Canvas ideas for 27FC

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I have to replace my canvas which is on a gerry rigged contraption which is very difficult to remove for nice weather...I want to go to a bimini top with removable sides ...lots of windows and screens. I want to raise the headroom in this area to about 6'5" too. Anybody got a great solution...pictures would be great.

Thanks

[tego]

If you go to the normal sales sites, there'll be lots of pictures of different enclosures. Most are mounted on a simple bimini frame, which is really easy to drop when the weather is nice. Most of them also extend to the rear of the aft cabin top. Mine is like this and I find it very convenient and easy to mount and dismount. I'm not a computer type so no pictures. It should be easy to make the bimini frame to get your headroom back there. Then the canvas people will just make the enclosure to fit on the frame. Good luck. Ben

[DesertAlbin736]

Have you ever looked at the Sailrite site?

http://www.sailrite.com/

They have everything you need to design and build your own DIY canvas. Lots of excellent how to tutorial videos free online. They sell all the materials and supplies you'd need, including the awesome Sailrite walking foot sewing machines.

After recently completing a hardtop project we're in the process of making a new enclosure for our A25, ironically aiming for something not much different than you show in your photo. Luckily we have friends in our sailing club who have graciously loaned us their Sailrite machine. I was quoted $1,800 to have an enclosure plus grab rail covers made for us, and we're doing our own for a cost of $800 in materials, including zippers, velcro, and a $140 investment in a hot knife for cutting and searing Sunbrella. We also splurged for a $129 spool of Helios UV proof PTFE thread because we're in the high heat and UV conditions of Arizona.

Upgraded marine Sunbrella Plus runs $23.95 a yard ordered online from Sailrite.

Our plan is to make side windows that have roll up outer Sunbrella flaps and sewn in mesh sunscreens made of Phifertex. Outer canvas flaps will look like the sailboat companionway hatch cover in this video

http://www.sailrite.com/How-to-Make-a-C ... over-Video

We also plan to make it so the entire sides can be unzipped and rolled up. Then we make separate removable vinyl windows that can attach with velcro inside of the mesh screen for when we want to see out in cold weather.

The idea is for something like what this boat has, except not extend as far back over the aft cabin.

[DesertAlbin736]

How about something like this A25 we saw in Roche Harbor last summer?

[Isabel]

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We had this canvas made in 2013, also included window, handrail, and hatch covers. There are 7 sections that zip to each other and zip to bimini top. Can remove one, or all 7 to leave just bimini top. 5 of the 7 have screens where isinglass can be rolled up and snapped open. Bimini can be unsnapped at back of wheelhouse, it will then lay on top of aft cabin.
Lots of nice features: Easy to board/disembark boat, deck has open/spacious feel even when fully enclosed, sections are easy on/easy off from inside boat. Don't know height under canvas - boat is covered on hard for winter - but husband is just shy of 6'4" and has no issues. Only thing I would mention if you walk up gunwale alongside canvas top to get to stern there is little to hang on to. Better to unzip center aft window section and go over aft cabin.

[Jay Knoll]

Isabel

Nice job! How often do you take the bimini down? If you leave it up most of the time you could put a metal grabrail on the outside, bolt it thru the two bimini bows. You'll also have to set up a metal tube from the aft bow to the deck to stiffen things up. We did something similar on the dodger of our sailboat, it was great, gave us a secure handhold when leaving the cockpit. We never folded the dodger down so it was great to have a stiff frame instead of one that moved a bit with the give in the straps.

Jay

[Isabel]

Jay, we never take the bimini down during the boating season. Good thought about a metal grabrail - I assume you attached it through the bimini top? Canvas holds the whole structure quite tight so we might be able to forego reinforcing with additional tubes. The only time there is really any play in the aft line to the bimini bow is when all 7 side sections are off (which is rare), when walking around is not an issue!
PS We were in Vero Beach area last week... jealous of your 12 mos/yr boating season!

[Jay Knoll]

Isabel

I'm a escapee from Rochester (born in Buffalo) and don't miss those winters a bit! If you come here again give me a shout.

Here is an example of the type of rail I was mentioning

http://www.sailrite.com/Grab-Rail-Stain ... eel-19-3-4

but you might have to have one fabricated to fit your particular application

Jay

[don123]

That is some beautiful canvas work, Isabel! I really like the roll up windows with built-in screens

We just finished extending our hardtop aft 8 additional feet and my wife would LOVE to enclose it all with windows and screens like you have done, but I told her the cost would likely run $1K or so - Is that anywhere close to what your enclosure cost?

