Info on new isenglass/camper enclosure

Chris-380

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2019
2,425
Pontoon Beach IL
Boat Info
2000 380 Sundancer
Engines
7.4L Horizon w/V drives
Taking my 380 to the canvas shop in a couple weeks to get new biminis, camper top and isenglass made. Typicallly here in the Midwest, I plan to use it the first 6 weeks of the season and about the same at the end.

looking for any suggestions you have

should I go with smileys or frowns for zipper /screens?

Thinking of having Velcro sewed in with the zippers and getting black fabric made for each window to turn into a cover, just a thought....

With my wife, there is no way I can lay these flat and store in a bed, everything has to be put away. So I am guessing lay sheets down and roll in a noodle is the best way to store.

many help and experience is greatly appreciated.
 
Chris I just had all my canvas replaced, I went with the Strataglass 40 gauge clear because you can roll it up for easy storage. I had them hinge and add roll up straps for front middle window. On the aft curtain I had them add roll up straps as well. I went with the Sunbrella fabric with Velcro and black zippers and thread. One thing you might ask your guy to do is to replace studs on sides of aft area with pull the dot studs. Hope this helps. Tim
 
I made our camper canvas last year. The side panels are roll up with straps. Also sewed in Velcro around the perimeter for removable screens. This year I plan on making privacy panels as you mentioned.
 
I prefer smiles over frowns as when opened the tend to be more "out of the way". Ask for rain flaps over your smiles to minimize leaks.

Sunbrella panels on the windows is a great idea to protect your isinglass and boat interior from UV the 95% of the time you are not at the boat.

Identical screen panels to zip in place of isinglass is also a nice option (talk to your canvas people soon as they are probably getting busy and need time to plan for extra work).
Ask for #10 zippers (some use the smaller 8's......bigger is better in most instances).

Isinglass panels rolled around a pool noodle works great. Buy a kids sleeping bag to store the rolled panels in.
 
I prefer smiles over frowns as when opened the tend to be more "out of the way". Ask for rain flaps over your smiles to minimize leaks.

Sunbrella panels on the windows is a great idea to protect your isinglass and boat interior from UV the 95% of the time you are not at the boat.

Identical screen panels to zip in place of isinglass is also a nice option (talk to your canvas people soon as they are probably getting busy and need time to plan for extra work).
Ask for #10 zippers (some use the smaller 8's......bigger is better in most instances).

Isinglass panels rolled around a pool noodle works great. Buy a kids sleeping bag to store the rolled panels in.
+1 on #10 zippers, noodle and sleeping bag is great idea, thanks.
 
Over my windshield is strataglass and we put two snaps under the arch and just snap the center walk thru to it.

If you go with eisenglass in the rear, have some straps with snaps added. We did that on our last boat and everything behind the arch we just rolled up and out of the way. A heck of a lot more convenient than taking the canvas down...

If I ever redo this boat, I'd get it made without screens. They make it such a PITA to clean the glass under them...
 
I prefer frowns over smiles for my visors :( This is for a couple of reasons. 1) rolling up tends to be in my line of vision when standing at the helm and rolling down drops into the top of the windshield that is already in my field of vision, 2) When you need to see out of a fogged/dirty window the frown can be slightly opened at the top without exposing the entire area, 3) the frown pattern creates a natural water shedding path for and water to run off (we use binding around the outer and inner edges) where the smile creates a pooling at the bottom, 4) I hate straps and the frowns allow me to utilize a variety of removable straps to hold the rolled material that are not there when closed up (no cross-snapping). 5) I also think it allows for better utilization of the opening space.

This is a view of my frowns:
340SDA - FSrB - 2.jpg

Just my opinion - hope it helps in the planning process.

