Advice on "lifelines", cockpit sunshade

[jmencel]

Hi folks. I'm in the process of getting my '86 Hat 36 sedan ready to take on the great circle loop next summer. There will be lots of walking around the boat going through locks etc and having "lifelines" along side decks would be desirable from a safety standpoint. Has anyone seen this done without wrecking the appearance of the boat? I am thinking I could either extend the stainless railings on the bow area towards the stern, or add stanchions and lifelines for this short section. I haven't yet crawled underneath to see if I can get access to the underside of the decks to mount backing plates for the stanchions ... could be an issue. I am also wanting to mount a sunshade / awning over the rear cockpit area attached underneath the rear bridge overhand. Can anyone suggest someone who makes these? Many thanks ! John

[REBrueckner]

I'd be leery of adding stanchions....those are leaks waiting to happen. And while I like solid railings on catwalks, anything but really tight "lifelines" are of minimal calue unless waist high..and pushing against tight lines means LOTS of tension.

Sunshades over the cockpit area, and in fact along catwalks as "eyebrow covers" to shade side salon windows can cool things down a lot....I have used them for years.....The main advantage is that such outside shades allows for open windows and ventilation w/o sunshining in....

[dave1985]

I have the 36 convertible. I'm not sure if your's is that boat or the sedan with the shorter cockpit but the awning would likely work the same.

The previous owner had an awwing made that I thought was pretty low end but have come to love. It's made from sail cloth. On the front edge it connects to the boat with a continuous rubber "c" channel that is screwed into the bridge overhang. The awning has the other piece sewn into the edge which slides through the c channel locking at each end with a snap. The back corners have a grommet sewn into them. You put an adjustable aluminum boat hook with the rubber end removed in each back corner where the dock lines come through the deck for poles. A adjustable aluminum spinaker pole goes across the back for the rear edge. The spinaker pole has closed plastic ring ends on each end which fit over the points on the boat hooks. The back edge of the awning is zippered around the spinaker with the grommets going over the points in the boat hooks. There's a nylon straps that goes from each corner at the grommets to small hooks on the outer corners of the swim platform. You adjust the height by raising the boat hooks and get your tension from the straps to the swim platform.

It covers the whole cockpit, assembles and disassembles in a couple minutes, the pole and boathooks store in the lazarete and, because it's sailcloth, the awning takes up no space. Also, there's nothing permanently built into the boat except the c channel and the hooks on the swim platform.

A canvas guy could build you one.

Dave