I have been thinking of making a sun/rain shade for some time. Many, many boats here at the marina have sunshades that cover the main part of the deck and help cut down on the heat inside the boat. There are various designs - some complicated, some simply plastic tarps. There are fancy ones for sell - Shadetree looks terrific but $$ so I decided to make my own.
I ordered 20 yards of white 60" Surlast fabric off Ebay for $120. I had a heck of a time figuring out the right side and wrong side. After looking at it many times and getting a couple of opinions from fellow dockmates, I just went with what I thought was right. I started last Saturday and finished installing the grommets Monday morning. Just in time to test it out on a 95 degree day with heat index of 105-108. While we don't have a thermometer inside the boat to tell us the temp (probably best we don't actually know how hot it is in there), our Nutella turned into a liquid!! Tom says he can definitely tell a difference with the sunshade up. He says the salon (which is covered by the sunshade) is cooler than our stateroom (that is not covered by the sunshade). I still need to add some chafe guard now that it's up and make one for the foredeck but I am pretty please with the result of this one. We even had a big storm Monday afternoon with high winds and it stayed in place nicely.
That looks really good. And easy to remove when the time comes.
ReplyDeleteLooks great! Very similar to our boom tent. If the sun is coming from one side in particular you can lower that side to the lower lifeline and then put the other side up on poles tied to the stanchions. Boat hooks, deck brushes,any pole you have around will do, or you can order some specifically for that purpose. It increases the wind flow and the visibility tremendously.
ReplyDeleteDeb
S/V Kintala
www.theretirementproejct.blogspot.com
Very good project! Our Catalina 30 came with a sunshade that was not nearly so nice, but it sure helped on those hot summer days in the cockpit at the marina. Provided some privacy as well. Looks like you did a beautiful and very professional job, as always!
ReplyDeleteGreat project! We LOVE our sun shade. They really really help.(PS - a cut up old tennis ball placed over the end of that stanchion that's sticking up, will protect your new shade against chafing through there.)
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