Shade Panels for the Cockpit

posted by Ardys

Three panels provide shade at the stern.  

Sewing the connector.  

Our sailboat needed shade.  Because the frame of NORTHERN STAR had been tweaked a bit when the solar panel array was added, the canvas didn't fit as was intended.  Additionally, the bimini was quite faded.  I looked at a few swatches of the shades of navy by SunBrella to try to determine the original color.   I finally realized that the dodger and the bimini were NOT the same color of navy.  Disheartening discovery to say the least.  

In summary, our canvas was mismatched, and it didn't fit properly.   I really didn't feel up to the task of re-making the entire bimini to make it 1) match the dodger and 2) fit properly. That would be a much bigger project than I was prepared to take on.  I considered several ways of approaching the project and balked after each idea.   I drew sketches of the cockpit area to envision what the shade panels might look like.  It all seemed so complicated. Frankly, I was afraid to begin.

Pattern pieces envisioned.  Battens across bottoms.

Mid-summer I did dive into the project.  Because we wanted to move toward a lighter color of canvas for the boat, I matched the vinyl shade fabric to our new Sail Pack. I ordered all my supplies from SailRite including matching canvas to cut into 6" strips to "frame" the shade panels.   While awaiting the shipment, I  designed pattern pieces for shade panels.

My goal throughout the project was to make the shade panels efficient to use and quick to put away so I designed them to be rolled up.  I did not want to be obligated to remove the panels and haul them to the "garage" (our aft cabin) after each use.  I used a plumb line to establish the center of the stern.  Because we have a line leading from the cockpit to raise the dinghy onto the davits, I suspended another plumb line there.  A second zipper was needed to allow that line to pass through the shade panels.  Then, I attached lengths of blue painter's tape to the frame and extended them straight down to the lifelines in order to better envision and measure the shape of each intended panel. This part of the task actually took me several hours to calculate.   

One zipper on either side of the stainless frame.  

This project was much too complex to handle entirely on the boat.  I needed space on land, so I commandeered the picnic pavilion at the old marina, South Annapolis Yacht Centre.  A worn sail from our last boat provided me with luff tape, welting and plenty of sailcloth to use for pattern making.   Several decisions needed to be made at that point.  One was that the new shade panels would be much longer than the old set of them.  Also, the shade panels at the stern would snap over the bimini frame because there was no reasonable way to zip it onto the canvas in that location.  The side panels, however, would, be zipped onto the bimini, similar to how the original shade panels had been attached.  I numbered my stern pattern pieces 1-3 which was important since each of the three was a different shape.  The two sides were mirror shapes.

My SailRite shipment arrived at the marina 6 days later. Three boxes.  It felt a little like Christmas in July.  I sent my husband out for a 20' orange power cord that I could use under the picnic pavilion and took out the hot knife.  One of the great advantages of using a hot knife is that canvas and line will not fray, thereby saving time and eliminating the need to finish the raw edges.  Also, it's possible to cut through a few layers of SunBrella at the same time, something I could not have done with traditional shears.   I am impressed that the hot knife gets hot enough in only 6 seconds to cut through materials "like buttah!"

One side panel down; the others are up.  Rainy day. 

The next dilemma for me was how to connect the side panels at the stern.  I opted to simply use snaps to connect the sides to the frame at the starboard and port "corners." 

One of the important additions to the shade panels was not identified until they were hanging. Something stiff was needed to keep the panels level and easier to roll up, and so I bought several slim battens to slide into pockets that I added onto the bottom of each panel.  With the battens, the panels hang more evenly and look tidier.   Because the battens can be removed, I still have the option to fold up the panels for long term storage.  

