Enclosure options

[Peregrine1983]

Hi all,



I love the look of my canvas, but want to be able to extend my season a bit, and be warmer cruising in places like Maine. I'm thinking about upgrading my cockpit enclosure. I don't really like the look of full plastic enclosures, but curious to hear the forums suggestions. Boat is a Pearson 424 ketch.



Any great ideas?


Thanks in advance. Pics of the current setup below.

[Peregrine1983]

FWIW I love Tor Pinney's 424 hard dodger and hard bimini, but it doesn't solve the issue of being cold.


https://www.cruisingworld.com/homemade-hardtop/

[psk125]

Looks like it would be pretty easy to add side curtains with windows and zippered doors all around your bimini. Keeping the wind off the helmsman & crew will make sailing when it’s chilly much more enjoyable. Add a diesel air heater below & leave the hatch open, and you have a toasty sailing porch.

[CassidyNZ]

When we bought our boat, it had a Bimini roof and a soft front screen. We asked a sailmaker in San Diego to fabricate clears to close in the whole cockpit. When the laughing stopped he went ahead and did what we asked. We travelled most of the way to NZ in the comfort of that enclosure.

We still have one (see 1st image attached) and truth is, without this comfort I would not do any further voyaging. I have since this picture was taken, upgraded to a hard top but still have the clears around. Have a large solar array on the roof now, the second image was shot on the day I installed the new hard top (pre-clears).

We’ve had people say the enclosure looks clunky and spoils the lines of the boat. Every time a wave breaking onto the covers gets deflected and we’re sitting inside dry and warm, I reconsider their opinions and laugh.

Once you have sailed in inclement weather, protected from the elements, what it looks like becomes a clearly secondary consideration. It effectively gives you a whole new living room whether sailing or on anchor. I wouldn’t be without mine. Several sailing friends, when first seeing our enclosure 12 years ago and sort of ridiculed it, now have very similar structures. Funny, that.

[DeValency]

I’m finishing these days a new bimini to be installed over a solid dodger. A long project due to distance issues, the cruising boat is in St Lucia and the plan is bringing her to Boston.
See the pictures. Although a cutter, it is a center cockpit, so more or less like your cockpit setup. Have also ordered solid sunbrella panels to cover all windows when away.

[Peregrine1983]

Thanks guys. We often sleep in our cockpit on passages, so I totally hear you about being toasty and dry while underway - it's often the difference between arriving at the destination tired and cold in foulies or feeling well rested because you've been hanging out sipping hot tea in your pj's for 30 hours.

So, the answer is probably just getting a full enclosure made that zips into the existing bimini and dodger and then has snaps on the cockpit coamings. Carriage House Canvas in MD did our bimini and dodger and I'm sure they could do such a thing.

My other reason for considering a hard top or some other setup was the solar panels, but an arch/dinghy davits may be in our future, and so I'll likely be moving the panels to the arch if that happens....

[Smokeys Kitchen]

We had a dodger on our previous boat that was really great. We got this one, and it came with the full enclosure. We took it to Alaska the first year we had it and lived in Petersburg over the winter. I can't imagine having a non-pilot house monohull without an enclosure around the cockpit.

Can do all the sailing functions with the sides up, but we primarily sail with the sides off. If we are just motoring then we put the sides on.

[Lost Horizons]

Originally Posted by Smokeys Kitchen

I can't imagine having a non-pilot house monohull without an enclosure around the cockpit.

I agree. It looks like you have Iverson canvas. Their craftsmanship is admirable.

[J Clark H356]

If you’ve had an enclosure, you know the value of it in terms of comfort while cruising. You stay dry, out of the wind and on a sunny day, you get the benefit of the greenhouse effect and it is very comfortable even on a cold day. I put my rear panels on mid October until mid- May and it really extends my sailing season. I can open it up with ventilation if a warm day and zip it all shut when it’s cold. Just staying dry is a major benefit. Winter of 2013-2014 we were in SW Florida and returned up the Tenn-Tom to the mouth of KY Lake in March. If you’ve sailed in SW Florida even in the keys November- February you know it can get cold and wet on watch with just a dodger. Unbelievable difference with the full enclosure. We run our HVAC heat pump full time and on a cold day, I keep the sliding hatch open and get the benefit of heat from the saloon. If the sun is out, it’s usually at least 50-55 degrees even in 40 degree outside air. Once you’ve got one, you’ll be thankful you made the decision.

