Full hardtop enclosure curtains on live-aboard sailing vessel

Published On: March 1, 2013Categories: MFA Excellence Awards

Award of Excellence | Mike’s Marine Custom Canvas | Virginia Beach, Va.

This project won a 2013 MFA Award of Excellence in the sailboat dodgers and complete category. This project included installing full enclosure curtains on a sailboat cockpit hardtop. The clients wanted a full enclosure on their live-aboard sailing vessel. They wanted everything to be easily installed, as well as easy access into the cockpit. They requested rigid windows in front, and roll up curtains on the rest of the enclosure.

The hardtop curve is a tighter radius than that of the cockpit coaming below, so when the pattern of the front corners was done, the middle of the window had slack in it. The front corner curtains were also large—almost six feet at the front zipper by eight feet wide at the bottom. Great care and adjustment to the patterning process, as well as the fabrication and installation, was needed to avoid any slack in the large windows, even though they were semi-rigid material. The client requested that the forward center window swing up to the hardtop for ventilation and visibility in bad weather. The curtain is almost six feet long by three feet wide.

The clients were thrilled with the results and could not wait to sail down the Intracoastal Waterway to show it off.