BIMINI TOP HATCH FLAPS
©
2014 Tor Pinney - All Rights Reserved
When the boom overlaps the
bimini top,
here's a simple way to gain instant access to it from the
cockpit.
When I bought my aft-cockpit
ketch, Silverheels, she had no bimini top at all. While I
attended to other upgrades in preparation for tropical cruising,
I pondered how I might have full-time shade in the cockpit and
still get at the mizzen sail to furl and reef it. Eventually I
conceived zippered flaps, 4 Sunbrella "hatches" in the bimini
top, to provide instant access to the mizzen sail and boom when
needed, and cockpit shade the rest of the day. I also roll the
flaps open in cool weather to let in sunlight, and at night for
star-gazing.
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These flap hatches have
worked out so well I thought I'd share the invention here. I
say "invention" because I have never yet seen any other
bimini-topped aft-cockpit ketch with any sort of access to
the mizzen. I wonder if they ever use the sail at all, and
if so, how.
While zippered bimini top
hatch flaps are of particular value aboard aft-cockpit
split-rigged sailboats - ketches, yawls and schooners - they
may also be useful aboard single-mast and center-cockpit
vessels whose main boom overlaps the cockpit.
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