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What do you do for shade in the cockpit?

I was using a tarp over the boom and tied off on the lifelines. Helped keep the cabin roof cool so cooler inside. Not so nice sitting in the cockpit as can't see out very well with tarp in the way. Not much shade on the cockpit seats as tarp did not go very far out. Also hard to go from cockpit up to bow.



I have the tarp just tied down over the cabin/companionway due to weeks of quite strong winds. It acts like a sale when up and over the boom. But I am experimenting with a bimini type of shade system. I put it on today and left it up to see if it would survive a couple of days of wind. If the experiment fails, oh well, I'll try something different.

If the experiment works, I'll give all the details. Briefly, I have used electrician's tubing with a 600 mm reinforcing of wooden dowel in the middle where it goes on the boom. This means it should bend at the ends but not kink or even bend much if at all in the middle section.



The shade is not sitting as nicely as I wanted but my time was up and had to go. Gee it was hot, even with the breeze!!

Update: The shade is fantastic. While it is not that big, with the summer hot weather, it makes a huge difference to comfort on the boat when anchored. I have had it up when motoring and it is very nice to have that extra comfort when standing in the cockpit however, I am cautious of having it up when moving as the wind can blow up and I don't want added complications when underway.

The sun is getting so hot now that open deck areas can become too hot to touch. So the shade is very welcome.

The problem I have found with my construction is that the piping is not as resilient as I originally thought. The end pipe ended up with a big permanent curve and that made it very tricky to roll up. So I found some wooden dowel that fitted reasonably well inside, cut it to same length as the pipe and jammed it in. All the pipes had a middle section of dowel that I put in to strengthen the bit which goes over the boom but they were only about 600 mm long. This newly reinforced pipe is working well.

The other problem I had was with the ties. Originally I used plastic hooks recycled from some camping light-weight tarps to clip on the lifelines. The big problem with them is that when putting the shade up or taking it down, the hooks on the end of the ropes tend to hook on to things at the wrong time such as when a gale blows up and I am in a hurry to pull the shade down but it keeps re-attaching itself. I have found it better to just tie the shade down to the lifeline using a clove hitch with the last wrap doubled to form a bow which I can just pull to untie.

After some problems working out how to pull the shade down when the wind blows up, I have found it easiest to start with the stern end, untie the two ropes and roll the shade forward on the boom, then untie the next ropes and roll forward leaving the last two ropes to untie. At this point, the shade is rolled up so the wind is not on it like a sail but still held in place by the last two side ropes so it is not going to go anywhere. Then easy to untie the last bits and drop the roll down to the cabin roof and tie to the grabrail.



While the shade is great in the middle of the day to make the boat more comfortable, it also helps keep the dew off some of the cockpit overnight.

Overall, it has been a very useful addition to the boat.

troppo

That's the same set-up ive got, seems to work well, but I also carry a cocktail umbrella for special occasions!

Hey Shaun, now that is a good idea.

troppo

And don't even think that Shaun is window dressing!

That shade IS part of his cruising gear.

I'm thinking a coffee machine would make a great addition. Be totally awesome relaxing at anchor somewhere, in the shade of the umbrella, feet up, fresh coffee, reading the latest news on the ipad, just chilling out.

troppo