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Old 27-02-2019, 22:53   #46
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

Haven`t read any responses to the basic question but thought I would add my own comment as I too had a complete enclosure built for our Passage 24. Reason for doing so: We live here in the PNW where weather is not always reliable. We can if we wish, sail all year round, visiting the Gulf Islands or the San Juans throughout the winter months.
The full enclosure provides added living space & allows crew to spend time top side even in cooler or wet weather. We can also use the additional space when entertaining guests. As the enclosure is made in panels, it is easily dismantled & stored below deck when sailing.
My thoughts are, consider it like a spare wheel in you trunk. If you need it, you`ve got it. Pull into an anchorage in the pouring rain & see how many happy campers there are sitting in the cockpit while you can quickly assemble your full enclosure & enjoy all the benefits. It can also supplement sleeping accommodations on a hot humid summer night.
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Old 28-02-2019, 07:59   #47
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Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

I have a full enclosure and use it 5 out of 12 months in Kentucky Lake and Tennessee. I take off the rear and halfway back panels in the summer. I always have the dodger, two side panels past the dodger that stay rolled up in warm months and the full Bimini. My center dodger window rolls up and I keep it rolled up in warm months unless it’s raining or a cool night. It takes a couple of minutes to deal with it either way. I sailed in Florida with it fully on and just roll up panels when it’s warm. It gets cold in November thru March sailing in the Florida Keys at night. Add getting wet and it’s downright miserable. If you are having problems getting in and out, have it modified to work for you. Not that expensive to modify. Mine came with bags and we store under the V berth when the panels are off.
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Old 04-03-2019, 08:31   #48
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

You now own one of the finest blue water cruising sailboats on the planet. Lose the windage before you go to sea mate. It might be fine for sitting at the dock in Cap Sante Marina, but you can’t really sail with all that crap hanging over the cockpit. I own a Crealick 34’ and sail in the SJ’ s and Gulfs year round with a nice deep dodger and occasional I deploy a folding Bimini. It’s more than enough shelter.
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Old 04-03-2019, 08:34   #49
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

We have exactly your boat. We have been everywhere now between Maine and Trinidad. We love our dodger because at least you can protect your head and eyes in a rain storm. But every time we speculate on a bimini we look at the drawbacks and never get around to it. (Rain happens in the Caribbean, but only for 10 minutes at a time.)

You were unlucky enough to acquire something with your boat that is debatable; getting rid of it is painful. We were lucky enough not to acquire that same thing with our boat; obtaining it has never happened. For us, the cost of really good foulies has been much lower than the cost of an enclosure.

Shyly, I want to echo some previous poster's comment about a mud fence. Your boat is a sweet looker without the enclosure. When our boat -- even laden with cruising gear and solar panels and wind turbine and mizzen mast and radar and jerry cans -- gets an onlooker to call her "sexy", we are elated for the rest of the week.
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Old 04-03-2019, 08:53   #50
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

You are getting lots of good advice about not rushing to your decision, so will just share my particular experience, as former owner of Crealock 37 that came with hardtop and full enclosure. All that hardware and fabric made a beautiful boat ugly, made a bluewater champion into a marina queen, and reeeeally got in the way of singlehanding. Took it all off and then froze to death for a season and got endless complaints from guests. Eventually compromised on a minimal dodger built as much for handholds as for shelter. Then, after frying for a season, added an attached minimal sunshade over the cockpit, and then eventually added a Phifertex sidecurtain that could be zipped onto whichever side the sun was blasting from. That all works for a minimalist much more interested in passages than parking, so no regrets about pitching it all at the outset: eventually got it right without having to work around all those stored pieces in an otherwise wonderful boat fully loaded for extended offshore cruising. But your milage will certainly vary and you can afford to take some time to work it all out.
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Old 04-03-2019, 10:04   #51
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

If you do cyclone season in NZ,their summer, you will be glad you have a full enclosure
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Old 04-03-2019, 10:08   #52
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dmeistar View Post
Just bought a Crealock 37 with plans to go bluewater cruising full time, double-handing with my girlfriend. Currently in Anacortes, WA but planning to sail south 'till the butter melts and head to the South Pacific later this year.

The former owners of my boat had a custom full cockpit enclosure made (at great expense, I imagine). I'm sure its great to be in the cockpit and be able to be out of the weather, but it makes it difficult to access the stern lines/anchor. It's also tricker getting in and out of the cockpit.

So here's the question--which panels (if any) are worth keeping on board? Would we be crazy for getting rid of everything but the bimini and dodger? We hate to toss perfectly good stuff, but if we're not gonna use it and space is limited...

We are a couple of cruising noobs so hopefully somebody with a few miles under there keels can offer some wisdom!
Sometimes with modification to enclosure panels you can make access to the lines or getting in/out of the cockpit easier. If one of you is OK with sewing, you can reverse zippers, divide the covers differently, add access flaps or slots (with laced grommets, velcro or zippers).

Our own enclosure has been a multi-year exercise - first the bimini and frame (fail - we couldn't use the main sheet traveller when it was up). Then we reversed the bimini frame and made a zippered panel on a hoop that would fall behind the main sheet, with a zippered slot to enclose around the mainsheet (success - unzipper the rear panel and tie around the aft hoop and we can sail while still getting sun and some rain protection at the wheel).

Next step was the curtains, using an old sun awning for side curtains zippered to the bimini and tying them down to the toe rail to begin with. This year I'll put in fasteners rather than random bits of line. Sun protection in the cockpit is important either at anchor or under way.

I wouldn't get rid of the covers, at the very least you could perhaps scavenge them for fabric/zippers for other boat projects...
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Old 04-03-2019, 10:19   #53
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dmeistar View Post
Just bought a Crealock 37 >>>>>>>>>>>>>

We are a couple of cruising noobs >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You're getting way ahead of yourselves.


1. Try it out locally. There's a good reason there are so many boats with them. Those are the boats that get used.


2. It will NOT be warm until you're in Cabo. Really. I sailed up the coast in 2016, and California was the coldest! Check the nighttime temperatures in SF all the way down to LA and SD. 57F is NOT warm. I lived in SF for 25, years in LA and SD for work for 15 of those years. Down south it's called the June Gloom and lasts many times all summer. The BajaHaHa doesn't start until October. Do the math.


3. Whenever folks buy new boats, we almost always tell them: Before you go changing things, wait at least a year.


4. You'd miss the extra "room." Would you cut the family room off your house deliberately?



Good luck, safe journey. Nice boat. You're on the inside of the boat looking out. The only people who hate yellow hulled boats are the ones who have to look at it, not the folks on board.
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Old 04-03-2019, 12:12   #54
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

Keep it but stow most of it away.

I assume you bought a sailboat because you like sailing so clear away all the restrictions to free movement and visibility and enjoy sailing with the wind in your face.

Priorities:
You need a dodger for protection upwind, cold weather or hot, but fold down is better than a permanent one.

You need visibility sailing and motoring, not looking through plastic. Get the plastic out of the way.

You need shade in the tropics, a good bimini is nice, a sun-awning will do fine.

Keep as much as you can for those winters some time in the future when you will onboard for months in cold and rainy weather (think New Zealand, Tasmania, Japan, South Africa, Northern Europe, NE USA, Alaska. You never know).
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Old 07-03-2019, 09:21   #55
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Re: Would you keep the full cockpit enclosure?

Do Keep them stored somewhere on board. BUT if you are going to the South Pacific or any Blue-Water sailing don't have any canvas up that will create windage in a storm except a dodger - which is worth it's worth in gold.
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