MacGregorSailors.com

Hi fellow macers
I am looking for the old style boom tent with the battions in it to give us a bit more UV protection . Something lightweight would do the job, any one got any ideas where from and how much.
Regards UNCLE TREV

Not sure what "battions" are, but Softtopper makes a nice boom tent for the and it's only $90.
I have purchased from them in the past and they have some nice stuff.

http://www.softopper.com/Boom_Tent-details.aspx

Regards,
Paulieb

I agree with the soft topper boom tent. see this old post to see the boom tent on my Mac.

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 043#p86043

I do not use battens to hold it more horizontal for maximum shade, just bungess to the side stays

That SoftTopper boom tents looks nice, but for a lot less you can use a Blue (chose your color) lightweight tarp or better yet, ripstop nylon and some bungees. And if done right it won't give you the Waterbilly look.


Allan

The PO of my drilled a 1" hole in the end of the boom and inserted a 1 inch alum pipe which extends aft. He originally used tarp which I have since replaced with nylon. Works like a charm and you can actually cover the entire cockpit if you wish.

I made my own "soft topper", similar to the Shade Tree awnings - using a white, waterproof awning fabric, and sectional fiberglass tent-poles for the battens. It was a fair amount of work, but it's been worthwhile.

Three pole-sections fit perfectly across the companionway, bridging from stanchion-top to stanchion-top across the aft lifeline stanchions. Back at the boom-end, four pole-sections were a better fit. So I cut my awning as a trapezoid, and it works well that way. (Only problem is that it only reaches back to the end of the boom.)

Now the only real problem is that Chinook came out to the Chesapeake last September...
Now I've got a tough & debilitating case of dodger-envy.

Hi Fellow Macers,
Thanks to everyone who responded.

To Paulied & Captain Steve, the softopper looked ideal with the different forward ancor points & combining it with the bimini to give it different shapes.
To Rick West Lake, your idea is what I was thinking of. I have a bimini top so I was thinking the softopper would work well.
What are your thoughts?

Regards
Uncle Trev

The new tapered Softopper [wider at the rear to provide more shade to the cockpit] looks very similar to the boom tent that I had custom fabricated a few years ago by The Sailors' Tailor http://www.sailorstailor.com/
My specific need was to provide maximum shade while fitting between the running backstays on our . I opted for white fabric to get maximum heat reflectivity.


Coming no lower than the lifelines, it acts to funnel any available breeze back to the cockpit while shading the cabin top and open companionway, and it is quite possible sail with it in place, using only a headsail [the jib in this case, but the spinnaker works also].

I was using blue tarps as a boomtent mainly for anchoring at night.
They were cheap but they made an awful racket, the plastic crackling noise made me half crazy.
My current solution is a custom fabricated fly made from garden fabric from Home Depot. It´s UV resistant and tightly woven enough to keep the dampness down at anchor on overnights.
Itś lightweight too. I bought plastic grommets and just cut the fabric the size I wanted. The material is tan/brown colored.
I use it to keep our Florida sun off in summer and it channels cool air along the cockpit at anchor. It´s not as watertight but it dries more quickly than the blue tarps so I don´t have to dry a wet tarp before storing it and it takes quite little space in the boat. So far so good.