A25 original cockpit enclosure

[Jeremyvmd]

Top is looking really good!

[kerrye]

Got the sides and back conceptualized I think. Will attach with long zippers to the top and then snap to the original snap locations at the bottom. And back and sides will zip together at back hoop. Will make them completely out of the blue vinyl polyester at first, then add the windows with clear vinyl. Windows will be glued to the blue vinyl on the inside and the top and zipped down the sides and across the bottom so they can be unzipped and rolled up. Will sew the zippers into strips of the blue vinyl so I can then glue in the windows on a flat surface (like my kitchen floor ) Clear vinyl will be rectangular but the holes I cut in the blue vinyl will have rounded corners. I'll use webbing with snaps to hold the windows up when rolled up. I think I'll have about $650 into it including all the stainless for the frame, material, and fasteners. Maybe a bit less since I'll have a lot of stuff left over. Local bid for an enclosure was $2300. Zippers were $140, more than I expected but there will be a lot of them.

[DesertAlbin736]

Kerry,

I realize you're working with vinyl fabric & not Sunbrella, but here's an idea that might interest you

http://www.sailrite.com/Installing-Curv ... nyl-Window

[kerrye]

Yes that is interesting. I've already ordered zippers for a rectangular shape so the curved option is probably out.

[kerrye]

Gluing the zippers to the sides and top. And a picture of my Singer 241-13 industrial sewing machine which I tamed by installing a much smaller drive pulley and extending the clutch lever a foot or so. I sewed the zippers to the vinyl strips with it.

[kerrye]

A little more progress today. Got the starboard side and back curtain installed, mostly. Port curtain was cut a little too short so I'll need to make some modifications.

[kerrye]

Port side curtain. Made some mistakes on this side related to measuring before squaring up the top over the frame in the back. Problems almost rectified. Now need to install screens windows and doors in the side curtains as well as finish up the back curtain where it comes down the side of the aft cabin.

[Sunsetrider]

This is our setup. I have always assumed it is typical. Apparently not. It gives total flexibility - every "window" in canvas has the choice of screen, plastic, or open. We cruise with the helm roof open (so I can stand) and the cockpit lounge covered for a bit of shade. Sunlovers sit up on the bow area. If Manatee had a hardtop I would rip it out in a rage - I simply cannot imagine not being able to stand for pretty much all of the time. "Canvas" permits complete flexibility at a reasonable cost and easy availability.

We also have the ability to remove most of the canvas and wrap the bimini cover around the overhead support to provide an easy and quick open cockpit/helm area.

[kerrye]

That's nice. My hardtop opens over the helm. I too can't imagine not being able to stand up. I think my windows will open but the screens will be fixed behind the windows. I'll have two zippers at either end of the side curtain so most of the curtain can be unzipped and thrown up onto the top for egress and ingress. I'll be up your way one of these days. I want to do the Rideau and Champlain canals.

[DesertAlbin736]

Kerry, looks like you're getting there! It's a lot of work, isn't it? But will be worth it in the end.

Sunset Rider:

If Manatee had a hardtop I would rip it out in a rage - I simply cannot imagine not being able to stand for pretty much all of the time.

We wanted a hard top and took into account also wanting to be able to stand up at the helm as well as provide good ventilation while at the same time having shade from the hot Arizona sun, be watertight when closed, and cozy warm in cold weather. So what I did was incorporate 18" X 18" opening hatches on either side of the hard top. In the space between I mounted the 20 watt Siemens solar panel that came with our boat.

Previous owners had installed this plexiglass "pop up" hard top, which we didn't particularly care for. One could kind of stand up, but not really. Plus it was never completely watertight no matter how tight it was dogged down. Also the latches wouldn't hold when trailering at highway speeds, so one had to jerry rig tie down ropes across the top. One day on the road it flew open and broke into 3 pieces.

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So what I did, and there are several older posts on the subject, was build a mold and lay up a proper fiberglass hard top and built these salty traditional looking teak opening hatches.

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So yes, with the hatches open now I can comfortably stand up at the helm. Note the double latches & adjuster rods. When these are dogged down they stay dogged down. And I made Sunbrella covers to preserve the varnish over epoxy finish.

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View from inside the wheel house.

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[kerrye]

My hardtop is not completely watertight at the moment. I think eventually, it will be but my focus is on other things at the moment.

[kerrye]

It does take a lot of time to fabricate an enclosure. Lots of thinking and planning as well as actually cutting, gluing or sewing. It's complicated for me since our boat is stored about 8 miles from our house where I do the cutting, gluing and sewing. So everytime I do something which requires a test fit or plan a junction which requires measuring in place, it involves a 16 mile round trip. Be much faster if everything was in the same place. But when it comes to the windows and doors, I think most of that stuff can be done without much test fitting.

[Sunsetrider]

Desert Albin - your hatches have a suitable pirate - y look about them! I can hear the order to "batten down the hatches."

[DesertAlbin736]

It's complicated for me since our boat is stored about 8 miles from our house where I do the cutting, gluing and sewing. So everytime I do something which requires a test fit or plan a junction which requires measuring in place, it involves a 16 mile round trip.

We were lucky in that regard. We keep our boat stored at a private residential acreage horse property about 2 miles from the house for $50 a month, as well as our camp trailer for another $50. We can't park it at our house overnight, but I can bring the boat over and park on the street in front of the house to work on during the day. As long as I get it back before dark (it's hard to back it in to its storage space in the dark) and so far I haven't gotten any grief from the HOA. I was able to do all the fitting for both the hard top and the canvas right there at our house. And of course we never have to deal with snow and ice.

Here's how we have to maneuver to back the boat into its space. Not fun to do at night in this dimly lighted yard, but rent is reasonable & not far from our house. The only downside is it gets pretty dusty over there, and of course hotter than Hades in the summer, but how I'd love to be able to afford a house like this. Check out the neighbors, one has a corral and two horses plus pool and full tennis court. The other has a pool and basketball court. And the houses themselves are 'yuuuge'. This aerial shot was taken either when we had our boat out somewhere or before we bought it.

A couple years ago there was this big summer monsoon microburst storm that hit and flooded this whole yard in 3 or 4 inches of water. A dry wash runs behind where we park the boat and it got jammed up with debris where it crosses under the neighbor's fence and overflowed the wash. Our boat and trailer were OK, but the barn-like building behind the house, which is converted into a mother-in-law, has a floor right at ground level and sustained $20,000 worth of flood damage, which wasn't covered by insurance since they didn't have a flood insurance policy. It is desert after all where we normally get only 6 or 8 inches of rain a year, and we've been in a drought for a long time. Problem is when it does rain we sometimes get over an inch at a time.

[kerrye]

Got the doors done. Now just have to do the screens and windows. Awaiting delivery of screen material from Sailrite. It will be interesting to see if it glues directly to the vinyl. The screen is coated with vinyl but Sailrite didn't know if it would glue to vinyl fabric.