Shrink wraping

[djboots]

This year I plan on shrinking my own boat.

First question is what width shrink wrap do I need for a 2000 340dancer. I was thinking 28' bot not sure. Also what is the cheapest heat gun i can get away with. Some of these heat guns are fricking $700:wow:. I have a small hair dryer Size heat gun, but I'm betting thats a tad to small.

Any input:huh:

 

[Sundancer]

This year I plan on shrinking my own boat.

First question is what width shrink wrap do I need for a 2000 340dancer. I was thinking 28' bot not sure. Also what is the cheapest heat gun i can get away with. Some of these heat guns are fricking $700:wow:. I have a small hair dryer Size heat gun, but I'm betting thats a tad to small.

Any input:huh:

If you figure out a way to "shrink" your boat, you will make millions! Think of the savings when storing, mooring and trailering!! :grin:

I'd check and see if you can find another boater or two that might want to share the cost of the heat gun. Maybe you can find someone that already owns one and will allow you to rent it? It's only used once a year and after a few years it will pay for itself, but $700 seems kind of steep. The smaller one that you have will work, but it will take a week to shrink the square footage that you have ahead of you! The larger propane units will shrink a lot of area very quickly.

As far as the width required, measure from wherever you intend to start the shrink wrap, up and over to the other side to determine what size you need. I would think that 28 would allow 7 feet of coverage on each side assuming a 14 foot beam. The arch, if you have one, is the only place where the width of the wrap would be a concern. You can do some creative things like splicing the wrap at the windshield to give you 56 feet LOA and now you don't have to worry about the width anymore!.

 

[Larry]

I was thinking about doing the same thing, and I would say that 26-28 ft. width would be adequate. Remember you don’t need just the gun, you need the extension wand as well and that is another couple hundred too. I am going to try to split some of the costs with a few people at my marina.

Good luck!

FYI:
I was looking at www.dr-shrink.com