*What Is It?* Actual question as I really don't know.

[Tomfoolery]

This came with the boat, and was in place over the companionway hatch under the winter tarp.



It has a piece of line through the 'top' as it were, tied off to each winch, and just hangs there.

BUT, the 'bottom' (as it were ) is much wider than the top, and has a slit with a snap . . .



and there is a velcro strip on the inside bottom edge.



Both pieces of velcro are loops, so they don't stick to each other, and there are no other strips of velcro on the boat.

Stitch length is about 3mm or so, which suggests a home sewing machine. My Pfaff does a max of 4mm, the Sailrite portable does 6mm, and big stationary machines for canvas and sail making usually go up to 8mm. Such a short stitch length, and the not-so-straight stitching, suggests it's home made.

I have no idea what this was supposed to be, and I'm thinking about cutting it up for projects. It's the same material someone used for the helm cover, which no longer fits due to instrument and engine control and helm wheel changes.

Anyone have a guess what it could have been for before I make another helm covert out of it?

[Highlander]

Tom
Don,t cut that up ! I,m thinkin it attaches to the mast via the snapped rear slot then goes forward over the bow rail an attaches to the bow cleats giving u an air scoop that is big enough to allow u to leave the front hatch open even if it is raining .
do u have the measurement size ? because if it is big enough ?
as it could also be a boom tent allowing u to remove ur mid section while at dock or anchorage or drafted to other boats like in our MMOR giving u full stand up shaded head room to the whole cockpit area on hot days & nights if so that,s a great Mod matching ur enclosure colour I have a small plastic white tarp I use for the same purpose ?
or it could b just a front deck shade cover to help keep the cabin cooler on these really hot days ?
J
PS If I won the pizza I want three large one,s & one will b a deluxe one for me with Anchovies delivered to San Fran I,ll up-date on the other two later when these dudes tell me what they want & time & date to follow of course if u feel obligated to deliver personally we will always have room for a cabin boy !

J
PS someone,s gotta clean up & serve the food & beverages
Just Sayin That,s All

[BOAT]

It looks like a home made main sail cover to me - or a boom tent.

I think you should go ahead and cut it up.

I'll post a THINGY too since we are playing the game today.

[Highlander]

It looks like a home made main sail cover to me - or a boom tent.

I think you should go ahead and cut it up.

I'll post a THINGY too since we are playing the game today.

Nope I,m sure he already has a main sail cover & it,s not tapered for a main sail cover either !
& I got first dibs on the boom tent so maybe u,ll get a choc donut !
J

[BOAT]

It's a new storm jib

[BOAT]

square rigger style

[BOAT]

Burma Shave

[Bilgemaster]

If there's no way to reach out to the previous owner for clarification, my hunch is that it could simply be a convenient companionway cover: no need to wrestle that big awkward fiberglass monster up and into place. Just loop the lines around those winches, roll her up and toss onto sliding hatch, let fall into place and have a snooze. They may have found that gravity was enough to hold her down fine, and dispensed with velcroing to hull--or perhaps used some sort of weighted objects, like lengths of wood or whatnot fuzzy-velcroed to match were attached to hold her down in gustier conditions. Even with the big ungainly fiberglass cover in place, this little cover might also serve to better seal up the cabin, say in cooler weather. Otherwise, that wind can fairly whistle through those gaps. In fact, I have a rolled up towel in those gaps when I'm away from the boat, chiefly to keep out homeless wasps.

Look: DON'T cut that thing up for placemats or curtains! If you don't want it, send it to me. I can use it, and I'll happily PayPal you the postage plus whatever the equivalent may be for triple its yardage in Sunbrella cloth, OK?

[Bilgemaster]

Is your hatch whistling shrilly?

Wasps got you flailing?

Looking silly?

Give those pests a hearty wave.

Seal that hatch with Burma-Shave!

[BOAT]

Yeah, I agree - cut it up.

[Spector]

We did something similar as a privacy curtain

[Tomfoolery]

You guys crack me up.

