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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: Flybridge Enclosures
Posted By: Vic Roy In Response To: Re: Flybridge Enclosures (Doug Crowther)
Date: Thursday, 2 February 2006, at 8:08 p.m.
The Gore Tex (has some other trade name) is mostly a bitch since it does not come on common bobins for sewing machines, the canvas guy has to spool it on his own bobbins. The guy that did mine learned how to do it and the rewards should be huge. The stitching is always what goes first. The EZ2SEE stuff is a hard polymer, like Lexan and is tough, but will not roll up and I hear will shatter if hit on the edge.
For my money (and I sure spent a bunch) the Strataglass, Stamoid, gore tex thread, and don't forget the YKK spiral zippers with Delfin teeth vs. the cheap nylon teeth, is the way to go. Mine looks like new after about 4 years in the Coonass sun & heat. My suite - 4 sided enclosure that rolls up with "U" panels in the front and sides and a pretty complicated but clever rear enclosure with a big square Strataglass window that will roll completly up, but has a zipper at the fb ladder if you want to stay dry, plus a big cockpit sunshade (plus a fb console cover of Stamoid that is slick as owl doo-doo) cost about 5K.
That's about 2K over what I could have gotten all that done with conventional cheap ass materials. I used to get 2 or 3 good years out of the Sunbrella, etc then it was to shot. I expect to get 10 years out of this suite with the boat out in the open. It exhibits none of the signs of failure after a hard 4 years or so that the other stuff would start showing after just a year.
I'z done been 'dere, done dat with the cheap stuff, and let's face it, pride is a big part of what we do here, and plus it's a pain in the butt to change the canvas every few years.
UV
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