Grommets, snaps, common sense ...help!

[JPA Cate]

Bill and roverhi,

Velcro, like zippers, holds up very well when UV protected.

Roverhi, I really like snaps (or press studs, as they are called here), but they are best used with the expensive snap setting tool (sigh!), and need frequent vaselining of the female part, to make them easy to set and remove.

Whereas, zippers, if they are clean, require only a shot of silicone lube every now and then, and work forever, if there are no metal parts. And as long as they are protected from UV.

Sea Dreaming, as long as you keep the UV off, the zips will work fine. Some friends of ours have a "crystal palace" on the stern of their 40 footer, and it appears to be made from one of the PVC fabrics, where the zips and chafe points are, but all the rest is clears, which zip in and out, depending on how much breeze they want in there, or closed up, it's a hot house. Moving in pouring rain doesn't bother them much!

Our choices have been different: full awning only at anchor, and then only if needed, for rain or sun. But then, we don't like adding windage.

Ann

[UNCIVILIZED]

The Sailmaker's Apprentice is a handy reference for projects like these. It always helps me realize how many tricks I've forgotten, as well as a few that I'd like to incorporate into the project at hand. Especially when it comes to things like handwork, grommets, & the like.

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

The Sailmaker's Apprentice is a handy reference for projects like these. It always helps me realize how many tricks I've forgotten, as well as a few that I'd like to incorporate into the project at hand. Especially when it comes to things like handwork, grommets, & the like.

Oh hey! That's a great idea! I had forgotten we have that one on kindle. Thank you for the reminder!

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Bill and roverhi,

Velcro, like zippers, holds up very well when UV protected.

Roverhi, I really like snaps (or press studs, as they are called here), but they are best used with the expensive snap setting tool (sigh!), and need frequent vaselining of the female part, to make them easy to set and remove.

Whereas, zippers, if they are clean, require only a shot of silicone lube every now and then, and work forever, if there are no metal parts. And as long as they are protected from UV.

Sea Dreaming, as long as you keep the UV off, the zips will work fine. Some friends of ours have a "crystal palace" on the stern of their 40 footer, and it appears to be made from one of the PVC fabrics, where the zips and chafe points are, but all the rest is clears, which zip in and out, depending on how much breeze they want in there, or closed up, it's a hot house. Moving in pouring rain doesn't bother them much!

Our choices have been different: full awning only at anchor, and then only if needed, for rain or sun. But then, we don't like adding windage.

Ann

Ann,

Our plan us really just a full awning. We are just adding material over the cockpit where it is open and a "fly" of 20" around the perimeter of the bimini. The fly will be pulled out to the rail to aid with sun angle.

The po actually left us a boom tent but but it isn't made correctly for the space and Jim isn't happy with it.

The PO made the dodger and bimini in a light grey vinyl. We are not in love with them but we are keeping them for now because they are in really good shape. I will, however, re-enforce the stitching on both when I have them off the frames.

Anyway we are not vying for style points so the new parts will be made in aqua topgun. But I will use that left over vynil to make fastener covers so that it blends in with the existing material. Probably anyway. I'll make small sections to mock up the design before I commit.

Ann, I bought that fancy schmancy snap tool. In some ways the snaps seem like my best option. No matter what fastener I end up using I will put the fasteners on a re-enforced strip of the original material and apply that to the dodger and bimini. It won't look "professional " but there is less danger of really mucking up the existing parts. Done with care I may be able to make the new packets seem like design elements. I hope anyway!

Thanks for all the comments.

[JPA Cate]

Sea Dreaming,

It sounds like you have a good handle on it. We, too inherited a PVC awning for the aft 2/3 of the boat. Heavy piece of gear. We eventually retired it, without using it, mainly because we went to a boom bag for the mainsail, and the lazy jacks would have to have been taken down each time the tent was used, and we didn't want to chafe the Sunbrella.

The thing about the 'common sense' fasteners is that they are a real mechanical connection, that you have to do something to to get them to open. My concern would be that the snaps might flog themselves open. I use snaps where they are fixed to something solid, where they can't flog. And good on ya for getting the good tool!

Ann

[Sea Dreaming]

Ann, I always appreciate your good advice. I am happy to say we won't be using any of the new gear underway. We will just put it up at anchor because we have little visibility as it is. The primary aim is comfort at anchor. More shade, some bug protection (roll up screen along the fly) and more comfort if it rains.

The design evolves though. It looks like we have enough of the original vinyl to make the bridge. If so, I may add a shade screen to the center that will be covered by a flap during rain. But that's just an idea I had today. I was much more enthusiastic for the work is the morning vs right now (evening). Ha ha!

[JPA Cate]

SD, interesting you should mention that.

Went to the Solomon Is. one year. They have a very high malaria rate. What I did was buy a double sized bed net from the anti-malaria folks, and treated it with permethrins, and brought it back in a plastic bag to the boat where i treated a long skirt and long sleeved shirt in the left over permethrins. The next day, we worked out a way with velcro to attach a complete enclosure to the edges of our cockpit awning. No shade flies on that one, but it was really good to watch bugs fly out and die, and feel mosquito safe, at any time.

Yes, a morning person, I am, best start the project early.

A.

[Sea Dreaming]

One of our new friends here ended up with dengue fever. He was in the hospital for 8 days. Thankfully we only had mosquitos when the marina dredged the swamp near the docks for a new ramp. But the jejenes, last fall, drove me batty! I like my world bug, and disease free!