Cockpit Enclosures

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yachtorion

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Sailing in cold and wet can be miserable. If wheelhouse/deck saloon type Konsort Duo/Pilot 27 style motorsailers are sometimes felt to end up being perhaps too compromised for upwind sailing.... how well does sailing with a canvas cockpit enclosure on a more standard boat work?
 
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A well designed one will consist of separate sides top and back screens so that you can sail with just a windward windbreak..
On my list of things to do
I paid a proven professional to draw up a design for me, which I shall get around to one day ( I can sew and do metal). Her detail insight was invaluable.

Meanwhile I have lifeline side dodgers which don't half make a difference on a frosty sail..
 
They're not to everyone's taste, but they're practical and in my view well worth the expense if you live somewhere that the sun doesn't shine all that often. We use our cockpit come hail, rain, or shine.

Ours has just three parts (front, middle, rear), but the sides can be rolled up leaving the centre roof section in place. The three-part solution does everything we want, and I can't see any requirement for more parts on our type of boat. We use different configurations depending on the weather. If it's warm and sunny we just use the spray hood, sometimes if it's cold we might keep the rear section up ...and on one occassion when we were motoring and the weather was foul we had the whole cockpit tent in place.

Plenty of pics here: http://macwester.wordpress.com/macwester-malin-photos-pictures/
 
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MoodySabre said:
A cockpit tent is brilliant but not for sailing with it up.
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+1

Mine is in 3 parts. Top and rear with 2 removable sidescreens. The back rolls up to leave the top like a bimini. I wouldn't try to sail with it up as visibility is not good enough, in my opinion, just through the sprayhood. Also access to the rest of the deck is compromised.
Makes a fantastic difference to using the boat in anything but this weather. Huge extra "cabin" and the whole boat is much warmer
 
We have been delighted with the cockpit enclosure we had made by Comfort Afloat Ltd (Gosport). It provides shade in hot weather and enables us to sit out in cool weather. But I would not try to sail with it up because I wouldn't be able to see the sails properly and the extra windage would spoil the sailing qualities of the boat. Also the mainsheet horse is positioned just aft of the cockpit enclosure it so I could see problems with the sheet fouling it when running free, and an involuntary gybe might remove it altogether!

It's use is strictly reserved for marinas, on moorings and in sheltered anchorages.
 
yodave said:
Plenty of pics here: http://macwester.wordpress.com/macwester-malin-photos-pictures/
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Thanks for that! A friend of mine has the same boat and I think he'd like to have a more sheltered cockpit since he likes to go out for a sail all year round. Myself, I'd hate it. Visibility through the sprayhood was bad enough already and it can't do any good for the sailing performance either.

P.S.: The Macwester IANA arrangement seems like a sensible idea, I'll pass it on.
 
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Thanks for the input. Sounds like the consensus is sailing with a cockpit enclosure isn't a goer so I've started a thread on the other side of the coin - wheelhouse/deck saloon boats...
 
Pasarell said:
+1

Mine is in 3 parts. Top and rear with 2 removable sidescreens. The back rolls up to leave the top like a bimini. I wouldn't try to sail with it up as visibility is not good enough, in my opinion, just through the sprayhood. Also access to the rest of the deck is compromised.
Makes a fantastic difference to using the boat in anything but this weather. Huge extra "cabin" and the whole boat is much warmer
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This is exactly what we have on our Duo. We only erect it when at anchor up the Fal, or any other river where we expect to stay for a day or two, or alongside on a pontoon. We have a separate top-only sun shield made from Aussie Shade-cloth, which fits on the same frame. We can sail with this up, as it does not restrict access to the deck, and we can see through it.
 
omegajames said:
Sailing in cold and wet can be miserable. If wheelhouse/deck saloon type Konsort Duo/Pilot 27 style motorsailers are sometimes felt to end up being perhaps too compromised for upwind sailing.... how well does sailing with a canvas cockpit enclosure on a more standard boat work?
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I designed and got JKA to make mine, I insisted on being able to sail with it up, I do. The back and sides roll up if I want to so that the top acts as a bimini. We sail with the widward side down with just a triangle up to allow winching. It has transformed our boat.
Stu
 
That's quite a transition to go from a cockpit sail-designed enclosure to a full wheelhouse vessel with comparable sailing qualities. Be interesting to see what changes again as the search intensifies ? Good luck.. All year boating def worth having, makes it cheaper innit
 
I don't race. I like to be on my boat. I hate being stuck out in the wind and rain all day.

I bought a Moody Eclipse which sails just fine for me- upwind or down. Even across.

Some folk have said they cant sail from inside. They must be doing it wrong.

I did consider a cockpit tent for my last boat but decided to get a deck saloon boat instead, a cockpit tent seemed only any good at anchor.

I'd never have a exposed cockpit boat again as I like to select to be steering from outside or inside depending on the weather.
 
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