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yacht transportation on deck

Discussion in 'Yacht Transport Ships' started by cgdmd1, Jul 9, 2015.

  1. cgdmd1

    cgdmd1 New Member

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    St Petersburg Florida
    As a new owner of a selene 55 soon to be put on deck of a transporter between Genoa Italy and Palm Beach FL
    i would like to know if shrink wrapping the boat is necessary (almost 3000 $ extra) for fear of severe soilage or staining very difficult to clean on arrival?
    Thank you in advance
    cd
  2. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    It depends. It depends on where the yacht is located on the ship and what kind of ship. On dockwise, you have more of a chance of getting sooty if at the end of the ship because the exhausts are mid-ship. But dockwise doesn't unload in Palm Beach, just Port Everglades. On normal freighters it's usually not a problem as the exhausts are at the back of the ship. If you polish the stainless and everything else, shrink wrapping it is probably not necessary. Usually they come off just a little salty. It's a 12-14 day trip. If you need a Captain to unload it, I do 1/2 of the yacht unloadings for the company you're shipping it with.
  3. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    If the wind is aft of the beam the soot will end up on the forward part of the ship, any ship can cover its decks in soot and crap at anytime so its best to be prepared in advance
  4. HTMO9

    HTMO9 Senior Member

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    Shrink wrapping is always a good idea for any non containerized deck load. It protects not only from soot and salt. It protects from water ingress and minor damage on delicate appendages, when the cargo vessel passes trough rough seas and this especially on yachts. Last but not least, according to insurance statistics, shrink wrapped yachts carried as deckload are far less affected by thievery of electronics, entertainment equipment and other loose interior of value. As far as I know, depending on the insurance company, shrink wrapping will lower the insurance rate for a deck load, both for damage and thievery.

    Depending on the schedule, the route of the cargo vessel and its intermediate ports of call, I would highly recommend a shrink wrapping of a newer yacht of this size.

    Sunseeker predator 130 shrink wrapped.jpg

    Better wrapped than sorry, old Chinese saying :).
  5. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I am one of only 2 Captains that the shipping company he is using, uses for all of their loadings and unloadings. If you're shipping it from the MED to West Coast of U.S., it ships on 1 ship to Palm Beach, then goes on the 2nd ship to the West Coast, I or Chris unload it, take it to a marina, and then load it on the next ship that goes. I do somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 yacht loadings/unloadings of yachts per year for this company and have been for over a decade. I used to do almost all of Yachtpaths at various points in time as well. I've loaded as large as a 148' MY, and recently ran Drumfire which unloaded 2 weeks ago, which looked as clean as if you just washed it. I've loaded yachts on 3 different companies freighters in 1 day before, I've loaded or unloaded as many as 7 in 1 day, and many times 2+ yachts in a day. This is one of my specialties.

    Very few of the yachts that I have loaded or unloaded have been shrink wrapped. Less than 1 out of 40. Of all of the yachts I can remember, only 1 was dirty with soot and nothing that a good washdown would not remove. About 2% of those have little specs of rust on the side walkways the size of a grain of cracked black pepper from grinding the deck welds. Whink would easily remove them with no scrubbing. A few of them have come over with salt encrusted on them, a very small percentage and usually in the winter when it's rough. But generally, 98% of them come over pretty darn clean.

    Now, if the OP was shipping it from the Med to Tokyo, or from the U.S. to Guam, on a ship that was making multiple stops and loading/unloading multiple cargo in different ports and a much longer voyage, I'd recommend shrink wrapping it. But not on this one that is 12-14 days of seatime in a good weather part of the year. And whoever shrink wrapped the boat with the red shrink wrap should be shot. The shrink wrapping is so loose, you're going to get a lot of abrasion between the wrap and gelcoat/paint, it should be tight and the wrap shouldn't move.
  6. HTMO9

    HTMO9 Senior Member

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    That is called wrap polishing Capt J :). And I promise, it is not my cargo Ship. We do not work for Sunseeker.

    But I do agree on your last paragraph. That why I said : Depending on the schedule, the route of the cargo vessel and its intermediate ports of call...... But I feel the rest of my post is still valid. And a yacht does not need to be completely wrapped. Sometimes only the window part of the superstructure and maybe the flybridge is wrapped.

    On some of our outsized and heavy cargo ships, the insurance company requires at least partial wrapping of deckloads regardless of season or non stop journeys or port hopping. Depends on the value of the cargo and how delicate it is. Our last wrapping took place with a deckload of 6 uge 1500 ton road cranes from Bremerhaven to the far east. All of them had to be fully wrapped. On its way back, our ship will carry two larger wrapped GRP yachts from Taiwan. One to Australia and one to Singapure. If doing yachts at all, we mostly do factory deliveries. But you are correct, for seasonal relocation of privately owned, used yachts between Europe and the US southeast on non stop voyages, wrapping is not very common because of costs but that is not our neck of the wood.
  7. T.K.

    T.K. Senior Member

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    Definitely shrink wrap your yacht. You will preserve your teak decks, GRP, upholstery,...etc. from being stained and soiled from the ships's soot and save yourself major cleaning when the yacht arrives at it's destination.
  8. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    You will spend just as much time removing and throwing away the shrink wrap, as you will washing the boat when it gets to Palm Beach. It's a quick and easy trip (shipping wise) and the boats arrive pretty clean......
  9. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    Hmm, maybe the old Chinese were talking about birth control? :)