Sun awning material

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stranded

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Anyone got any suggestions for fabric to make sun awnings for the boat? The obvious choice would be sunbrella or other acrylic canvas to match the Bimini and sprayhood, but it is mighty expensive - I am going to need around 40m2, heavy, and bulky to stow. Are these all inevitable characteristics if I want something that will be strong enough to stretch tight on cords strung between standing rigging, last a while in the Med sun, and withstand half a gale? Or is there a lighter, cheaper, alternative that will last two or three years of 6+ months a year use?
 
I think I'd be tempted to look at a breakdown of labour versus material cost. A cheaper fabric won't necessarily reduce the overall bill significantly.
 
michael_w said:
Weathermax. You pays your money ...
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Think this is the only thread I have ever seen on here that has unanimously gone for the most expensive options. Guess there must be something in that. Life’s too short to try to decipher the weathermax hype so think I’ll go with tried and trusted Sunbrella.
 
For sun awning to be rigged when moored or at anchor you can happily use a much lighter fabric than the acrylic canvases being suggested above. I used pu coated polyester fabric like this https://www.attwoollsmanufacturing....240gms-polyurathane-coated-nylon-width-150cm/ at £7.20 a metre rather than canvas at nearly double that. It's also about half the weight and bulk, making it much easier to rig and stow than canvas.
Our awning is attached to the boom by a row of turnbuckles, taken over a line rigged from the shrouds to the backstay and field in place with bungee cords to the guardrails. At anchor, this creates a wind tunnel effect funnelling whatever breeze is available into the cockpit. Whilst not as strong as the canvas and therefore not to be left rigged in high winds (not that you'd want to anyhow, as the increased windage is not welcome!), the awning is now in its fourth or fifth year, showing no signs of UV damage.
Only thing I'd change if we were doing it again would be to use white fabric rather than blue. We used blue to match all th other canvas work on the boat but it does get much hotter and transmit some the heat more than a white fabric would do.
 
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duncan99210 said:
For sun awning to be rigged when moored or at anchor you can happily use a much lighter fabric than the acrylic canvases being suggested above. I used pu coated polyester fabric like this https://www.attwoollsmanufacturing....240gms-polyurathane-coated-nylon-width-150cm/ at £7.20 a metre rather than canvas at nearly double that. It's also about half the weight and bulk, making it much easier to rig and stow than canvas.
Our awning is attached to the boom by a row of turnbuckles, taken over a line rigged from the shrouds to the backstay and field in place with bungee cords to the guardrails. At anchor, this creates a wind tunnel effect funnelling whatever breeze is available into the cockpit. Whilst not as strong as the canvas and therefore not to be left rigged in high winds (not that you'd want to anyhow, as the increased windage is not welcome!), the awning is now in its fourth or fifth year, showing no signs of UV damage.
Only thing I'd change if we were doing it again would be to use white fabric rather than blue. We used blue to match all th other canvas work on the boat but it does get much hotter and transmit some the heat more than a white fabric would do.
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Ahhh... thank you!
 
Nooka said:
Anyone got any suggestions for fabric to make sun awnings for the boat? The obvious choice would be sunbrella or other acrylic canvas to match the Bimini and sprayhood, but it is mighty expensive - I am going to need around 40m2, heavy, and bulky to stow. Are these all inevitable characteristics if I want something that will be strong enough to stretch tight on cords strung between standing rigging, last a while in the Med sun, and withstand half a gale? Or is there a lighter, cheaper, alternative that will last two or three years of 6+ months a year use?
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Why not just stitch up an old sail? It might not look pretty, but should do the job and would be easy to stow.
 
You pay your money and take your choice as they say .
Lots of canvas about , but like all think on boat it's best to buy good stuff in the long run you save money .
Out here in the Med sun we need something that's going to keep the uv of us ,
We used sunbrella , you need to be careful there different grades , we also use a tan colour , as already said blue can get hot .
Sunbrella won't only keep the sun off but also keepthe rain out .
The boat we have now came with a new one year old white Bimini looks very nice , until we got sun burn , it now off and we making a new one out of sunbrella .
 
sailaboutvic said:
You pay your money and take your choice as they say .
Lots of canvas about , but like all think on boat it's best to buy good stuff in the long run you save money .
Out here in the Med sun we need something that's going to keep the uv of us ,
We used sunbrella , you need to be careful there different grades , we also use a tan colour , as already said blue can get hot .
Sunbrella won't only keep the sun off but also keepthe rain out .
The boat we have now came with a new one year old white Bimini looks very nice , until we got sun burn , it now off and we making a new one out of sunbrella .
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Thanks Vic - yes looks like Sunbrella is the way to go. Just got to work out rigging solutions now.
 
duncan99210 said:
For sun awning to be rigged when moored or at anchor you can happily use a much lighter fabric than the acrylic canvases being suggested above. I used pu coated polyester fabric like this https://www.attwoollsmanufacturing....240gms-polyurathane-coated-nylon-width-150cm/ at £7.20 a metre rather than canvas at nearly double that. It's also about half the weight and bulk, making it much easier to rig and stow than canvas.
Our awning is attached to the boom by a row of turnbuckles, taken over a line rigged from the shrouds to the backstay and field in place with bungee cords to the guardrails. At anchor, this creates a wind tunnel effect funnelling whatever breeze is available into the cockpit. Whilst not as strong as the canvas and therefore not to be left rigged in high winds (not that you'd want to anyhow, as the increased windage is not welcome!), the awning is now in its fourth or fifth year, showing no signs of UV damage.
Only thing I'd change if we were doing it again would be to use white fabric rather than blue. We used blue to match all th other canvas work on the boat but it does get much hotter and transmit some the heat more than a white fabric would do.
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This sounds very much like the material we used. Our original awning was made up to test the design using the cheapest heavy stuff we could buy, which turned out to be artists' canvas bought from Abakhan. As it turned out we used it successfully for many years but ultimately replaced it and increased its area. The cloth we used sounds very much like the one in duncan99210's link, bought on Ebay. It is perfectly good, heavy enough to stand up to quite a good blow but not so heavy that it takes great effort to erect. It is stiffened using fibreglass tent poles and lies along the boom and bimini. The great thing about this design is that there is no restriction to breeze, which makes a huge difference in port.
 
KellysEye said:
We used Sunbrella it's the longest lasting canvas and Dabond UV resistant thread. https://www.sunbrella.com/en-gb/ Sewing canvas requires a metal sewing machine.
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Thanks - I hope my machine will be up to the job - Pfaff Select 4.2 - not metal (case anyway), but it’s done spinnaker pole and boat hook covers in Sunbrella with no problem, though multiple strengthening layers in the corners of the awning will be a sterner challenge.
 
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