Boom tent

[Sheerline]

Does anyone have any advice about a boom tent?

I need one to keep the sun off me, my wife and six month old crewman.

My local sailmaker has suggested one that ties to the mast, rolls along the boom to the back-stay, with aluminium battens from gunwhale to gunwhale.

He wants about AUS$750.

Does the worldwide nautical panel have any hints/suggestions?

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[TigaWave]

Just a strong piecs of material with good eyelets allround.....then run very tight lines fromshrouds back to back stay at boom height tie material to boom and backstay very tight and down over the lines to the gunwales = great tent with quite a bit of width, better if you have twin backstays or a split one. The buety is when the suns low on one side you just slide it over that way down to the gunwale.
Ours stood up to 30 knots quite happily. I've used others with poles in and they all got bent, and ended up being difficult to store. Right now just feel lucky you have some sun! its a bit wintery here.

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[Sea Devil]

I made one as described above with eyehole you can purchase with a punch - and had two sleeves designed to take my two boat hooks. Just the cost of the material and eyehole kit - 1/2 hour with sewing machine.

<hr width=100% size=1>If you have time please visit my web site -
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing>http://www.michaelbriant.com/sailing</A>

 

[Guest]

Why not a garden umbrella ??, suitably stayed and base of pole set into aring or water filled base ?

Other idea as others have said - strong material with eyes ..... I used the common found blue poly tarp - cheap enough and already with eye's etc. fitted.

The only limiting factor is how far back the boom extends - like most boats the boom end is only 50 - 60% of cockpit length - so there is always an area that is not covered by the tarp when draped over boom - but disadavantage is ti8ny compared to the overall benefit.


<hr width=100% size=1>Cheers Nigel ..... <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/>http://www.geocities.com/solentlifeuk/</A>

 

[snowleopard]

some way of closing the gap between the front edge of the tent and the cabin top so wind and rain don't get in while at anchor.

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[aitchw]

If you have a spray hood fitted the forward edge of the boom tent can follow the top edge of that.

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[Gunfleet]

Isn't this about £200? If so I think it represents good value. Good luck with the small crewman. In 18 years he'll go to university and you'll end up a bemused single-hander again!

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[trouville]

I once used a fly sheet from a tent,worked wonderfully

<hr width=100% size=1>liveaboard

 

[oldharry]

Either you have a monster cockpit, or your sailmaker is short of work! If you purely want a sun awning, all you need is a sheet of material stretched over the boom, eyeletted and bungeed to the safety lines. Many people buy those blue polytarps, - last about a season, or about half an hour if the wind goes above F6! Otherwise a flysheet off a ridge tent of suitable size will set you back a fraction of the quoted cost. There is no problem in keeping it tight enough not to sag without battens.

Unless you do have a monster cockpit?

This is fine if you only want a sun awning. If, like most of us in N European waters, you want a dual purpose one for use the remaining 95% of the time then you need one that is properly supported and shaped to the boat, so that it keeps rain and wind out too, and will not take off when the wind pipes up a little, in which case £200 sounds pretty fair

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by oldharry on 19/12/2004 19:49 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

German and other Baltic sailors have " cake boxes" i.e. a tent much as described in earlier posts which are hung over the boom, but with short battens, about .75 mtr wide to spread the ridge a bit. I tried to interest cover makers in the UK but they were not interested.They wanted to sell me some sort of monstrosity with stainless steel hoops which would be a nightmare to stow. In the end I got my local sailmaker, Suggitt Sails, to make one up and we use it almost constantly in port or at anchor. It provides an extra "cabin", especially when it is wet. By rolling with the battens parallel it folds into about .8mtr by .5mtr and is easily put into a bag.

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[roger]

Swedish sailors often have a weatherproof system with a sort of pram hood which stows round the back of the pulpit and zips onto the spray hood. It will usually have various plastic windows and it is used in poor weather when motoring.
The lower end of the mainsheet is usually taken off the normal attachment point and clipped onto the guard rail or similar.

<hr width=100% size=1>Roger

 

[William_H]

The answer to the question is very much up to you. Do you have a sewing machine available? Will you use it often andf in what strength of wind? Any claoth will serve if only for a short time preferably in a light colour. The design proposed by the sailmaker is good and the cost reflects a good product which will be fairly bulky and hard top stow. If you go the do it yourself route then you can use wood broomsticks batten material or aluminium or no battens and just tie it at the back from the aft end of the boom down to the stern quarters. As pointen out this loses a lot of area and a batten at the back attacched to the backstay and tied down to the stern quarters will work. The cover goes forward as far as is wanted but to the gooseneck is good as it will also shade the cabin top.
Re advice about the baby growing up to 18 going to University and you are single handed again well my baby grew up went to Uni now reckons the boat is his. Certainly he is captain and it is a great satisfaction to be able to say he is a better sailor than me. Good luck with the wee one and watch that sun. Happy (hot) Christmas will

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[Sheerline]

On today's exchange rate, it's 295 pounds.

Thanks to all for the advice - although I don't think I'll be hoisting a garden umbrella!

cheers

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[Claverock]

I made a pretty efficient sun shade/boom tent from shade material I bought in Bunnings in Canberra, you will probably be familiar with that material as it's fairly common out there, and brought home to UK. It will fit either over the boom or slung underneath. It is excellent as a sun shade as the material allows air to flow through it and doesn't build up heat underneath but not so good at keeping out rain. It only took a couple of hours with a domestic sewing machine and has Velcro closing flaps to fit around the topping lift. Bungee cords hold it to either the top safety wire or shrouds depending on height required. Can't remember the cost of the shading but it was certainly very reasonable.