A25 original cockpit enclosure

[DesertAlbin736]

Looking good! Are you using Phifertex for the screen material? If so it's good stuff. That's interesting, using an external bracing strut going to the back of the aft cabin. We both had the similar ideas with screens, tie back straps, and name boards but otherwise a different concept for materials and design. Instead of permanently installed vinyl windows ours are removable and attached with velcro to the inside of the screens when needed, which isn't very often. I'm resigned to entering and exiting through the back. As mentioned once before I wanted to retain the basic original sloped shape in case we ever decide to install the sailing rig. Also I thought about changing the frame arrangement, but then realized it's made that way so the whole thing can be unsnapped and folded flat against the wheelhouse to completely open up the back half of the cockpit. We use a step stool placed in front of the aft cabin door to make it easier to climb in and out.

[kerrye]

Not sure what Phifertex is. I'm using the only screening I could find at Sailrite (or anywhere for that matter) which said it was coated with vinyl since I wanted a vinyl to vinyl bond. I'm planning to put zippers on either side of the windows so they can be unzipped and rolled up. I used the aft bracing strut because I wanted the arch or hoop or whatever you call it, strong enough to carry a boat on top of it and to serve as a handhold when moving around the back of the boat. I considered running the enclosure all the way to the back of the aft cabin but eventually decided a vertical back right at the hoop was the best option.

[DesertAlbin736]

This stuff:

http://www.sailrite.com/easearch#!Fabri ... ertex-Plus

We actually didn't have to buy the Phifertex direct from Sailrite ourselves. Mark and Emily from our sailing club, who also loaned us their Sailrite machine, had several yards of charcoal colored Phifertex mesh leftover from a bimini project on their Catalina 30, which was enough to do our side and rear windows, so we bought it from them. And it was yet another guy in the club who had suggested using Phifertex as sun screen, which I had never heard of before. Joining Lake Pleasant Sailing club was the best thing I ever did. Besides the fact that my wife and I met through the club, there are guys like Bruce who let me use his business facilities to do my bottom job, Ed who loaned me his hull stands, and Mark and Emily who loaned us their Sailrite machine and sold us the Phifertex for our canvas project at their cost. Since I'm the guy with the hard shell dinghy I usually volunteer to help kedge out anchors at our club raft ups.

Here Bruce and I use my dinghy to set anchors in a sheltered cove on Lake Pleasant, alternating bow and stern anchors on each boat.

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Once we get all set with sometimes as many as a dozen boats anchored and tied together, it's time to kick back & have some cold ones. The usual drill is to make it a pot luck of hor d'oeuvres to pass around. Kind of like a floating happy hour. Sometimes there's a theme, like the Pirate Cruise (Halloween), Sweethearts Cruise (Valentine's day with a casual fun sailboat race where only ladies can take the helm), dressing up Irish for St. Patty's Day, and the 'Cinco De Mayo' fall/winter/spring season finale coming up on May 7th. After that it's 100 plus degrees until the following October & time to hitch up and head for cooler climes. It's a fun bunch of mostly 50 and 60 something "slowly aging young people". AYC, the other local sailing club is all about racing. We're a drinking club with a sailing/boating problem. In this picture the guy at near right with the handlebar mustache and granny shades is George, this year's commodore. Like me, he's also a Vietnam era Navy vet. The guy sitting on the port cockpit seat and just to the left of George is Daryl who does a lot of sophisticated canvas work himself and suggested using Phifertex. These pics were taken on March 12th this year, T shirt weather for us. Once you get your boat all squared away you should come down next winter and hang out with us.

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And you get sunsets like this...

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[kerrye]

Ahh. No, we just got regular mosquito netting.

[kerrye]

Making progress on the screens and windows. Measured the size on the side panel. Cut out a piece of cardboard to that size, laid it on the side panel and marked the window. I then laid the cardboard on the screen and put 2" tape around it giving me the size of the screen with a 2" border for gluing. I then cut the panel and screen and glued the screen in. I experimented with a number of methods of gluing. First was glue on vinyl and screen. That doesn't work. Screen doesn't hold glue well. I then tried gluing two pieces of vinyl with screen sandwiched between them. That works well but is a lot of work. I finally settled on putting a coat of glue on the vinyl, laying the dry screen into the glue and then painting a second coat of glue over the screen and rolling to assure a bond. Seems to work well.

[kerrye]

Port side done, I think.

[kerrye]

Starboard screen, window and door complete apart from the webbing loops to hold up the window. I ran out of snaps. Starboard side was much faster since I'd done all the thinking and planning on the port side, plus I'm getting better and more efficient techniques the more I do. Just the back screen and window and I'll be done.

[kerrye]

Back curtain is coming along. I had originally planned to put one big window the whole way across but before I executed that plan I realized that if I did so, the majority of the strength in the rear curtain would be in the netting. It's a large area and in a good blow could see some force. So I decided to leave some of the vinyl material in the middle for strength and put two windows in instead of one large one.

[JT48348]

Hey that's looking pretty good!

[kerrye]

Aft windows completed. All finished apart from the snaps for the webbing which holds up the windows. Await their delivery from Sailrite. Probably have about $500 into the enclosure including the stainless tubing and fittings for the aft arch. The further I got into it the more I liked the glue construction. No needle holes to leak or thread to deteriorate. Easy repair if something happens also.

[kerrye]

One hint if you decide to use this construction method. Once you start production, store and carry the pieces flat. Don't fold them. I had been folding them when I was carrying them back and forth to the boat and storing them folded. The material tends to take a set at the fold lines. This makes it awkward when it comes to installing the screens and windows since the material doesn't want to lay completely flat. This isn't an insurmountable problem but life would have been simpler had I stored them flat throughout the whole production process. Once their built I don't think folding them makes any difference.

Also, when gluing down the zippers, the zipper pull makes it awkward. The solution I found was to close the zipper the whole way and glue the end away from the pull. Then once that end is glued, undo the zipper and sent the pull down to the already glued end and glue the free end down. Saves trying to glue the zipper with a hump where the pull sits.

[DesertAlbin736]

You're gettin' there!!!

[kerrye]

It's done. It has one small problem. I had ordered a double common sense fastener where the top and the front top of both sides attach. Initially I had just cut a hole in the material and slide it over the singe common sense faster and put the top on top of the side and twisted the fastener. But a though a stainless fitting on both pieces would be more aesthetically pleasing. But it doesn't look like there is enough length on a double stud to actually put two female pieces. I couldn't get it to turn today but I didn't have a lot of time to work on it. I may have to resort to just material and not a fitting for the underlying one.

[WillieC]

Nice job, Kerry. Thanks for all the pics, updates, your methods, and what worked and what didn't work so good. A ton of good info. Let us know how it holds up.
I see in your last picture some kind of folding ladder, or is it just a step stool sitting there in the driveway? We are trying to come up with a simple usable ladder to get back onto the swim platform when swimming. The little plastic rope ladders did not work for us. I think I've read about every post in the forum, but I may have to review or start a new thread.
Again, thanks.

[kerrye]

I have an folding telescopic ladder mounted to the swim platform. 4 steps I think. Got it on ebay for about $40 I think. You can see it sitting folded on the swim platform on the right in the first picture of my last post.