The cloth is wider at the bottom, by a lot, which is opposite to how the companionway is shaped. But as you can see in the pic, it was tied to the winches while it was tarped for the winter.

I can't ask the PO, as he's no longer with us. Which made for a long saga about getting the trailer registration transferred (in NYS, you just sign over a small trailer reg, and DMV takes it from there, unless the PO is dead and DMV is staffed with, well . . . ).

The cloth is different from the Dubonnet Tweed my Dowsar enclosure is made from. Looks like Burgundy, which doesn't have the black/red lined texturing, but perfectly acceptable as helm cover and whatever that panel is.

For a helm cover, I guess I'll run over to the boat canvas place not too far from me and buy a couple of yards of the Dubonnet Tweed.

The primary need for fabric at this time is a sun cover for the new 'window' I put in my bimini, through which I glance at the Windex on top of the mast. My FIL put one in when I got the boat, at my request as I really liked the one in my Hunter's bimini, but it got completely fogged and algea'd up. Probably because he put the sun cover on the outside, which then held rain water, which then discolored the vinyl. My Hunter had it on the inside, and the window didn't fog or get nasty the whole time I had the boat, which was a long time. So I'm putting a new one on the inside, larger than the old because the new window is larger than the old.

But I'd sure like to know what the PO had intended for it. It just seems to be the wrong shape and size for the companionway. And I can't find a strip of velcro anywhere on the boat that would accept the velcro loops on the cloth panel. Perhaps there was another patch of fabric at one time that mated to it, though that seems a little unlikely.

Oh, and it measures 38 in [965 mm] across the top, 57 in [1450 mm] across the bottom, and 52 in [1320 mm] tall, when hanging off the lines at the narrow end. The slot with the snap at the bottom is 15 in [380 mm] long, centered, with blind-stitched reinforcement along its inside edge, with some signs of minor wear especially in the crotch. Stitching doesn't look professional, but whoever did it knows something about sewing. In my barely-informed opinion, that is.

[BOAT]

Yeah, chop it up. It's pretty useless.

You can reuse the rope to dress the Christmas turkey and the Velcro might be re-purposed as a marital aid of some kind or an adult sex toy, but really - chicken feathers work just as well and are less expensive.

I'm thinking perhaps the original owner had digestive "issues" and just needed that thing for medical reasons.

Chop it up.

[Bilgemaster]

Yeah, chop it up. It's pretty useless.

You can reuse the rope to dress the Christmas turkey and the Velcro might be re-purposed as a marital aid of some kind or an adult sex toy, but really - chicken feathers work just as well and are less expensive.

I'm thinking perhaps the original owner had digestive "issues" and just needed that thing for medical reasons.

Chop it up.

Look, "Boat" clearly has some sort of grudge against that reddish bit of cloth. Now we all know he's spent a lot of time south of the border, so one can only surmise that he perhaps augmented his cruising kitty back then as an occasional stand-in during matinees in some bullfight arena down yonder--as the bull. Show up at one of the Mac gatherings gussied up in one of those fruity matador "suit of lights" getups, and he'd likely lose his damned mind. Still, my offer stands. If only to perhaps be able to wave that thing at him some day, just to see if I'm right...


Uh-oh...It's BOAT...

[BOAT]

Well, YEAH - I mean, really . . . who puts RED on the boat??? It's just not nautical but it's NOTical if you know what I mean.

It's a cape for the bullfighter.

You guys know about the Pirate and his Red clothing, right? Red for battle to hide the blood and white for smooth sailing to hide the bird sh~t.

Either way - your gonna get hit with something. ("shiver me timbers!")

The Pirate got poop in his eye and said ARGH! and wiped the poop off with his hand.
Every day the Pirate got poop in his eye and said "ARGH~!" and wiped the poop out of his eye.

I asked him how he got that hook and he said "ARRGH!" a white whale ate me hand!
So then I asked him how he got that patch on his eye?
And he said "ARRRGH!" first day with me hook!

Just chop it up.