Stainless stern arches worth it or not?

sailbear50 · #1 07-22-2007

I have a 43 nelson / merek, all stern pulpit lost in hurricane, thinking of stern arch for dingy, radar,gps,wind gen, solar ,etc. Are these useful and advice on construction. Wells marine has a web site with it looks like some good designs. Too far from me and a lil costly. Thanks for any advice on this.

wescarroll · #2 07-22-2007

I like the idea. I am looking into fabricating my own as a mount for antennas, radar, dinghy davits and such. A powerboat friend of mine gave ma an old teak swim platform which I mounted to my Oday 30 and am very pleased with. It gives most of the sugar scoop stern benefits, so maybe all of those powerboat ideas aren't useless after all..ouch that hurt.

Faster · #3 07-22-2007

I think the challenge is coming up with a design that a)suits the boat, b) gets everything you want done and c) doesn't break the bank.

Custom welded yacht-quality work doesn't come cheap but may be the only way to end up with something that truly adds to the appearance, function and value of the boat.

Valiente · #4 07-22-2007

I am currently debating this. I want primarily an arch that can support solar panels and some nav/comm gear, and I want to mount bimini canvas (removable in the events of really heavy weather) to mount forward of this. My deck shade needs are pretty minimal, as I have a modest and partially sunken helm station...this arch need be no higher than about five feet off deck, as I would step down 18 inches to get under it.

My concerns about windage and disruption of the airflow that would make a windvane work were put to rest by my windvane maker (seriously...he makes only about 15 or 20 per year). He pointed out that the vane itself would be higher than the arch.

I have also seen interesting things in Ocean Voyager, where people mount reels of line on the arch uprights, so that in fjord-like anchorages, they can be run to the shore aft of the boat for the "spider-web" safety factor. In this case, the arch is simply taking the weight of the reel, not any strain, as the ends of the lines are cleated off to bollards. Seems that might be a good idea to stow stern anchor line and/or warps in certain cases: keep them on plastic reels (think a vertical flemished line) and simply slip them on an axle and take what you need.

My decision now is whether or not to go with stainless steel and clamps to the rails, or to weld galvanized pipe directly to load spreaders on the deck. Both have their advantages.

sailbear50 · #5 07-24-2007

Found a tubing notcher on the web,got a chop saw,found a hydraulic bender reasonable,polisher and coumpounds for stainless, a friend that is a detail weldere, Wells Marine web site for info on sizes and designs , gonna order the tube a kickoff. when finished we will post some photos. Thanks everyone.

sailingdog · #6 07-24-2007

Valiente-

You might want to re-think your shade needs. Up in Toronto, the amount of sun you get is far less than you would get down in the Caribbean, and every bit of shade helps. While a small bimini might be suitable for the Toronto conditions, you should probably plan the boat to handle the conditions you will see while on your cruise.

Valiente · #7 07-24-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Valiente-

You might want to re-think your shade needs. Up in Toronto, the amount of sun you get is far less than you would get down in the Caribbean, and every bit of shade helps. While a small bimini might be suitable for the Toronto conditions, you should probably plan the boat to handle the conditions you will see while on your cruise.

Actually, the design would use three 130 W solar panels as the first level of "shade", with awnings deployed front, back and both sides from beneath those panels. I suspect I will have them able to pivot to screen as needed. Think a canvas and SS tube version of a car's windscreen shade...enough to cast a decent shadow on the small working area on deck.

The cockpit itself is tiny: about 60 by 30 inches by 15 inches deep. The deck and the rail "benches" are not typically in use underway if there is any sort of wind as we are moving about working the boat.

If I had a bunch of people aboard for drinks and whatnot, I could easily suspend a white plastic tarp awning, as do the Pardeys, as there are plenty of vertical lashing points. Ideally, I want an arch to be strong enough to be permanently in place, but with the bimini elements to be collapsable or removable in terrible weather. Similarly, I would have the capacity to unmount the solar panels, leaving a stripped arch in place.

But thanks for thinking of my shade needs! Alex's boat, sailing at 37 degrees North close to the summer solstice, with no bimini, was an education. A good hat made all the difference, but I still got burned on the back of my legs because we were travelling SSE all day.

sailingdog · #8 07-24-2007

If you thought it was bad at 37˚ North, think of June at 15˚ North..

Rickm505 · #9 07-24-2007

I'm at N 28 and it's brutal in the afternoon. I've been using a Shadetree boat awning system which has worked very well until this last weekend when a microcell with >50 knot winds made short work of it. I've been reading this thread to get ideas as it's time for a sturdier solution to Florida sunshine.

My concern is in mounting the arch. I had very heavy davits mounted to the transom and they did enough damage that I removed them. The arch idea is great but seems to me that it needs to be tied into the boat structurally so that it not only looks good, but is fully intergrated. I'm not certain just how to do that.

US25 · #10 07-24-2007

They may be a little too light-duty, but I've always thought it would be possible to modify a ski boat tower to hold solar panels, radar, etc, (a dingy might be too heavy). You can pick one up for around $1000, and a decent welder could modify it for a few bucks more.