Zipper able to close with fabric wedge insert

By the time the shade panels were completed, I felt courageous enough  to approach the task of adding 6" to the connector canvas so that it could be zipped to the dodger. Another order went to SailRite.  I chose a navy vinyl material to bridge the gap, and then with my bravery expanding by the day, also used that vinyl as edging on several pieces of the bimini where the canvas was especially worn. At the same time, I added wedges of fabric in places where the zippers would not meet.  A couple zippers were replaced as well.  Several zipper pulls were gray and pitted from salt water, so I used black nail polish to blacken them.  They don't look like new, but they are no longer noticeable to the casual observer. 

A place to store fishing rods and fishing net above the helm.

I enlarged the viewing window directly above the helm, to better eye the top of the mast from the helm.  Because there are solar panels above the bimini, the only way to benefit by an enlarged window was to make it wide but narrow.   Then I devised a means to keep the fishing poles and net in the cockpit suspended above the helm.  I attached (2) 4" stainless steel rings to the bimini canvas ceiling to hold the handle of the fishing net, and the tips of the fishing rods. I attached a vinyl mesh fabric pocket to hold the net and a heavy duty velcro tie-up to hold the reel ends of the two fishing poles on the port side ceiling. 

2 (4") stainless rings corral the fishing rods and net

The last canvas task of the project was to enlarge the leading edge of the two weather windows.  With that done, I was able to install zippers to the leading edges and connect them to the dodger.  The connector and the weather windows are very stiff and awkward to handle, so occasionally my husband was called in to hold up the heavy ends as I sewed on them.  Finally, I played around with a system of buckled lines attached to the solar panel frame so that the connector could also be rolled up and stored under the solar panels. A separate pair of buckled lines holds the two weather windows firmly in place above the bimini.   I took care to ensure that the connector can be employed without pulling the weather windows down at the same time.  At last it was finished.   Ta-DAH!

During this project, I discovered the truth of a phrase that one of my sailor friends parrots, "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing twice."  Heck, maybe even three or four times.  I ripped out lots of seams and reshaped things as I went along.   Sigh.  I put the panels up and took them down many times while sewing them, to be sure about fit and placement of snaps and buckles.

The two weather windows are firmly secured under the solar panels for storage when not in use.

I was unable to make the connector and weather windows as pretty as I would like.  Ideally the colors would have matched but 1) we've got shade and protection from the rain in the cockpit, and 2) I learned several new skills in the process.    When we decide it IS time to replace the bimini and dodger, I believe I can do it myself. And that's what sewing on a sailboat is all about, isn't it?  Self-sufficiency.   And if I become more "salty" in the process, so much the better.   

A (Bad) Day in the Life of a First Mate

posted by Ardys

The goal: to find a spot for everything

I have a friend who wants to know, but doesn't think she should ask me...... "What's it really like living on a sailboat?  Isn't it annoying sometimes? Isn't it hard to be with the same person all the time?"  I'll tell you what's annoying.  It's not the sailing. That's the best part.  As for being with the same person all the time....so far so good. 

I am a compulsive organizer.  And I don't want a cure.  I just want to know where everything goes, have it fit it in there safely and tidily and have it be there next time I want it.  Of course, that would require me to remember where that safely stored item was placed.  If I were to keep track (and I definitely will NOT) I'll bet I spend at least a half hour daily looking for something that "I thought I knew right where that was."  Another half hour looking for something that my husband can describe to me but cannot find.  I developed a spreadsheet system to correlate with each locker and cupboard on the boat before we left MN intending to document where every little thing is stored.  Haven't used it.........yet.  Why?  See paragraph 3 below. 

I spend, at minimum, an hour each day trying to figure out something that I think "I ought to know how to do this."  Sometimes I spend whole days trying to figure out how to make something work, or how to fit 10 things into a space for 7, or to make sense out of something new I'm trying to learn.  If you think that all of that has led to me becoming an incredibly learned person, that is not where I'm going with this.  I spend whole days because what I'm trying to figure out is hard for me to learn, apparently.  I have no better explanation for how time consuming it is.

A cool evening in spring using the MacBook.

