Is your boat a wet one?

[doug748]

I usually sail my Twister with the sprayhood down and only use it when in driving rain (or snow ), or if the wind is extremely cold. Even then, I don't rely on looking through the windows but look around it if I am sitting down or over it if I am standing. I don't like anything that impedes visibility.

It also goes up in port since the cockpit enclosure and tonneau are zipped onto it.

Me as well.

I think a sprayhood is the single greatest improvement you can make to the average small boat. However I stick it up when needed; in harbour they are brilliant. Canvas sheds would never be on my agenda.

 

[LadyInBed]

I usually leave it on autopilot and hide behind the sprayhood. :encouragement:

I do not have a sprayhood, I think most of them look ugly, so for me it's autopilot and I retreat to the pilot house saloon :encouragement:

 

[johnalison]

Canvas sheds would never be on my agenda.

I'm wondering if you have ever experienced one. They may look clumsy but they effectively double the saloon space in a small boat. they also allow the crew to enjoy being 'nearly outdoors' in inclement weather. In places like the Baltic, they are handy for the long, sometimes cool, evenings. In Britain it is to keep out the rain.

 

[[3889]]

Thanks. Proves the ancient military saying that 'any idiot can be uncomfortable'.

One of the most useful things on board for crew comfort. A simple but fantastically useful piece of equipment ,that a great many people wouldn't be without. However, what ever boat I'm on, I always drop it when closing a harbour and don't put it up again until docked.

Offshore, certainly an asset but mine comes down landward of the 100m contour. Too easy to miss pot markers IMO. Maybe I need new windows? Or a HR-esque cloche.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I do not have a sprayhood, I think most of them look ugly, so for me it's autopilot and I retreat to the pilot house saloon :encouragement:

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder, or so I have been told. ... my spray hood provides ample shelter for sailing nymphs, so I wont be getting rid of it any time soon.

 

[Praxinoscope]

For years sailed boats with no spray hoods, then bought a boat with one, Wow didn’t realise what I had been missing, especially on those night watches, now I wouldn’t even contemplate a boat without one.

 

[capnsensible]

Our centre cockpit Moody has an all over tent. In around 21 years of living aboard it has immesurably improved our quality of life.

My school yachts had sprayhoods and I always used them when conditions merired it. Helps a lot in keeping below decks dry. Especially when the boats were in use up to 40 weeks a year. :encouragement:

 

[Poignard]

We older yachtsmen, who wear Breton caps, smoke pipes and fly undefaced blue ensigns, disparagingly refer to them by their original name: pram hoods.

 

[MM5AHO]

I sail a Rival 32 most of the time. It's relatively dry. Peretty unusual to get water coming into the cockpit. We do have a spray hood, and if shipping green ones over the bow, that diverts it. I have had some in, but that takes mountainous seas, I mean like 5m +
I crewed last summer on a North Sea crossing (Stavanger to Scotland) on a Hustler 36. I found that by comparison with my boat, the Hustler is very wet. Every wave (F5-6) came onto the helmsman (me on watch!). I was never more thankful for investing in Musto HPX gear (other brands no doubt good too, but I mean the ocean going stuff).
I've crewed on a Contessa 32 also. Nearly as wet as a Hustler.

 

[johnalison]

We older yachtsmen, who wear Breton caps, smoke pipes and fly undefaced blue ensigns, disparagingly refer to them by their original name: pram hoods.

Yes. I agree that they are ugly on many boats. Unfortunately, with increasing age my pride seems to have gone by the board.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

We older yachtsmen, who wear Breton caps, smoke pipes and fly undefaced blue ensigns, disparagingly refer to them by their original name: pram hoods.

... or, roughly translated, you mean "wish they'd been around when I was a lad"?

... just like bathing platforms, warm showers, functioning fridges, roller and single-line reefing, large comfortable cockpits, electric anchor windlasses, auto-pilots, reliable, powerful diesel engines, dry bilges, pressurised hot and cold water, chart plotters, solar chargers, etc, etc, etc ....