

Hi Joe,
What's entailed in your CP support repair? Curious if your plan is similar to what I did on Boomer.
TFrench

 

[BarryL]

Hey,

My boat came with a nice heavy duty winter cover. It's designed to be used with the rig up so it has holes for mast, boom, and stays and shrouds. I used it with the rig down so I had to make a simple frame. I have experimented over the years and have worked out something that is OK. I do check on my boat frequently so I can correct any problems that occur after high winds, snow, etc.

The cover comes in three pieces: bow, middle, stern. The stern has large zippers that allow access.

Regarding your oil change, I believe the M25 only holds 4 quarts of oil. Please don't add 8 quarts! I change my oil in the fall. First I let the engine idle for 10 minutes then I use the topsider oil changer to suck out the old oil. I never get 4 quarts out but I do get more than three. Between that and the oil filter change I am happy.

Good luck,
Barry

 

[Panta Rei]

Hey,

My boat came with a nice heavy duty winter cover. It's designed to be used with the rig up so it has holes for mast, boom, and stays and shrouds. I used it with the rig down so I had to make a simple frame. I have experimented over the years and have worked out something that is OK. I do check on my boat frequently so I can correct any problems that occur after high winds, snow, etc.

The cover comes in three pieces: bow, middle, stern. The stern has large zippers that allow access.

Regarding your oil change, I believe the M25 only holds 4 quarts of oil. Please don't add 8 quarts! I change my oil in the fall. First I let the engine idle for 10 minutes then I use the topsider oil changer to suck out the old oil. I never get 4 quarts out but I do get more than three. Between that and the oil filter change I am happy.

Good luck,
Barry

Thanks for the info Barry,

I have a Universal 50 (5444) which is really a Kubota V-1902 the universal maintenance manual says it requires 8.5 qts. Kabota says it requires 7.9 qts. strange that they differ. But your point is well taken. I would never add that much oil unless I got that much out of the engine.
The mistake I made was winterizing the cooling system before draining the oil. Running the engine a few minutes would have help a lot in draining the 30 weight oil.

By the way, the Universal 40 (32 hp) requires 11 qts. Maybe they require this much just to insure the pick-up tube is covered when the boat is healed over.

 

[jibes138]

I had a 7.3 liter Ford truck and it took 15 quarts of oil. So the bigger the engine the more oil it holds apparently. Used to take forever to fill it up with 15 quart bottles.

 

[Panta Rei]

Winter hit early and hard on the south shore of Lake Superior. (nothing new to the locals)
My heat shrink job is doing ok but I found one error I made. My center post had to sharp of an edge on it and is cutting through the shrink wrap. And the center straps look like they slipped a bit. I can go in and reinforce it next time I'm up. All and All I'm very happy with my first attempt. I'm very sure it can't blow off in the tough climate/location and that was my big concern using tarps.
More info here http://panta-rhei.weebly.com/tracking-panta-rhei.html

 

[Panta Rei]

Need sailing directions to Florida

Tomorrow AM I'm heading up to the south shore of Lake Superior where Panta Rhei is on the hard....hard.... frozen ground. It's minus 6 there now heading for double digits tonight. The photo attached shows the result of a 31 inch snow fall last week. I have little confidence that my shrink wrap job held up. I'll post photos if I can get to the boat.

 

[SailingCal21]

Got a bit of snow I see. Perhaps the angles of the wrap are acute enough to keep a good bit of the weight off.

None the less, hope that you and yours have a most happy new year.

 

[Panta Rei]

My first attempt at shrink wrap has much to be desired. Fortunately , this stuff is super tough and is protecting the boat that has all the ports and hatches removed for so I could cut replacements this winter.
I failed to protect the shrinkwrap from the tearing on the main post but this turned into a benefit as it allowed the shrinkwrap to slowly fail protecting the openings in the deck. Three support posts intended for additional support for the centerline 3 ply strapping fell as the wind must have knocked them down prior to the snowfall.

The snow has very hard on boats and almost everything. The first 6 to 9" was wet sticking to everything, even well sloped shrink wrap. The next 30 inches built onto of the first load.

Next year the mast and boom will be on the boat so the boom and the wooden tripod over the cockpit(see previous posts without the shrinkwrap) will provide a good peak. The area forward of the mast seems to be holding up well.
The photo on the inside shows the film stretching but not breaking. All photos were taken before I removed about 20% of the snow which was all I could remove.

The blue wrapped power boat in the middle photo has several feet of snow trapped in the cockpit because not support structure was used.

I made a L shaped slit to get into the cockpit. Taping it back up at 20 deg below proved impossible with the heat shrink tape. I expected this so I brought along 3m contact adhesive spray and sprayed the shrink wrap before applying the tape. I think it will hold well until spring. If not I will have a pile of snow in the cockpit.

 

[Jackdaw]

I'm assuming that next your you will winter the boat stick up. That will make covering easier. If you plan to be up north a few years, do you and your boat a favor and get a custom sized canvas cover. Spendy but worth it.

 

[Panta Rei]

Winter is not over but it looks like the shrink wrap is holding up well.