[Tillsbury]

I’m in the process of building one at present. I’d like to avoid the enclosure being a massive operation to put up and down (as I like to sail al fresco when the weather is suitable). My boat has a large sprayhood and a bimini that’s almost full-width but is easy to open and close, with a large clear join between the two for standing visibility forwards. I’ve sewn dodgers (the bits covering the lifelines, I’m not sure of their name in the US where you call a sprayhood a dodger). These are going to remain on almost permanently, and the plan is that these have a single full-length zip along their tops, as do the edges of the bimini. I will sew a single clear panel that zips between these two as the side walls of the enclosure. These will be the parts that are most likely to be removed on better days so it’s important that it can be done very quickly and easily.

There will then be a three-section aft part (centre is the doorway). And the final bits will be the forward covers over the side deck. These are the ones that are usually a pain, as they attach in five separate places (sprayhood, upper clear, bimini top, side clear, and dodger) so will either need five zips or some other more clever method of deployment. Doing and undoing five zips each side is the sort of thing that will end up with people not bothering to do it. I’m still working on this...

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by Peregrine1983

Thanks guys. We often sleep in our cockpit on passages, so I totally hear you about being toasty and dry while underway - it's often the difference between arriving at the destination tired and cold in foulies or feeling well rested because you've been hanging out sipping hot tea in your pj's for 30 hours.

So, the answer is probably just getting a full enclosure made that zips into the existing bimini and dodger and then has snaps on the cockpit coamings. Carriage House Canvas in MD did our bimini and dodger and I'm sure they could do such a thing.

My other reason for considering a hard top or some other setup was the solar panels, but an arch/dinghy davits may be in our future, and so I'll likely be moving the panels to the arch if that happens....

I would go with a hard top at any case and plan to do it at some point when back in Boston. Had to go with canvas as in Saint Lucia it was difficult to find the Pre finished honeycomb fiberglass board as well as a reliable trade to finish it.

As for solar panels, while I already have 300W panels installed on the massive davits, a wind generator (and now also added on these two arches to carry the new CHIRP radar, the Iridium, AIS, GPS and long range Wifi antennas, flood lights etc.), a hard top not only looks much better, but will also carry two more solar panels as we can see in the very nice setup of CassidyNZ response above here.

As with the other comments here, the fully enclosed bimini significantly extended the living space, creating almost a pilot house elevated (mini) saloon. Each side panel can be zipped off completely or rolled up at the desired level. Will also have interchangeable screen panels for the hot and very sunny days in the Caribbeans.

[Svsumurun]

We have side curtains for our 365 ( same cockpit) and it makes a huge difference - also helps with the bugs in the spring ! We are usually first ones in in the spring and last out in the fall , it it lets you enjoy the boat much longer into those seasons .
As far as solar , you can fit 4 50 watt flexible panels on the rear Bimini piece and the dodger ( that way you keep the boom shading off at least half!) and that's at least a start - we are also adding panel space to the davits.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by Lost Horizons

I agree. It looks like you have Iverson canvas. Their craftsmanship is admirable.

Yes it is - it came with the boat and it is very strong. We have had a dodger on a previous boat done by Shaun Breeze of Breezy's Canvas in Ballard that was well done - and I would use Shaun again, but it was just a dodger not an enclosure.

[Lost Horizons]

This is the enclosure I have. Wanted a hard top as well, but the boat manufacturer was firmly against it for two reasons: not practical to remove in anticipation of hurricanes, and it elevates the center of gravity. They did, however, do a very nice job with the hard dodger. The canvas company also did not offer a hard top, but their canvas work quality is very high, much-much better than what I had before on the previous boat. Now the cockpit is as close to a pilot house as it gets. With the diesel fuel furnace it is quite comfortable.
For bugs, I have two side panels of the enclosure made from a mosquito netting instead of the strataglass. Look forward to trying it in Alaska.
The next step is to mount PV panels above the bimini, which has mounting bars as part of its construction.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by Lost Horizons

This is the enclosure I have. Wanted a hard top as well, but the boat manufacturer was firmly against it for two reasons: not practical to remove in anticipation of hurricanes, and it elevates the center of gravity. They did, however, do a very nice job with the hard dodger. The canvas company also did not offer a hard top, but their canvas work quality is very high, much-much better than what I had before on the previous boat. Now the cockpit is as close to a pilot house as it gets. With the diesel fuel furnace it is quite comfortable.
For bugs, I have two side panels of the enclosure made from a mosquito netting instead of the strataglass. Look forward to trying it in Alaska.
The next step is to mount PV panels above the bimini, which has mounting bars as part of its construction.

Nice looking enclosure LH. Did the hard dodger come directly from IP?