Boom tent... work in progress...

[Shawn]

Back of my mind I have been kicking around ideas for a boom tent. The idea being filling in the foot well and then using the cockpit as a sleeping area when all four of us are aboard.

Wickford Marine consignment is a dangerous place. I stopped by today and while looking through sail bags found a boom tent that looked like it would be just about the right size for Serenity. It was also just about the proper color. The shop gave me two weeks to return it if the test fit didn't work out.

Did a quick test fit after an afternoon sail.






The tent itself is 10' long by 9' wide. The last couple of feet have a slit down the middle for it to fit around the topping lift and aft stay.

I am going to run a line down the middle of the tent to act as more of a ridge pole, right now it is just a line tied to the front grommet that is holding it up. In these pictures the other lines are just tied to the lifeline so the tent itself isn't quite out far enough to drain properly if it rained. I'm thinking if I put eye straps on the outside of the cockpit coaming I could run the lines over the lifelines and then down to the eye straps to tie it off. That should pull the tent over the lifelines for better drainage. Anyone have any better ideas there?

If needed a pair of snap together tent poles (10ish feet long) could be used to give the boom tent a better defined shape but I don't think this is going to be needed.

Shawn

[ontarioSuncat]

Why not get some flexible tent poles and put them side to side to provide more space. Google tent poles are us to get hold of a guy in Vancouver Washington who will make any size you need in Easton Aluminum. I put mine by the side cleats and put two grommets in the tent at the edge for a line to run around the cleat. A pocket sewn in from 2" webbing(seatbelt material) will hold the pole ends and some fastex buckles at the top and mid way down each side will hold the pole and support the tent. This will make the sides almost vertical andprovide a greater amount of room and tighten things up when the wind is up.

[jthatcher]

thanks for the pics, Shawn.    i ordered  a nice canvas tarp that is  10 by 10  last year, but figured that it was just too big when i actually opened it up..   your pics are making me re-think the idea..   maybe it will work after all with a little bit of creativity!    let us know how your design progresses..    jt

[Shawn]

Thanks for the ideas. I ordered a few Coleman replacement tent pole kits and will make them just under 9'. As a test I will just see how it shapes the tent. If that works I will sew in pockets for the rods.

I will update this with pics as i have them.

Shawn

[Shawn]

I think 10x10 should work. Definitely put a slit in the back to fit around the aft stay as that lets you cover almost the entire cockpit. The width shod help give enough slack to fit outside of the coamings to keep from draining into the cockpit.

Shawn

[ontarioSuncat]

The tent poles I meant are the flexible shock corded ones, mine are 173 inches long in 10 sections.  you can angle the pole forward or backward to provide the fullness where needed.  contact info is www.polesforyou.com
All the best

[Shawn]

Thanks, if the Coleman poles aren't flexible enough I will try those. What diameter did you go with?

Thanks,

Shawn

[Shawn]

I finally got back around to working on this project. I want to take advantage of it during the two weeks off until my schools summer session starts up.

I sewed 6 pockets into the tent to hold the ends of tent poles. Along the front I added a pocket for about half of the length for the pole to slide through. For the middle and rear tent poles I built in velcro holders to make it easier to set it up. Sewing courtesy of a 72 year old Singer 201.






I need to pick up some clips for the ends of the lines to make setup quicker but it looks like it will work out pretty well. It was hot today, under the tent it was very comfortable being in the shade with a nice breeze. The edge of the tent is roughly along the lifelines so it should shed rain outside of the cockpit.

On a windy day at anchor it can be setup below the boom to keep windage down. Next test will be at anchor with the tent up and an air mattress in the cockpit for more room to sleep.

Shawn

[brackish]

Shawn, some thoughts and because I'm thinking about this myself, primarily as a summer sun shade.  The picture below (decidedly a low quality scan from an old print with detail lacking) shows an awning that we had made for our 8.7.  While hard to tell, it goes from almost the mast, well past the backstay with a zippered slot for the stay, covering the whole cockpit.  It essentially is three pvc cross poles that fit in pockets that are held by the main halyard with a bridle that attaches to each of the pole pockets.  It has guys at the ends of each pole to stay it off and keep the spread on the awning. 

For a tent, it would be fairly easy, I think, to have some rolls of fabric held up by Velcro then dropped down and clipped onto the rails or stanchions bases when used as a complete enclosure. 

My point is that if you can get the roof flatter, with just enough slope to shed rain, you can gain more space inside the tent.

The one in the pic could not be used with the main, but more often than not, when coming home from the islands when it was hot and we were on a run, we always chose the shade and to use the asymmetrical.  It was better than a bimini because it covered more area and had standing headroom under.

[Shawn]

Thanks, the tent poles I used are plenty stiff enough to keep the fabric flat. I could rig it like your sun shade pretty easily, I would just need to run the lines from each pocket to the main halyard. I will give that a try next time I set it up. I wasn't really thinking about using this when sailing, just for shade/shelter when at anchor.

Shawn

[NateD]

While significantly more expensive and difficult to build, this is currently my favorite cockpit tent setup for a small boat. Although I would have combined screen/windows instead of just the windows.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?139751-cockpit-tent