King Marine Camper Back

We had them replace the lower edge snaps with shock cord and plastic anchors. The shock cord keeps the canvas tight, even as it stretches over time. They are quite familiar with this technique and thought it made good sense.
 
Make sure you set it up to unzip from either side where it attaches to the cabin. Ours unzips only on the port side, that means we rarely dock to starboard since the bimini is almost always up and it is much less convenient with the bimini right there, especially if the sides are up too. Look at how it is attached to the sides of the boat. Ours has the traditional snap attachment. Dreamer, Roger and Janet Clark's Tomcat, has bungie cord loops attaching to short nubs on the boat. Much easier and easy to adjust. Think about where you want it to cross the transom. Do you want it to go all the way back to the rear of the lazarettes? If you do that makes for more complicated pattern and attaching the snaps down in the transom well is a pita. You might consider having the rear piece that is over the transom unzip in the middle, that would allow much more flexibility. All of these are modifications we would have were we to buy another set.
 
Ken
I had posted a little while back when someone was asking about a marine head in 22. Anyway, we had them make us a four sided privacy room that hangs off the support bows. It is a couple feet square and goes from bows to sole with a zipper up one side for a door. Perfect for putting the porta pottie in at night. It did not add to much to the overall price, and I can unhook it and fold it up tight for storage, takes hardly any room.
 
Great ideas that I would not have considered. Seems like the bungee cord system would be standard practice. I think we would want access from both sides and over middle of transom to access motor and swim step.
 
The bows of my camper back are mounted inside the rails, go up and turn inward. The result is a top slightly smaller than the cockpit it covers. When we get a gentle rain we must put the side curtains up as all the rain drops inside the boat and must be pumped out. If the bows had been mounted on the rail tops or on the outside of the boat the top would be wider and the water would fall outside the boat.

We experienced several quite warm rains this summer and had to listen to the bulge pump all night. It was so warm we wanted any air flow we could get.

Chuck
 
1) have the top unzip from the outside to the middle on both sides. This way you can open one side while getting in and out of the boat. Or while going forward on the sides to handle lines or anchor
2) Have them use the quick release bases for the uprights. makes life easier.
3) Use a extra set of quick releases at the base of the cabin. This will allow you to fold the top up and store it flat against the cabin out of the way while fishing or whale watching or what ever. One of the best add ons that we did to the boat.
4) divide the rear window into two pieces. Easier to store and if you are on anchor you can take down just half of the back and still be protected from the wind and rain.
5) Our canvas was 8 pieces. Two where small wings that attaches to the cabin, helps reflect the spray out of the boat.
 
I don't know if they are going to use their standard pattern or if you are having custom canvas made. If you are going the latter route, consider having the canvas go all the way aft to the transom, which makes a HUGE difference in comfort and protection for both rain and sun. The aft curtain snaps down at mid-splash well.

When we ordered Valkyrie in 2005, we got the standard canvas from King, and although the quality was good, we found the basic design did not afford us as much protection and comfort as was possible from a design that covered the entire aft end of the boat. We sold are OEM canvas and had a custom design made. Pictures are in our album.

I do know that other Brats have gone the same route and are pleased they did. Something to consider.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
In addition to what the others have said, if you plan on having an ice chest that is on a motor well rack, get that installed first, then have the back panel fitted to accommodate the ice chest. I believe they also can fix the back panel to snap flat when the ice chest and rack are not in use.
 
A couple of tips from our experience. Have the screens as well as the clear vinyl windows. Some also have full privacy panels in the camper back--we don't feel that is necessary. We also did a snap set up so the side curtains can be flipped over the top without unzipping during the day, then back down easily at night as needed.

Use awning rails on the sides (Not sure that King has ever done that, but it makes for a water tight seal on the sides of the boat.

Best to have two zippers on the front pannel-both zipping from the outside in toward the center. This way, you can open the front panel completely if it is hot, and just have a Bimini shade, with ventilation. Second this allows more room to get into the boat from the sides.

We happen to prefer the smaller "windows" on the sides--easier to fold and deal with--almost 100% clear vinyl on the back, for vision and light, still privacy at the dock. Us substantial SS fittings--don't scrimp there.
 
I just stumbled across photos of the canvas on our Krogen using the shock cord method.
P1010014.jpg
 
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