-Kevin
 
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Let me expand upon the smiles and frowns when it comes to other parts of the boat. On some parts of the boat when planning the canvas openings for frowns/smiles it would need to be determined based on the geometry. Take forward side curtains - those tend to work better as smiles as the opening is generally larger at the top. The same goes for camper side curtains. With forward leaning arches the only "natural" method to me would be to roll up as the narrower material is at the bottom. I have seen roll down in these situations and the wider material has no where to go when the curtain narrows (this could also have been addressed with some paneling of sides). The opposite would go for rear leaning arches. Another item to consider is framing and access to zippers. Try to make them as easy to use as possible and as least obstructed by framing supports.

-Kevin
 
I prefer frowns over smiles for my visors :( This is for a couple of reasons. 1) rolling up tends to be in my line of vision when standing at the helm and rolling down drops into the top of the windshield that is already in my field of vision, 2) When you need to see out of a fogged/dirty window the frown can be slightly opened at the top without exposing the entire area, 3) the frown pattern creates a natural water shedding path for and water to run off (we use binding around the outer and inner edges) where the smile creates a pooling at the bottom, 4) I hate straps and the frowns allow me to utilize a variety of removable straps to hold the rolled material that are not there when closed up (no cross-snapping). 5) I also think it allows for better utilization of the opening space.

This is a view of my frowns:
View attachment 100122

Just my opinion - hope it helps in the planning process.

-Kevin

I was just about to post the same sentiments. Frownies on the front all the way.
upload_2021-2-24_10-20-6.png


But - for the camper sides I prefer smiles. I had them added to my camper canvas. I had screens included on the camper back and sides. It was a fix screen of Phefertex (or similar) sew into on the outside. Had a nice benefit of shading If I did it again I would have a zipper added to the screen so it would open.

Here's the camper inside, showing the smiley zips and the screens.
upload_2021-2-24_10-30-30.png


For covers, not sure if you mean interior or exterior. I had blackout shades made for the entire boat. They attached to the interior of the camper canvas, front and side canvas windows, and the glass window frame. Canvas attachment was made patches of velcro sewn in. Worked pretty well. With the dark canvas it did quickly heat up the boat in the mornings though. If you are wanting to make exterior covers, I think using Velcro would be risky. Pretty likely a wind gust would take them off the boat. Also any cover material mounted outside to the plastic windows sunbrella would likely chafe the windows from wind and accumulated dirt / salt (edit - you're in fresh water but thought still applies). An inside mount option would seem to have less risk chafing the panels.

These are not great pics, but show a little what it looked like with the blackout covers attached.
upload_2021-2-24_10-40-46.png


upload_2021-2-24_10-41-30.png
 
Chris,
We only have canvas and vinyl on our rear wall. The rest is fiberglass and glass. Even with this construction the exterior fabric privacy covers provide noticeable reduction in the heat load in our helm area. Our covers are white that also helps with the heat reduction.

I did notice when we converted from eisenglass to strataglass on the 280 that the cockpit area seemed to become cooler. We have flesh eating flies during July, so canvas up driving is a necessity when driving down river to get to the ocean.

On the installation of the privacy covers, I suggest adding small tabs with snap studs over Velcro. With the new canvas on the 280 it didn’t take long for the Velcro to deteriorate and stop being effective. Privacy covers are already susceptible to blowing off in bad weather and snaps provide a more positive connection.
 
My boat has the Polycarbonate on the front 3 windows and strataglass around the rest. My front center window flips inward and snaps to the radar arch. I never take down the front two panels.

The prior owner came up with this for both sides by the entry but I think that its awesome for day to day on the back deck.
IMG_8339.jpg
 
I prefer frowns over smiles for my visors :( This is for a couple of reasons. 1) rolling up tends to be in my line of vision when standing at the helm and rolling down drops into the top of the windshield that is already in my field of vision, 2) When you need to see out of a fogged/dirty window the frown can be slightly opened at the top without exposing the entire area, 3) the frown pattern creates a natural water shedding path for and water to run off (we use binding around the outer and inner edges) where the smile creates a pooling at the bottom, 4) I hate straps and the frowns allow me to utilize a variety of removable straps to hold the rolled material that are not there when closed up (no cross-snapping). 5) I also think it allows for better utilization of the opening space.