Thanks for the great ideas and pictures . . . . it's really got us thinking

Don

[tego]

Howdy Don, My PO had the same type enclosure done shortly before I bought mine and the cost was $4500! Definitely not cheap. It's one of the reasons I really liked the boat, and it is nice in the cooler weather here in TN. Ben

[DesertAlbin736]

Tego:

We're in the middle of our DIY canvas project. I was quoted $1,800 to get what we wanted done professionally. Borrowing a Sailrite machine and getting good instruction tips from Sailrite videos we're about 1/2 way through our learn-as-we-go project, working full time since I'm retired. We tried sewing with Helios UV proof PTFE thread, but that didn't work out well, since that stuff is a real be-yotch to work with. Slippery thread, skips stitches, and since it requires a smaller #16 needle gets easily gummed up with adhesive from basting tape, which causes thread to ball up in the needle. Best we could do after trying every trick in the book was at least one skipped stitch every foot of sewed seam. It really slowed our progress and we finally gave up and switched to UV resistant DB92 polyester thread which works much better but won't last quite as long as PTFE being exposed to Arizona sun. The PTFE thread was a $120 mistake, since they won't refund returns on partially used spools. That and materials including 10 yards of marine grade Sunbrella Plus fabric, reinforced plastic "Duraskrim" patterning material, a new hot knife, Velcro, binding, zippers, twist and button snaps, etc is running us around $800. We purchased 10 yards because we're also going to do grab rail and hatch covers for my recently made teak pilothouse hatches.

Pictured below is an example close to what we'll end up with, except our back window will be wider, and the side windows extend further aft and a parallelogram shape. Like the stock enclosure, the entire thing can be unsnapped and folded forward to completely open up the cockpit. But we won't be able to completely detach the sides leaving a simple bimini, since we want ventilation with screens and as much protection from sun as possible. One other difference is that the windows will have Phifertex mesh sunscreen sewn in instead of clear vinyl, and will have outer roll up flaps of Sunbrella held in place on three sides with Velcro. The back and side windows can also be unzipped and rolled up for access. If we want clear windows for colder weather we're making separate detachable vinyl windows that can be attached on the inside with Velcro or taken off completely.

[tego]

DA736, That'll look good! Looks like you can just step into the canvas business after this one. Actually, the thread should stay in good shape for at least 4-5 years and then it's no big deal to just pull it and run another stitch over the old. When that wears out, the sunbrella will probably be shot anyway. Sunbrella, in the Florida sun, is kinda shot in about 6-7 years. It's brutal there too. That's one of the reasons we left there. That hardtop looks great! I was going to extend mine (27FC) but figured out I couldn't cast a line very well under a hardtop, so I'll be sticking to my removeable top for now. I already have a mold I made for the hardtop but I'll just put it away for now. Being retired is great, isn't it? Good luck, Ben

[DesertAlbin736]

tego,

Just to be clear, the canvas in the top picture above is only an example fished off the 'net. The one showing the hard top is our old canvas before dismantling it and starting work on the new one. Will post pictures of the new one when it's finished in a week or so. I hope. The existing canvas actually dates back to 1996 (the original receipt was with the paperwork for the boat) when installed by an owner previous to the guy we bought from. But then it spent 5 years in Ontario, Canada and the next 12 years after that in Idaho and stored indoors in a barn when not actually being used on the water. In the year that we've had it out in the Arizona sun full time it's taken a noticeable beating. So we're using the upgraded Sunbrella Plus fabric that has extra coating on the inside surface.

We plan to be cruising the Chesapeake Bay region this summer, so we'll be able to screen in the entire cabin and center cockpit to keep the 'skeeters out.

[Sprig1]

Screening in the boat is a great idea on the chesapeake Bay. I am at Worton creek in the upper bay. Give a shout if you get in the area

[DesertAlbin736]

Sprig1,

Will keep that in mind. Do you happen to know of any other Albin 25's in the area? We'll be quite a bit South of the upper Bay and Worton Creek, in fact driving down to Seaford, DE and launch on the Nanticoke River. That sounds out of the way, but it's where my late mother and step father lived after they retired in the '80s and moved down from Upstate NY. Both are gone now, Mom passed in 2003 and my stepdad passed in 2011. But he had many friends in town and was active with the Nanticoke River Yacht Club, and we've been invited to come down and hang out with them. We were planning to put in at Solomons and cruise the middle Bay then arrive at the Blades Marina on the Nanticoke by boat, but we'll be coming down from a prior stop in Barnegat, NJ, so it made more sense driving wise to come down the Jersey Turnpike & just cross the Delaware Memorial bridge from Jersey over to Wilmington & drive on down to Seaford. From Seaford we can motor the 35 miles down river past Vienna and on out into the Bay. We're open ended on how long we'll cruise and where we'll go from there on the bay. I've got a great cruising guide book and a Chesapeake Bay chartbook, plus BlueChart software on my GPS.

Besides the canvas job I'm making bug screens that can Velcro onto the overhead under those two teak hatches in the hardtop. We also have a bug screen that we can velcro under the open foredeck hatch, so the entire boat from stem to stern can have flow through ventilation while being screened in to keep bugs out. I grew up on the Jersey shore, and know all about the mosquitoes and deer flies.

The Maritime Museum in St. Michaels is putting on a classic and antique boat show the weekend of June 19-21st , but I doubt we'll be able to make it down there in time, since we'll be in Rhode Island from June 6th to at least June 13th.