Clever, Innovative, Creative solutions to storing all that canvas/isinglass

[mrsrobinson]

When I had the 330DA it was slipped outdoors. I hated, hated taking all the canvas off once at the boat, storing it in the aft cabin, then putting it all back on at the end of the weekend. Especially when it was 95+ degrees. Next 3 boats were slipped indoors or in a covered slip, and I loved it. Isinglass/canvas was always off and stored at home. I am referring to the side curtains only, not the Bimini.

I have 4 places I am thinking about keeping the boat I have under contract, and of course 2 are covered, 2 are not, 2 are floating slips, 2 are not. They all have their pros/cons. My favorite once is non covered floaters with a full length finger pier. The 2 covered ones have little to no finger pier. Once is floaters, one is not.

If I go the uncovered route I'd like to figure out a way to reduce the pain of taking the curtains on/off and then where to store them while on the boat. I am curious to hear what others do, or have done.


Thanks

 

[superwa]

That used to drive me nuts! Last time I did the canvas I got the ones that can be rolled up like a curtain. No more removing or storing. Never looked back. If not replacing you can simply add a strap and snaps to roll them up and attach then. The forward ones are the hard type and I don’t roll them, I pull them and snap to the ceiling. Nothing to remove.

 

[firecadet613]

@superwa has the answer. We do the same and love it.

 

[DaFish]

We roll the pieces we take off on a pool noodle, tied off with Velcro and stored up to the side of the forward master.

 

[sbw1]

When I had the 330DA it was slipped outdoors. I hated, hated taking all the canvas off once at the boat, storing it in the aft cabin, then putting it all back on at the end of the weekend. Especially when it was 95+ degrees. Next 3 boats were slipped indoors or in a covered slip, and I loved it. Isinglass/canvas was always off and stored at home. I am referring to the side curtains only, not the Bimini.

I have 4 places I am thinking about keeping the boat I have under contract, and of course 2 are covered, 2 are not, 2 are floating slips, 2 are not. They all have their pros/cons. My favorite once is non covered floaters with a full length finger pier. The 2 covered ones have little to no finger pier. Once is floaters, one is not.

If I go the uncovered route I'd like to figure out a way to reduce the pain of taking the curtains on/off and then where to store them while on the boat. I am curious to hear what others do, or have done.


Thanks

Canvas was a major factor for us in switching from a 370 express to a 3200 Open with a hardtop. It takes just 2 minutes to take down the aft curtain and drop it in the floor locker on the Tiara. Another two minutes to put it up. The change we made canvas wise on the sea ray was to keep all of our regular canvas down and stored on the 370. We had a cockpit cover made that covered the boat from the windshield to the taft rail. That was quite a big piece of canvas but it kept the boat spotless inside and took about 7 minutes to remove and store in the dock box. It took about 10 minutes to reinstall at the end of the day. I hated that job. The regular canvas looked brand new because we only used it for cruising or when the weather was bad. We used that boat less frequently because I did not like having to deal with canvas when the weather did not cooperate.

 

[rumrunner]

I roll up the isinglass with a sheet and place into 5 or 6 inch PVC tubes cut to the right length. I then store the tubes in an aft locker. 3 tube for the isinglass glass across the front, 1 tube for both isinglass side curtains.

 

[mrsrobinson]

We had a cockpit cover made that covered the boat from the windshield to the taft rail.

I thought about a cockpit cover as well so I could leave the curtains/isinglass off. It's about $3500 to make one. But then like you said, I am still removing it and reinstalling it all of the time.

 

[KevinC]

My forward visors and side curtains stay up all season. I have frowns in them that allow them to open up as much as needed. I left the center visor solid but may add the frown. I can also remove that if needed and I am thinking of making a screen panel to swap out for it on buggy nights.

The one nice thing about the frowns is if needed I can just open the top just a little to look through which is helpful on damp mornings when the dew fogs everything up right away or even when it is raining to get a better view above the windshield wipers.

My aft curtain just comes off quickly, rolls and stores.

-Kevin

 

[Fill Ess]

For the ones I take down, I roll them around a couple of 10" diameter 4 foot long sono tubes with some straps to secure.

It's enough to get them out of the way but not too tight of a radius

Then I can carry the whole thing down to the cabin or put in the truck

 

[GnrlPatton]

No rolling for mine. I had my canvas and sides made 3 seasons ago, and I worked with my canvas guy to come up with a sliding system so that I can always keep them flat when putting them up or storing them. If I want to open up a panel, it slides forward or back, I never roll them up. The aft curtains can slide over each other and then snap up to the support poles. To this day they still look brand new, but I will admit I obsess over them - always keeping them clean (light soapy water only, rinse well with fresh water and wipe off horizontally only with a microfiber towel), never letting people touch them, etc.

My canvas guy also made a storage bag for me that every side panel can fit into, they have dividers that each one gets it's own separate compartment and then the whole thing can zip up and lay flat up on the dash until I am ready to put them back up.

 

[Chris-380]

I thought about a cockpit cover as well so I could leave the curtains/isinglass off. It's about $3500 to make one. But then like you said, I am still removing it and reinstalling it all of the time.

I just had a new cockpit made a year ago. 1800, but I took the boat to them…. I also had a full camper enclosure made while it was there.
I had some custom clear stow made to store mine. These work good
https://clearstow.com/product/clearstow-bag/

 

[Chris-380]

My forward visors and side curtains stay up all season. I have frowns in them that allow them to open up as much as needed. I left the center visor solid but may add the frown. I can also remove that if needed and I am thinking of making a screen panel to swap out for it on buggy nights.

