| Canvas Upgrades |
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Contents: |
| New Sails |
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I think I'll start talking to Quantum about this sail in 2004. In the mean time I'll add another halyard block for this sail to the mizzen. |
| Sail Covers |
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| Dodger and Bimini |
| The Dodger that came Sarah was ugly (Black!)
and poorly designed (it was difficult to get around the Dodger when going
between the cockpit and the deck. I kept the Dodger until we completed the
Bermuda Cruise as I felt we needed some protection for the cockpit. My crew
believed we needed even more protection and improvised a Bimini from bed
sheets. When we returned from Bermuda I discarded the Dodger (it was badly worn) and began planning for a new one and a Bimini. I wanted the width of the new Dodger to be inboard of the cockpit coamings so it would not be so difficult to climb out of the cockpit onto the side deck. I also wanted the Bimini to allow me to stand under it at my full height (6'2"). The later requirement led me to raise the mizzen boom about 1'. This is the maximum I could raise the boom without requiring the mizzen sail to be re-cut with a shorter hoist. In 2003 I started to seriously talk to canvas fabricators. I considered a hard dodger like the Wavestopper, but decided the low main boom and and proximity of the mizzen mast did not make that solution practical for Sarah. The biggest problem with the fabricators is that there are so few of them in the mid-Chesapeake area. There are only two in Solomons. I could go to Annapolis, but even there there are only a handful of shops. I finally decided to turn the work over to Clark McKinney of Quantum Sails in Solomons. There were a lot of compromises required to come up with the final product primarily involved with getting around the mizzen mast in the middle of the cockpit and the low boom over the trunk cabin. The major compromise for both the Bimini and the Dodger is that I will not be able to lower them with the booms in place. In order to achieve both head room under the canvas and strength in construction it will not be possible for either of them to fold under the booms. This is not a major issue for the Dodger as I expect to leave it up in all weather. However, I may need to remove the Bimini in preparation for a storm. Currently the solution will be to remove the Bimini cover from the bows and leave the bows in place. The obvious alternatives are (1) to cut down the height of the Bimini to allow it to be lowered or (2) to re-cut the mizzen to allow the mizzen boom to be raised another foot.. Neither alternative is very attractive. One solution suggested by a friend is to loosen the set screws holding the secondary bows to the primary bow and allow them to slide down the primary bow until they are low enough to clear the boom, then fold everything forward against the back of the mizzen mast. I think this solution is workable, but it will require some minor modifications to the existing configuration.
I'm sure there are other issues that would have to be dealt with to implement the solution. For sure it will be a 2-person job. If I am single-handing I will probably have to just take down the cover and leave the bows in place. In any case I don't plan to make any modifications for a month or two until I get used to having all this canvas around the cockpit. In summary I am very satisfied with the quality and value I received from Clark and his staff at Quantum Solomons. My wanting to tweak the design is part of the process of adjusting the product and myself to the best solution, which is never apparent at the start. The product I received conformed to the design we worked out together and was delivered at a fair price. |
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Because the mizzen sail control lines are cleated to the boom directly over the Bimini I replaced the cleats with rope clutches on the forward edge of the boom. This allows them to be adjust easily with a lot more leverage than reaching out over the top of the Bimini while standing on tip toes. See Mizzen Running Rigging for details. |
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| New Dodger in 2011 |
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I am reasonably confident that I could make a new Bimini as the panels and zippers are mostly straight. The Dodger is another matter. I left that to the professionals, in this case Pat's Canvas & Sail Repair shop next to the Ortega Yacht Club Marina. The new dodger is shown on the left. |
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It will be a lot easier open and close the new panel. |
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For the new dodger the shop sewed a couple of D-rings into the top of the dodger (as shown on the left) and attached short strings to the bottom of the pane. I can now flip the openning panel onto the top of the dodger and secure it without stressing the zippers. |
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| Cabin Curtains |
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I have no idea how old they were in 2006 when Bob Calt offered to wash them while we were in Madeira on the way back to the USA. Only five of the eight curtains came back from the wash. The UV had gotten to them and they all but disintegrated in detergent and water. So now I had three port lights with no curtains. I lived with that for the next three years until in the summer of 2009 when I arrived in New Bern, NC. I quickly discovered that summer sun in North Carolina really required awnings and port light curtains. I started a project to make a deck awning, but the material I purchased, Sunbrella Shade, proved to be a little tricky to work with, especially for my limited sewing skills. I decided to attempt a little smaller project before starting on the deck awning. |
| The hatch awnings seemed to be more important than curtains so I started
on those first. I was following an instructional video from SailRite
on how to work with Sunbrella Shade. In their video, SailRite sewed
nylon webbing along the material edges, then sewed binding tape over the
reinforced edges to provide a finished edge. I had no difficulty
sewing the webbing to the material I cutout for the hatch awnings. In
some ways this is simpler than hemming the edges.