 

[Panta Rei]

Live camera overlooking the bay. It's going to be a while http://www.ashlandmarina.com/kreher-park.html

 

[Panta Rei]

Winter on the south shore of Lake Superior is always tough. This year it was brutal. Big gales and several heavy wet snowfalls make it very tough on any boat on the hard. I can't find snowfall totals for the winter but I am sure it was well over ten feet. Locals told me that they had to have their roof shoveled several times. (thats a lot of snow) I see another storm is arriving today expected to leave 16 inches or more. The boats in the pictures are all on the hard at the Ashland Marina. Other than from a nice southern wind, the area has no protection. It seams that I am limited to how many photos I can down load so this will be three posts total.
My intention is to sail Panta Rhei out the great lakes and down to the Bahamas. This will be done in several years requiring that I leave Panta Rhei covered and on it's own for 9 months at a time. My intention is to find the best tarping system that would not require any attention.
My test this year is Shrinkwrap. I purchased enough material to cover the boat twice. This first year was my practice job. It made it through the winter with no water in the boat but my workmanship was far from perfect. The cost to shrink wrap the boat was $220 for materials $40 for a propane torch. This torch is multi purpose torch not the shrink wrap heat guns that do a much better job but cost $1000 or more.
I took pictures of other boats for comparison. The first photo shows a complete failure. There was signs of the owner cutting away some of the torn tarp. I was surprised that there was not more of this. The second photo shows the same low cost poly tarp but it looks like the owner was around to maintain it all winter. With lots of help from the owner, it looks like it held up. The third photo is a fabric trap that was torn from the heavy load but overall it held up. This was the only (fitted) fabric tarp that failed. Click on the photos to enlarge

 

[Panta Rei]

Winter on the south shore of Lake Superior is always tough. This year it was brutal. Big gales and several heavy wet snowfalls make it very tough on any boat on the hard. I can't find snowfall totals for the winter but I am sure it was well over ten feet. Locals told me that they had to have their roof shoveled several times. (thats a lot of snow) I see another storm is arriving today expected to leave 16 inches or more. The boats in the pictures are all on the hard at the Ashland Marina. Other than from a nice southern wind, the area has no protection. It seams that I am limited to how many photos I can down load so this will be three posts total.
My intention is to sail Panta Rhei out the great lakes and down to the Bahamas. This will be done in several years requiring that I leave Panta Rhei covered and on it's own for 9 months at a time. My intention is to find the best tarping system that would not require any attention.
My test this year is Shrinkwrap. I purchased enough material to cover the boat twice. This first year was my practice job. It made it through the winter with no water in the boat but my workmanship was far from perfect. The cost to shrink wrap the boat was $220 for materials $40 for a propane torch. This torch is multi purpose torch not the shrink wrap heat guns that do a much better job but cost $1000 or more.
I took pictures of other boats for comparison.

The first photo in this batch is Panta Rhei from behind. Again, I need to work on my skills but shrinkwrap is tremendously forgiving. Zippers and doors are not needed for occasional access. I simply cut and opening and taped it back up using shrinkwrap tape (sticks to shrink wrap even when applied in cold weather).
The next photo is a very well designed electrical conduit support system (Same as posted earlier in this thread by Jibes.) The low cost tarp held up well but was maintained all winter) With a few repairs this tarp would last another year.
Third photo shows the only damage I have seen. The bimini is completely collapsed. As you can see NOTHING was done to this boat to prepare it for winter. I don't know what happened , maybe an illness or something. There is likely frozen beer in the coolers.

 

[Panta Rei]

Winter on the south shore of Lake Superior is always tough. This year it was brutal. Big gales and several heavy wet snowfalls make it very tough on any boat on the hard. I can't find snowfall totals for the winter but I am sure it was well over ten feet. Locals told me that they had to have their roof shoveled several times. (thats a lot of snow) I see another storm is arriving today expected to leave 16 inches or more. The boats in the pictures are all on the hard at the Ashland Marina. Other than from a nice southern wind, the area has no protection. It seams that I am limited to how many photos I can down load so this will be three posts total.
My intention is to sail Panta Rhei out the great lakes and down to the Bahamas. This will be done in several years requiring that I leave Panta Rhei covered and on it's own for 9 months at a time. My intention is to find the best tarping system that would not require any attention.
My test this year is Shrinkwrap. I purchased enough material to cover the boat twice. This first year was my practice job. It made it through the winter with no water in the boat but my workmanship was far from perfect. The cost to shrink wrap the boat was $220 for materials $40 for a propane torch. This torch is multi purpose torch not the shrink wrap heat guns that do a much better job but cost $1000 or more.

I took photos for comparisons
The first photo is the storage yard. Panta Rhei is in white in the middle of the first row. (no Mast) Again, my Shrinkwrap skills need to improve but should be better with the boom in place next year.
The next photo shows a powerboat with the vinyl blown out. The vinyl was getting old but this shows how windy it was.
The last photo shows a professionally made canvas cover. I have to say that this is the way to go if you want to truly set it and forget it without learning the Shrink Wrap trade. I'm looking forward to meeting this guy.