Photo Request: 22 Extended Bimini Aft Curtain

[DaveInRI]

Hello. I’ve been browsing the photo albums and searching for pictures of how the aft curtain(s) attach on a 22 cockpit enclosure / camper canvas / camperback which extends behind the lazarettes. The canvas maker I’ve chosen for my bimini says that he will only make one with the back all on the same plane, so it is tight and looks good. I’m trying to download a few pictures to show him it can be done (while the boat is shrink wrapped here in the cold north) so that the corners go behind the hatches but the splashwell curtain also allows a Honda 90 to tilt up out of the water without curtain contact. Does anyone still active on the forum have some pictures they’re willing to share? Please and thank you.

For instance, some of these pictures show that it seems plausible, but not necessarily in the same plane— but I can’t quite tell 100% the details. Either way, I think that it can look good and would like a bit more “proof”.

 

[DaveInRI]

Twins would likely tilt up into a smaller space within the splashwell, and even this has to curve back up after rounding the lazarettes. There’s also a rack/table inside which might be helping with the flat shape of the aft curtain.

 

[DaveInRI]

This isn't a 22, but shows an exaggerated "triangle tube" effect on the transom that I'd prefer to avoid, but I don't think it's fully possible-- seems you'll always have a little bit of a "love handle" curve on the back even if you stay in front of the rear cleats. So, I'm trying to find the "least this" photo on a 22 that still encloses the lazarettes and still allows a single motor (vs smaller profile twins) to tilt up out of the salt water.

 

[DaveInRI]

Well I've found the pictures necessary to "prove" it can't be done "on the same plane" (were I able to get on my boat now, it would have been much faster!).

I've seen a few splashwell tables that, for a single motor, have a notch cut into the back to allow tilting. That notch is forward of the rear portion of the lazarettes. It's less so on twins, which are shorter and thus stay more aft in their up-tilted positioning. It's not by much, and perhaps when I unwrap the boat I'll see that I can tilt it "up enough" with the aft curtain down to give me the clearance I need, but that seems unlikely.

The "smile" curtain in the "smile" one (w/ transom bars) looks as if the motor is pressing into it lightly, and that also seems a lot more "on the same plane" (and does not snap into a transom table) than some of the others. I wonder about using a stretchy material or perhaps even an "expansion zipper" like some suitcases have, to add room when needed and keep it tight when not. (Rather not either of those ideas).

Once I get the plastic off the boat later this week, I'll be able to mess around with tilting upwards. I'm just trying to get my design ready for when the canvas guy comes out next week (and I have to politely argue that all on the same plane isn't the primary goal and that it will look and function just fine).

 

[DaveInRI]

The tan one is from C-Eagle. Here are some more pictures showing how they did it. I think they just made the aft curtain "baggy" to allow the motor to push into it, because it also looks like they have a cooler pushing backwards from inside the cockpit at another point (unsure if it's snapped or just zipped down there).

 

[ssobol]

I would consider making a zip out section or opening to allow room for the motor head to tilt up. It only needs to be as big as the part of the head the intrudes into the enclosed space.

 

[DaveInRI]

I would consider making a zip out section or opening to allow room for the motor head to tilt up. It only needs to be as big as the part of the head the intrudes into the enclosed space.

Thanks. I saw some like that, where it's almost like a mailbox opening for the motor to poke its head into the enclosure. It wouldn't be bug or waterproof, though, without some next suspenders/belt layer. But that might be the way to think through it.