telequest wrote in message news:ok11d.35745$D%.5126@attbi_s51...
Our first full season as boat owners is about to end. We have a 20+year old
33-foot Carver Voyager on Lake Michigan in Northern Illinois. We're
storing it outside on the marina property. Is it necessary to shrink wrap
the boat? What does that accomplish? This is a tall boat with an upper and
lower (inside) piloting station and a very high upper radar arch. Thanks.

There are important advantages to shrink-wrapping most boats:

1) since you can't buy a real tarp anymore unless you are quite rich,
you won't have plastic shreads from useless plastic tarps all over
your property if it has to stay wrapped for more than one season;

2) you can't get at the boat to work on it over the off-season - this
saves you a lot of time & money you'd otherwise pee away ordering
doodads from catalogues & installing them out in your yard;

3) your boat will look blue like all the other boats in the
neighborhood - so you will fit in & not be seen as a renegade;

4) you can safely tell your guests many BS stories about how your boat
is outfitted - they won't be able to walk out & see if they are true;

5) if you left any forgotten chow aboard, the mice won't get into it;

6) if you left any booze aboard, the kids won't get into it; or if
they do it will be evident from a distance;

7) you have a convenient excuse at the marina next spring as to why
you haven't done anything to it since it was hauled;

8) it provides some quick & easy cashflow for the marina guys, so
maybe they won't pork you so badly on something else that is more
lasting & useful;

9) any remaining water anywhere aboard will be preserved - conserving
water is important these days you know;

10) if someone stole your radar you'll have an indication right away
instead of discovering it 3 months later;

11) it is good for your marriage or love relationship - neither of you
will go hide aboard the boat during a conflict to get away from the
other, and neither of you will be tempted to use it for convenient
unfaithful purposes;

12) it saves you from having to decorate the boat for Christmas.