Spray hood and covers.

[Odysseus]

Thought I would start a new post. As I sail the the Biscay area there is a need to have a cover for sun exposure, and a cover when its chilly.  So I worked on a design that would be the best compromise for me.

I wanted it to give the most visibility when hunkered down, and easily stowed away when sailing, or could be sailed with it up.

Also i wanted to utilise the frame with my old spray hood as a winter cover.

I approached C&J marine with my ideas and we came up with a solution that suit's me. The Guy there to talk to if you have any usual requests is Wayne Strickland,  he is one of the directors there and is very approachable.
As a matter of information to the forum they have a method of making kit without seeing the boat using  digitable 3D model which converts to a 2D layout for the cutting machine, very clever,  through photographic image's.

Back to my enclosure, the sprayhood has a zipped window in the front, it zips around so folds flat at the bottom. It has pockets in the side of the hood for storage, zips along the poles for easy assay of hood, and a zip along the top so I can interchange cockpit covers easily. 

It took 3 boats over many years to get all of my "nice to have " features on it. C&J made my hood and summer cover, I made the winter one as its no big deal as I have a industrial machine.

I fitted a back leg to the frame which the whole cover folds back on, it takes 3 minutes to stow away.

The photos talk for them selves.

Odysseus
Bav 38

[dunx]

Glad it worked out for you. I wouldnt use them again. Having visited my boat and identifying the frame and fittings as theirs, they manufactued a sprayhood for me to fit. Its not even close to fitting but apparently thats my fault as I cant be doing it right. I followed the advice of leave it on the frame to relax and it still doesnt fit! Customer service is pay us £250 and we will fit it or if we cant we will remake it......

[Salty]

Following a visit to their stand at the Southampton Boatshow in 2010, I was very impressed with the workmanship evident on a spray hood and canopy they had on display. After a short discussion with Wayne Strickland they made me a new sprayhood and a new canopy from their stock records for a B36 as my boat was in Scotland at the time which would have made it costly for them to travel there to take measurements. Their stock records were fine and the system, when it arrived about a month after placing the order, and contrary to Dunx experience, it all fitted perfectly. Following their instructions for fitting the canopy was a matter of reading them carefully and checking frequently to ensure that fittings were being placed exactly as described. Since then I've been back to them for other canvas items as well as to their associate company of Kemp Sails, and cannot recommend them both more highly. If and when any of the canvas work or sails need to be renewed, I will be heading back to C&J or Kemps for replacements.

[dunx]

Does anyone out there have a 37 (2001) with a C &J spray hood? I would be grateful for pictures of the location of the pegs for the cheeks of the sprayhood. On mine they are tight to the tops of the windows so to get the hood to fit I think I am going to have to remove the existing fittings and move them up about an inch on each side. Thanks

[Craig]

Oddysseus,

Looks great. We are considering something similar.

The spray hood supplied with our boat in 2010 had plastic zippers. Small size teeth in the zipper. 6 weeks after taking delivery we copped winds exceeding 40 kn for 3 days and gusts up to 75kn while anchored in Pula, Croatia. The spray hood handled this well. So, the initial strength of the zips and spray hood was great.

However, the year before last, in a 50kn thunderstorm in Greece,  the spray hood blew out when these blue plastic zips along the bottom of the spray hood gave way. All the zips showed sign of deterioration with sun damage. We have replaced these zips with Large toothed white plastic zips. They seem to be stronger than the small toothed blue plastic zips that seem to be fitted to most Bavarias. I'm hoping they cope with the sun better than the old zips.

Metal zips may be better as they obviously don't get affected by the sun.

Craig
"Shirley Valentine"
Gold Coast
AUSTRALIA

[MarkTheBike]

Metal zips may be better as they obviously don't get affected by the sun.

True, but the salt renders them completely useless within a year or two - I'll be sticking with heavy plastic ones.

Cheers

[Salty]

I agree with Mark, metal zips on a boat are bad news.