This is a view of my frowns:
View attachment 100122

Just my opinion - hope it helps in the planning process.

-Kevin
Kevin tell me about your sunshade pole process I like the way that looks is that Bimini top hardware? And are they set in your rod holders or did you add mounts?
 
Kevin tell me about your sunshade pole process I like the way that looks is that Bimini top hardware? And are they set in your rod holders or did you add mounts?

I was not trying make this about the fly shade but it was the best picture of my visors I had handy. We make the extendable support rods in house and they fit the existing rod holders. If the boat does not have rod holders they would need to be added.

The supports are stainless steel poles - the outer sleeve is a 1" support pole. Currently we have our pattern for the 340SDA, but we were hoping to have others ready last year before Covid showed up and changed everyone's plans. The actual fly shade extension simply zips to the factory sunshade and hooks to the rear corners. The support poles tension the shade when you pulling down the cord and lock it in place. Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to PM or call me.

-Kevin
 
Some of the best info of experience and thoughts I could of asked for in this thread, I will work back through them and take down the notes. Thank you everyone for the comments!
 
I prefer frowns over smiles for my visors :( This is for a couple of reasons. 1) rolling up tends to be in my line of vision when standing at the helm and rolling down drops into the top of the windshield that is already in my field of vision, 2) When you need to see out of a fogged/dirty window the frown can be slightly opened at the top without exposing the entire area, 3) the frown pattern creates a natural water shedding path for and water to run off (we use binding around the outer and inner edges) where the smile creates a pooling at the bottom, 4) I hate straps and the frowns allow me to utilize a variety of removable straps to hold the rolled material that are not there when closed up (no cross-snapping). 5) I also think it allows for better utilization of the opening space.

This is a view of my frowns:
View attachment 100122

Just my opinion - hope it helps in the planning process.

-Kevin
+1 on the removable straps. Kevin made some for my rear panel last year and works great without having hanging straps when not in use.
 
We only use the camper top 5 months or so out of the year. It will come off in April and the cockpit cover will go on when we are not at the boat. That said, the center piece over the windshield holds back and attaches to the arch. The door at the transom will roll up as will the one smiley in the middle of the rear portion. I very much detest the canvas, but is a necessary evil. No screens as no need. When the clear vinyl is rolled, it wrinkles....

Bennett
 
A211A514-2F1A-4A77-A2E2-23CA4736AE98.jpeg
I use this for my strata storage.

https://clearstow.com/about/

Went with full canvas for the dock. Much easier to put up after a long day. I gave up on screens & smileys years ago. The function never caught up to the hassle for me.

View attachment 100135
Thank you everyone for this info, I ran out of money for some of the great ideas that you all shared.


Thank you for this link @Craig , i ended up spending some money on custom ones, i think this will be a great storage system.

I picked up my boat saturday and removed and installed my new camper top, biminis and enclosure.

I went with Polycorbonate for the glass in front of the arch (5 pieces) and 40 gauge for the rear that can be rolled. I didn't mess with smileys or screens built in, but what i had them make was a complete screen enclosure, with the pieces that are interchangeable with my enclosure. So i can change any individual piece out to a screen. I also had them make a dash cover and cockpit cover.
 

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View attachment 103395
Thank you everyone for this info, I ran out of money for some of the great ideas that you all shared.


Thank you for this link @Craig , i ended up spending some money on custom ones, i think this will be a great storage system.

I picked up my boat saturday and removed and installed my new camper top, biminis and enclosure.

I went with Polycorbonate for the glass in front of the arch (5 pieces) and 40 gauge for the rear that can be rolled. I didn't mess with smileys or screens built in, but what i had them make was a complete screen enclosure, with the pieces that are interchangeable with my enclosure. So i can change any individual piece out to a screen. I also had them make a dash cover and cockpit cover.
 

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