The one nice thing about the frowns is if needed I can just open the top just a little to look through which is helpful on damp mornings when the dew fogs everything up right away or even when it is raining to get a better view above the windshield wipers.

My aft curtain just comes off quickly, rolls and stores.

-Kevin

Hey Kevin, i only use my enclosure 4-6 weeks in the spring, and the same in the fall. Or if it rains hard during the summer

I had my canvas guy make interchangeable screens for each eisenglass section. If it’s July and we are going to sleep out, I put the screens up before the sun sets, keeps the bugs out and let’s any breeze come through. I know you are in that business, so it would be easy for you to do….

 

[GnrlPatton]

Hey Kevin, i only use my enclosure 4-6 weeks in the spring, and the same in the fall. Or if it rains hard during the summer

I had my canvas guy make interchangeable screens for each eisenglass section. If it’s July and we are going to sleep out, I put the screens up before the sun sets, keeps the bugs out and let’s any breeze come through. I know you are in that business, so it would be easy for you to do….

Yeah, I'm kind of the opposite here, it only DOESN'T rain 4-6 weeks of the year. I have my glass up most of the year but will take them down during some of our hotter summer days but the wife insists they go back up at night to keep the bugs out.

I have considered the idea of screens that could slide in the same tracks as the glass, but haven't gotten around to that project yet.

 

[KevinC]

Hey Kevin, i only use my enclosure 4-6 weeks in the spring, and the same in the fall. Or if it rains hard during the summer

I had my canvas guy make interchangeable screens for each eisenglass section. If it’s July and we are going to sleep out, I put the screens up before the sun sets, keeps the bugs out and let’s any breeze come through. I know you are in that business, so it would be easy for you to do….

I was thinking of making all but I will probably start just with the center to allow the air flow and add screened openings in my side curtains.

-Kevin

 

[stg099]

I had straps installed (2 per section) on the inside of each canvas section and my aft canvas separated Into 5 pieces with zippers (originally 3). Now I unzip the sections and roll them up and button the straps which holds the rolled canvas up high against the hardtop. At the end of the day just pop the snaps off and the canvas drops down to be reattached at the base and zipped. Quick and easy.

 

[bbwhitejr]

My camper canvas was new in early 2021. I try to never roll any part of it. It comes off after the pollen in April and is replaced with the cockpit canvas. I took a wall in my garage and installed snaps on it in various spots to "snap" the pieces of the top to. Smaller pieces go on the wall first and toward the bottom of the wall, with the larger pieces going on top of the smaller pieces. I use hand trucks with a 3'x6' piece of OSB strapped to it to lay the pieces on flat with sheets between them to get them home.

Bennett

 

[Carver370]

On my boat the camper canvas is setup as such that I really only ever remove the back three pieces. Both port and starboard sides where you would board the boat have straps that clip up to the top support bar and my center panel forward flips upward and inward to snap to the radar arch. The transom "door" piece rolls up and out of the way for daily use.

I have never taken the forward sides down as there is plenty of air flow this way.

I can have the rear three panels off/on in about 5 minutes. I usually lay them on the back berth with a blanket between them.

 

[b_arrington]

Like @KevinC suggested, zip opening sections are great. I also had "frowns" added to my L and R front windows so those almost never came down. The frown as more utility than an smile there for all the reasons Kevin noted.

I had a camper canvas made for my 270 AJ. It had 3 large panels. Each panel had a zipper "smile" in it that could be easily opened and snapped in place with straps. The panels also had screen mesh permanently sewn in on the outside. It was nice because it provided shade and cooling, and extended the life of the plastic windows. Downside was that it didn't zip open. If I were to go back and do it again, I would either have a matching smile added to the screen, or have the screens be snap-in vs. sewn in.

Our normal practice for opening the boat (also no covered slip) was to 1) unzip the front window smiles. 2) Roll up and snap the center panel with straps. 3) Remove the aft panel, roll, and stow below. 4) roll up the entire side panel on each side. I could wedge them into the side bimini bows and they would stay open.

Unless it was REALLY hot, the left and right forward side windows stayed in place.

Some pics.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Those small side panels near the windshield were a b!tC$h% on the 330DA. They had some kind of Velcro on them, I did not have a finger pier on either side to stand on to remove them, etc. In retrospect, reading the comments/pics here, I should have left them on.

The canvas shop were I will be keeping the 380DA frowns on installing, frowns (pun intended). They called them horseshoe.

"We strongly suggest the horseshoe zippers are not installed in those panels (above the windshield) and we won't provide any warranty on that service. While we understand the desire to have them installed, in our opinion they cause problems and can shorten the lifespan of the window panels."

In the same email reply they said they could get to a cockpit cover for me in June, yes June. That is how far backed up they are.

 

[b_arrington]

Those small side panels near the windshield were a b!tC$h% on the 330DA. They had some kind of Velcro on them, I did not have a finger pier on either side to stand on to remove them, etc. In retrospect, reading the comments/pics here, I should have left them on.

The canvas shop were I will be keeping the 380DA frowns on installing, frowns (pun intended). When I asked why he said he will talk to me in person once the boat is there.

Let us know why that shop doesn't like frowns - I'm curious as they have a lot of value.

My canvas guy sews in a layer of window material over the outside of the frown zipper5. That did a great job of keeping water from leaking through the zipper. A plus with a frown vs. smile is rainwater / spray can't collect in the zipper track at the bottom and leak through - the bottom is all window.