The best fabric for awnings and dinghy cove and apron?

velero · #1 (**permalink**) 07-09-2010

I am starting a new project to make awnings for Fela, apron and cover for my PVC dinghy. Some sites offer 3 types of fabrics: Sumbrella (TM), a polyesther fabric and a vynyl coveres polyesther. I am looking at white to reflect the sun light but not sure about the fabric. May be at the end. cost will drive the cost to the plain polyesther. WDYT?
Thanks

MMR · #2 (**permalink**) 07-09-2010

Sunbrella.

therapy23 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-09-2010

Sunbrella.

It costs though.

DwayneSpeer · #4 (**permalink**) 07-09-2010

The obvious choice is sunbrella but as noted it is expensive. I believe there are other alternatives, i.e. other UV resistant cloths and would do some research on the net before I spent my money.

kd3pc · #5 (**permalink**) 07-09-2010

sunbrella is the best, and will pay for itself over time...make sure whoever does your stuff is familiar with boats and uses the proper UV thread, zippers and basting...

the other stuff is a waste of time and money and will dissolve in no time, as bird droppings, spiders, and such do as much or more than the sun will...

usual disclaimer - YMMV

sailingdog · #6 (**permalink**) 07-09-2010

IF you're going to sew the things yourself... get Tenara thread. It is the most uv-tolerant thread, and it is made from Gore-tEx.

FSMike · #7 (**permalink**) 07-09-2010

Sunbrella.
As you might expect, white is prone to showing dirt, stains, etc.
Counter-intuitively, white is often less comfortable for awnings, biminis, etc. because it lets more of the sun's glare through.

velero · #8 (**permalink**) 07-12-2010

Thanks. Yes I am worried about the stains and have considered light gray and other light colors. Thanks SD that was going to be my next question about threads. I had a 3 year old bimini/dodger that the threads used around the zippers had started to breakdown.

sailingdog · #9 (**permalink**) 07-12-2010

Happy to help. BTW, make covering flaps for the zippers. It will help protect them from UV damage. Even the ones on the underside of a bimini get a fair amount of reflected UV off the water, so they should have covering flaps as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by velero

Thanks. Yes I am worried about the stains and have considered light gray and other light colors. Thanks SD that was going to be my next question about threads. I had a 3 year old bimini/dodger that the threads used around the zippers had started to breakdown.

MMR · #10 (**permalink**) 07-12-2010

Zipper flaps also slow down any water egress. Don't ask me how I know that...