Another thing--I have difficulty with technology.  Or rather, technology has issues with me.  Before we left Duluth, I paid a nice young man and his wife who run a business focusing on Apple products to teach me what I would need to know to operate our new MacBook so that I can manage our photos, write the blog, handle spreadsheets, and lots more.  Over the course of several weeks last winter, I went in there and learned good stuff to know so that I can functionally use our MacBook Pro.  Some of it stuck.  And my very worst day with technology that I have had since living onboard is the day I lost my new iPhone 6+ in the water.   I threw my leg over the lifeline and my phone in its' pouch which was hanging from my waist, caught on the lifeline and dumped itself out.  I saw the phone as if in slow-motion drop into 12' of water.   Carl fished it out but it could not be revived.  Salt water is not good for phones.

On a more positive note, while onboard, I have learned how to use my SailRite machine for all kinds of useful tasks. use special tools to apply snaps of all sorts, install grommets and repair things.  I have made shade panels to surround the cockpit and revived the bimini and connector (separate post about that) all of which turned out to be quite a lengthy project.  I've figured out ways to economize on water use on the boat.  I've figured out so many little things that I can't even begin to name them.  Meanwhile, my husband, who has figured out many more of the bigger things (like managing the energy systems and repairing mechanical things on the boat) has been also teaching me about what he's doing.  One might think that I have become quite knowledgeable by now.  One would be wrong. I feel like I have barely scratched the surface.

Jax spots a squirrel on a morning walk.

A portion of each day is, of course, spent walking Jax.  Carl and I take turns being the one to get up early with him to go for a long walk.  He's a pretty good alarm clock.  He usually starts making little whimpering noises around 6:30 or 7:00.  We know he's desperate if he plants a paw on Carl's chest.  He's a pretty respectful dog, so if he's getting right in our faces it's serious.   No more dawdling.  Actually, those early morning walks tend to be one of the most enjoyable times of the day for me. Depending upon where our boat is at the time,  I may be able to allow him to run off leash for a short time.  I'm pretty sure that's HIS favorite time of the day.  

The "obstacle course" between galley and stateroom

Space is at a premium, of course.  Carl's favorite spot to sit and read is next to the nav station which means that his legs tend to block the path from the galley to the stateroom.  Because Jax always wants to be right next to one of us, or preferably mid-way between the two of us, his furry body is also lying in the pathway between the galley and the stateroom.  On a good day, I'll do the obstacle course without complaint.  On a different kind of day, both of 'em better get out of my way because that little dodging and dancing routine that is required to pass through is more than I can tolerate. Those are days when nothing seems to go quite right.  

I have had no serious injuries since moving aboard.  The bloodiest injuries I have sustained have had to do with sharp knives or scissors that could just as easily have happened while living on land.  I tend to move around fairly deliberately and when we're under sail I'm always hanging onto some part of the boat for stability.  In spite of that, I have jammed every part of my body that has hard angles or protruding parts (elbows, knees, hips, head, feet, shoulders) against some unforgiving part of the boat that has caused bruises, minor cuts or at least a cuss word or two.  I think I understand now why sailors have been notorious for having foul language.  

The galley, an ongoing challenging organizational task

There are some things that are simply physically impossible to do.  It is not possible to stand up straight in the bow of the boat (the place we use as a workroom).   It is nearly impossible to exit the workroom without banging either my head or my shoulder or both like a 1-2 punch, into the door frame.  Carl avoids going in there at all.  Anything that is stored up there (and there is a LOT) in the bow of the boat is mine to find.  It is not possible to remove things from the bottom of the refrigerator without removing everything on top first.  It is not possible to get the larger pots and pans out from under the stove where they are stored without standing on my head and removing all the others first.  These are annoyances to me which I am learning to live with. 

So, the annoying things it seems are:  limited space, needing to learn new things all the time, limited space, losing things and limited space.  That's the long and short of it.   It's okay to ask me about boat life.