Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Graham
I am one of those people who completely forgot about Shadecloth.
It should do a great job and allow for air flow.
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If this image link works it will give you an idea what I did on my Seaway 25, a 25 foot 10 inch Quarter Tonner that I was alternating
living aboard / local cruising in Queensland's Whitsunday Islands (My home Port) and living on land for a number of years after I copped some serious injuries. I had a couple out with me, teaching them to sail Volcano while we spent a couple o weeks hopping from island to island.
She was wrecked in Cyclone Ului 6 months after this trip.
When we got up to the
boat there had been a big dust storm that blew clouds of red dust from hundreds of kilometres inland, across to the coast and dumped it on everything. So that's why the green shadecloth is tinted red. We had to wait for some rain before it washed out.
The breeze was coming from the Port side, so my friends are sitting on the high side and that side is rolled down. The leeward side is rolled up and since the sun is on the port side, the opposite side rolled up means plenty of air flow, but stil lots of shade across all the
cockpit.
I rigged the boom higher than when she used to
race so it clears the cockpit shade and the vang is also clear.
The frame started out as a
cheap power boat bimini and I just bolted bits in various places to make it rigid and keep it secure, especially as we get very sudden strong winds and 3 - 4 metre waves.
It is NOT Pretty, but it works. I'm sure someone who was not designing it as they bolt stuff on - would make something that looks a lot nicer.
I hope this gives you a better idea of what I was describing.
It works quite adequately in winds well over 25 knots, but if that is happening I have the sides rolled up because there's no need for shade in that
weather
Sorry for the lousy image quality. It was copied from a low res video.
Cheers,
RossDv8