A25 original cockpit enclosure

[kerrye]

I'm pretty sure I have the original enclosure for my A25. Am I the only one to find it to be a piss poor design? Why is the only egress directly over the aft cabin door with a 48" step up or down? Seems to me there should be a door on either side at the rear over the cockpit benches and not in the middle.

[kerrye]

Anyone have an innovative alternatives to the original design?

[WillieC]

What does the original enclosure look like? I agree there are a few things about these fine craft that are troublesome. Then again on some of these, it's hard to tell what was original, and some things you hope never were. For example, mine has a home handcrafted light mast up front on the aftermarket inverted bathtub that comprises the full hard top. On top of the mast is a perko two white light fixture. 225 degree forward facing with the back lamp to be used for anchor light, in conjunction with the forward running light. All wired by Guglielmo Marconi or his apprentice. I thought I must not be aware of how things work, but it seemed to me that if the front light was on the same switch as the port/starboard light, which is how it is wired, how does one ever just turn on the anchor light. Anyway, I found the real wiring diagram from one of the supply houses that uses a single pole, double throw switch that makes it all work like the USCG requires. Oh, now I get it. It never was wired correctly, probably came without that light from Sweden. Original design? Who knows?

[kerrye]

I believe it's original because I looked at another A25 owned by the son of the original owner who said the boat was completely as it came from the factory and it had the same enclosure.

[kerrye]

I'm now thinking of putting an arch at the forward end of aft cabin and using it as the rear support for a fabric roof and sides leaving the sides of the cockpit open for access.

[denchen]

Not sure if my picture show it or not but the side screens of my A25 are completely removable by simple zips. To get in I unclip the side from the rear of the wheelhouse. The rear window has a zip both sides so it can be rolled up. On nice days I either remove the whole cover or fold it back like a pram hood.

[DesertAlbin736]

Kerry,

Yours is pretty close to the original. Except the original had no side windows. Last year I made a new one myself and modified it to have screens on the sides like yours, plus widened the back window and made it with roll up flaps that can completely cover the windows (to help keep out blazing AZ sun). But yes, ingress-egress is still limited to climbing in from the back from on top of the aft cabin. Even with the sides rolled up the frame still gets in the way, so it is possible but not practical to climb in from the sides.

One thing that helps climbing down into the cockpit is to have a handy folding step stool like this (available from RV supply stores or Amazon) to place on the floor in front of the aft cabin door.

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This was what the canvas looked like when we bought the boat. Small back vinyl window, no screens, no side windows

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This is what the new one I made looks like. It was a real job & a lot of work to make, but if you can get hold of a Sailrite or other heavy duty walking foot machine and go to Sailrite.com for how-to videos it's not that bad.

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Otherwise to be able to step in from the side you'd have to come up with something like this, like the boat we saw on the Erie Canal. Which as you can see he built a permanent hard top extending all the way to the aft cabin with lift panels to allow side entry. I didn't want something like that because I wanted to retain the option of someday installing the motor sailor mast and rig.

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[kerrye]

When I first bought my A25, I put up the enclosure quickly just to assure it was intact even if old. I saw the side zippers and just assumed they released window and screen for egress and entrance. However when I put it on recently and attempted it, the zipper just released the window and the sewn in screen blocked the exit. Bad design. I think I've decided to eventually make my own enclosure. Got an estimate for $2330 for a replacement with new stainless bows and zip off sides and back. I looked at this tutorial on how to bend stainless tubing which seemed like the biggest challenge for a DIY. http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/07/howto/bimini/ I can sew but I actually prefer gluing vinyl coated nylon scrim for marine fabric so I may go that route for the top. http://www.seattlefabrics.com/vinyl.htm ... 0Polyester It's about the same weight as Sunbrella but stiffer. Waterproof though. I've made a number of whitewater tripping canoe covers out of it. I may use tent nylon for the sides as it's lighter and compresses smaller for storage. I am curious as to your docking system in that second photo as I have a friend who lives on a canal without a dock. Are those just long pieces of wood holding the boat off the shore and you use the dinghy to make the transition from boat to shore?

