Publication date: 01/10/2025
What is a protective cocoon for a boat?
A boat cocoon is a piece of shrink-wrap equipment designed to protect a vessel during storage on land. It is an impermeable cover made of thermoformed film, which protects the boat and prevents damage.
Putting a boat in a protective cocoon on cradles or racks means it can be stored in the best possible conditions: it is sheltered from rain, snow and frost, but also from UV rays and the wind – which often carries sand and other elements likely to damage your unit.
Although boaters most often use the cocoon for winter protection of their boat – this is known as wintering a boat under cocoon – it’s a solution that works and offers benefits all year round!
The biodegradable boat protection cocoon: an innovation at Port Adhoc Leucate
Until the end of October 2024, the teams at our port of Leucate were offering interested boaters the chance to fit a protective cocoon on their boat, made of thermoformed PVC-type plastic film. The film was white.
At the beginning of November 2024, we decided to adopt a more ecological solution: a biodegradable thermoformed film cocoon, now in green.
Every year, in the dry port of Leucate, more than sixty boats are placed in protective cocoons.
“With the installation of PVC film boat protection cocoons, the volume of waste associated with our activities was substantial,“ explains Philippe Carrere, Director of Port Adhoc Leucate. “So we looked for an alternative solution, still perfectly suited to the needs of boaters, but using more environmentally-friendly materials. The biodegradable thermoformed film cocoon was the logical choice for a more responsible solution.”
Our cocoon fitting service in Port Leucate is available for all powerboats up to 8 metres in length. The service is made possible by a partnership between the Port Adhoc group and Soromap, a specialist supplier of biodegradable shrink-wrap film.
What does this mean for your boats?
Nothing! Biodegradable cocooning is exactly the same as cocooning with PVC heat-shrink film. The biodegradable film, like the PVC film used previously, still acts as a protective shell. The envelope is still just as effective in protecting your boat from the elements.
In practical terms, at Port Leucate, the adoption of biodegradable film as our new protective equipment does not change anything in the way we look after your boat.
How do you store a boat in a cocoon?
If you’re a boater, you don’t have to worry about anything in particular when it comes to cocooning your boat in our port at Leucate. All you have to do is entrust your boat to our technical team, who will take care of everything!
There are several stages between putting your boat out to dry and putting it back in the water:
- Votre navire est sorti de l’eau, grâce aux engins de levage et de manutention disponibles à Port Leucate
- The boat is washed
- The biodegradable film is applied on the vessel
- Our agents heat the material to make it shrink, until it adapts perfectly to the shape of the boat. This is the stage when the boat is cocooned, thanks to the thermoforming process
- Once the biodegradable protective film is in place, your vessel is handled again and placed on its parking racks
- Inside its protective cocoon, it will remain perfectly sheltered until your next use. The effectiveness of the protective film is guaranteed for up to a year!
And when you want to use your boat again?
Our technical teams will remove it from its position on land, wash it again and quickly put it back in the water.
Would you like more information about our biodegradable protective cocoons, and about boat storage conditions at Port Adhoc Leucate? Let’s talk!