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For the carriers I used the Snap-On Tape from Sailrite. This is a nylon webbing tape with Snap-On studs attached on 4-1/2" centers. All I had to do was sew this tape to the top and bottom edges of the finished curtain. Then I attached the Snap-On carriers (also from SailRite) to studs on the awnings. The carriers slide into the track. You can see the Snap-On studs through the material in the pictures of the awnings mounted on the port lights. I also purchased the Small Screw Stops from SailRite to secure the carriers in the track. |
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Notice I had not yet removed the old curtain rod when I took this picture. I'm not going to brag about these curtains (they a pretty rough construction), but they do serve the cabin much better than the old curtains. |
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On the left are two of the small port lights. |
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I'm not sure how well the Velcro adhesive will hold on the aluminum frame of the port light. The Velcro I used for the main cabin port light has been in my parts bin for several years, so I don't expect it to hold very long at all. The Velcro I used in the forward cabin was recently purchased, so it will be the benchmark for adhesion to the frame. If the Velcro adhesive does not hold I could go to JB Weld. There is really no reason for me to remove these curtains so this may be a non-issue. |
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This curtain is attached to the board with Velcro on the upper, outer corners. Well it looks like my curtain project is pretty much over. Now onto the real sewing project - hatch and deck awnings. Then I can put the sewing machine away for another year. |
| Hatch Awnings |
| Hatch
awnings were actually a higher priority than the port light curtains.
This August has been very hot and heat from the sun beaming through the
hatches rendered the air conditioning useless.
This allowed me to work on the curtains while I was still designing the hatch awnings. The picture on the left is the completed awning for the galley hatch. If you look at the pictures below, taken within a few minutes of this one, you can see that the sun was nearly directly overhead. Also if you look closely at this picture you will see that the varnish on the hatch frame is badly in need of refreshment. Now that I have a UV screen on this hatch, maybe the next varnish job will last more than a few years. |
| The main issue in the design was how I would attach the awnings to the
hatches. I finally decided the simplest fastener would be Dot snaps,
but then how to attach the snap stud to the hatch frame. My initial solution was to use pop rivets, but I wasn't sure if the pressure of a pop rivet might deform the stud. I was also more than a little anxious about drilling holes in the frame. Jack Tyler suggested using J-B Weld, which I had not considered until that moment. Then the issue was whether J-B Weld would hold the stud to the frame when the snap fastener is pulled apart. One of the problems using adhesive to attach the studs to the frame is that the frame is an extrusion, actually a flat tube rather than a solid piece of flat stock. The inner and outer surfaces are not parallel, which makes it difficult to put a clamp on the stud when it is glued to the frame. This is less true on the sides of the frame, but a significant problem on the front of the frame. I could have cut darts out of the corners of the awnings as I was sewing the hems. This would have made the awning form a shape more conforming to that of the hatch frame. I opted for the easier method of just mitering the corners. It may not be as elegant, but it works and I didn't have to spend time figuring out how much of a dart was necessary to match the curve of the hatch corner. |
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I put two snap fasteners each on the forward part of the hatch frame and the two sides. There are no fasteners on the aft part of the frame to prevent any interference with the hatch hinges. I think I can leave these awnings in place all summer, even when sailing. |
| Well, the JB-Weld never held reliably.
Some of the studs held for repeated separation from the sockets, but many
came loose from the hatch frame. There just isn't enough surface
contact between the stud base and the frame in addition to the difficulty
clamping the stud to the frame described above. After two years the
awnings were only being held by two or three fasteners, and I expected some
of them to let go the next time I removed the awnings. |
| Shade Awnings for the Cockpit |
| Sarah's Bimini is not very large. That is largely the result of
the geometry of a Ketch rig. I also wanted to keep the Bimini inboard
of all rigging. I've seen some P424 Biminis in which the running
backstays are inboard of the Bimini, going through a hole in the Bimini.
I prefer to have none of the rigging incumbered by the Bimini. Finally, in April, 2011, I decided to do something about the lack of shade and also to use up some more of the Sunbrella Shade material I bought for the deck awning that may never be made (certainly not with Shade). The result is shown on the left and below. |
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Anyway it works. I completed this project during an unusually warm Spring day in Jacksonville, FL. The afternoon temperatures were in the low 90s and the Sun was brutal. It was very hot and uncomfortable working in the cockpit to install the fittings. Once I had the side panel up, things improved greatly. The panels are secured to the Bimini with Common Sense fasteners (AKA twist locks). The bottoms are secured with elastic cord. These awnings are only for times at anchor or dockside. Even then they need to be taken down in high winds. The Sunbrella Shade material is a very loose weave and could be badly distorted by even a moderate amount of air pressure. In order to stabilize the material I hemmed each panel with nylon webbing. The tops and bottoms are hemmed with 1-1/2" webbing (to hold the fasteners) and the sides were hemmed with 3/4" webbing. |
| Working with Sunbrella Shade |
| Shade is a loose weave fabric made of the same acrylic used for most
other Sunbrella fabric. The loose weave allows a considerable amount
of light through the fabric, but cuts down significantly on the amount of
harsh sunlight (UV and IR). It is sold primarily as covers for the
large windshields on many power boats. It should also be an excellent
material for awning hatches and port light curtains. I may be
stretching (figuratively and literally) the technology in using it for a
deck awnin I ordered more material than I needed for the deck awning from SailRite. I figured I would make a few mistakes and allowed for a certain amount of wastage. Then if I didn't waste too much I would have enough material left over to start on the hatch awnings and curtains. When I received the roll of material I got my first surprise. I expected the outer edges of the roll to be finished and sealed in the same manner as the other Sunbrella fabric I've dealt with. Instead the outer edges of the Shade material are unfinished and need to be trimmed and sealed. This is similar to the upholstery material I used 15 years ago to make new cushion covers for the cabin of my previous boat. The deck awning will require at least three long (13') panels. I had not planned on having to trim and seal the long edges of these panel, just the short ones. This was one more reason to start on the small projects (hatch awnings and curtains) before starting on the deck awning. |
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I have several soldering irons in my electrical tool box, but I elected to purchase one and dedicate it to cutting acrylic fabric. It will stay in my canvas work tool box. |
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