[kerrye]

DesertAlbin, I was writing while you were posting. Yes, an original hoop will cause the same entrance, exit problems at the sides. Hence my decision to use just one completely vertical hoop mounted at the front of the aft cabin, freeing up the sides. Haven't decided whether to bolt it to the deck with stanchion mounts or to the sides of the aft cabin. Either way I don't think it will cause problems permanently installed in that location. I'll use the original mountings at the wheelhouse and just wrap and velcro the aft end around the bow with some straps and fastex buckles for pulling it tight and holding the load. I'll hang the side curtains off the side and back with either velcro or zippers. I don't want a hardtop either, mostly because I'd like the sun sometimes and an open area for people to fish from easily.

[denchen]

Yes the long wood keeps the boat from the bank and the dinghy is locked to my small jetty. The wood slows the boat to rise and fall as the water level goes up and down. My boat is inherited winter moorings outside of my home on an open river opposite side of the road of my home. The poles stop the deter the casual scoundrel or thief of getting on the boat, if they do the alarms go off and me or a neighbours will call the police. Other boat owners down my road use the same system and we do not have any problems.

[denchen]

Yes the long wood keeps the boat from the bank and the dinghy is locked to my small jetty. The wood allows the boat to rise and fall as the water level goes up and down. My boat is in her winter moorings outside of my home on an open river opposite side of the road of my home. The poles stop and deter the casual scoundrel or thief of getting on the boat, if they do the alarms go off and me or a neighbour will call the police. Other boat owners down my road use the same system and we do not have any problems.

[DesertAlbin736]

Kerry,

Something to think about with relocating the frame hoop. I considered what you're talking about, but in reality if you think about it the hoop is placed the way it is so that the whole enclosure can be unsnapped from the back & sides & folded up forward flat against the wheelhouse to open up the cockpit area. Again, I want to retain the option for using the sail rig, either for myself or a future buyer if we ever decided to sell in the hopefully distant future. The way the back of the canvas slants is where a mainsheet would come down from the boom on the sail rig, and jib sheets would come over the sides just past the wheel house. My boat has all the hardware for the optional mast rig already installed, a mast step, attachment points for the forestay, backstay, side shrouds, mainsheet, jib sail tack, fairleads and jam cleats for the jib sheets, and wiring for vhf antenna, masthead anchor light & forward facing steaming light.

Rigged to sail it would look just like this, except mine also came with a roller furler for the head sail.

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[glk34]

Attached is what we have on Iron Jack. It is very versatile and allows great visibility. The sides and rear window will all unzip and allow a simple bimini setup. An optional screen, instead of window sides can be put in place for those warm buggy nights. Completely water tight. I have not seen any other examples of types that I would trade for except the extended hard top, which I really like.

Chris
Iron Jack

[DesertAlbin736]

Iron Jack,

Looks like a lot of us have the same basic idea. The issue we have here in the desert Southwest is the greenhouse effect of all that window square footage. The other day, that is at 4:33 PM on the afternoon of February 21st I was over working on the boat, which is kept dry stored on the trailer on land, it was about 80 degrees F (27 * C) outside and 92* F (33* C) inside the cabin and 95* F (35* C) in the cockpit. And that was with hatches and flaps open. Mind you this is supposed to be our rainy season in December through March, and we haven't seen a single drop of rain for 48 days now, and it's unseasonably warm here this winter, already topping 90 degrees F. Imagine being out when it's over 110 F (43 C) in July! The cabin would be over 120 (49 C) inside, especially if closed up. Hence our solution of incorporating sun screens and closing flaps. If it's cold out, as it rarely is here, and we wanted to see out with the flaps open I made removable window panels that can be attached on the inside of the screens via Velcro with the outer flaps rolled up. But 90% of the time it's just the sun screens or the everything rolled up as shown in my pictures in the earlier post. All of which is why we plan to head for Desolation Sound in BC this summer.

Cabin temperature in degrees Fahrenheit on February 21, 2016

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This is where we want to be this summer, Desolation Sound, British Columbia

swimming-in-desolation.jpg

[kerrye]

I can see where the original enclosure shape helped with the motorsailor version. I like Iron Jack's version with the more vertical back panel. I'm still leaning towards buying a HF bender and some 1" stainless tube and bending a piece to permanently mount at the front of the aft cabin, perhaps with some angled braces going backwards to give it more stability. One advantage of that would be that I could carry kayaks using that and the wheelhouse as a rack.