What mobile shrink wrapping actually involves
A crew arrives with 9 mil marine-grade film, framing material, heat guns and propane, and a generator so we are not depending on your power. We build a support frame over the boat where it sits, lay the film, shrink it down with heat until it is drum tight, and fit the vents. The finished wrap is identical to one done in our shop. The only difference is the postcode it happened in.
The frame is the part people underestimate. Film stretched over a boat without a frame is a tarp with extra steps: it pools water, holds snow, and splits at the first heavy wet load in January. The frame is what carries the snow off the sides, and it is why a proper wrap survives a Muskoka winter and a cheap one does not.
What it costs, and why it costs more
Mobile wrapping carries a higher per-foot rate than facility wrapping, and it is the one service on our price list with no discount attached to it.
| Where the wrap happens | Rate | Minimum | Discounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| At our facility | $20 per foot | None | 10% with pay in full |
| At your location | $26 per foot | $498 | None |
| Jet ski or PWC at your location | Flat | $295 | None |
The gap covers a truck, a generator, propane and two people driving out for a single boat, then driving back. At the facility that same crew wraps boats back to back all day. We would rather show you the real number than bury a travel fee in the quote, and rather than discount a job with no margin in it, we leave the rate alone and put the discounts where they can actually go.
One thing worth knowing before you compare: if your boat is going into winter storage with us regardless, the wrap rides along on a trip we are already making, so the facility rate applies and you save both the per-foot difference and the minimum. Mobile wrapping is priced for boats that are staying put.
Where we come to you
We run mobile wrap routes out of four yards, so the crew reaching your boat is usually the closest one, not one driving down from Huntsville.
- Muskoka: Huntsville, Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Port Carling, Bala, Baysville, Dorset, MacTier, and the shorelines of Lake Muskoka, Lake Rosseau, Lake Joseph and Lake of Bays.
- Lake Simcoe: Barrie, Innisfil, Oro, Georgina, Keswick, Sutton, Jackson's Point, Pefferlaw, Willow Beach, Virginia and Udora.
- Kawartha Lakes: the Kawartha chain, wrapped on site without shipping your boat out of the region.
Outside those areas, send us a postal code. We will tell you honestly whether the drive makes sense rather than quote a trip we would rather not make.
What we need at your location
Mobile wrapping goes wrong in exactly one way, which is the crew arriving and not being able to work. Five things prevent it:
- Four feet of clear space around the entire boat. The crew works all four sides continuously and cannot wrap a hull with a wall or a fence tight against it.
- Overhead clearance well above the highest point of the boat. The frame sits above the windshield, arch or tower, so a low branch or a carport that clears the boat may not clear the finished wrap.
- A reasonably level surface. Gravel, grass and asphalt are all fine. A steep slope is not.
- The boat out of the water, on its trailer or on blocks, unless we are wrapping it in a slip.
- Cover off, loose gear out. Cushions, electronics, fenders and anything that should not spend the winter under film.
You do not need to be home, and you do not need to supply power. As long as the crew can reach the boat, the job gets done and you get photos when it is finished.
Wrapping at a marina slip or on a dock
We wrap at marina slips and on docks routinely, and a boat that stays in the water through winter can be wrapped exactly where it floats. What we need is safe access around all four sides. A boat rafted between two others, or one on a slip too narrow to move around, is the case where we will call you before the truck rolls rather than after it arrives.
If your marina requires a certificate of insurance before contractors work on site, tell us when you book. We are fully insured and we can send it over ahead of the date.
Mobile wrap or bring it to us
The decision is simpler than it looks, and it comes down to where the boat is spending the winter.
- Staying at your place all winter: mobile wrapping. There is no haul to pay for and the boat never moves.
- Going into storage with us: facility wrapping. We collect it, wrap it at $20 per foot, and the pay-in-full discount applies to the wrap as well.
- In a slip until freeze-up: mobile wrapping, usually, unless the marina hauls it for you.
When to book
Before the end of September. Mobile wraps run as routes rather than individual trips, so we group nearby boats onto one day and work through them. Booking early is what puts you on a route on the date you actually want rather than the next day with room. The wrap itself needs to be on before the first sustained frost, which in this region lands in mid-October most years.
Late bookings are never a problem and we keep taking boats through the fall. What a late booking costs you is choice of day, not the service.