Marine Awnings
The concept of these tensile awnings is to provide weather protection, primarily from the sun (or from rain in less than clement weather!), for the guests, crew and the boat. The benefits are sun protection for the crew and large portions of the deck whilst providing a noticeable reduction in overall boat temperature.
Simplicity & Performance
Our design mantra is to seek simplicity and ease of use. Through experience we have evolved many methods of deployment and we seek to make best use of what is already in place to support the structures and in many cases adding little or nothing to what currently exists. We incorporate the standard and running rigging of sailing yachts to support the tensile loads and make installation as simple as possible. On motor yachts we can use the existing superstructure and specific framework – increasing the variety of coverage available.
Energy Saving
Effective shading of the decks will decrease the internal hull temperature, significantly reducing the demands from air conditioning systems onto auxiliary power units. With more boats using hybrid power systems this temperature drop can significantly increase the effectiveness of the ‘green systems’.
Our current projects are pushing this energy saving even further – new photovoltaic films can be bonded directly to WeatherMax, turning an awning into a giant solar panel without the weight and awkwardness of traditional solid panels.
Whilst the Bimini provides some protection, for most boats the over boom tensile awning offers around 2 ½ times the coverage.
Key Features
- The ideal concept utilises attachment points that already exist on the boat i.e cap shrouds, runners and or spinnaker halyards taken over the top of the rig and fastened to a strong point as far aft and as wide as possible on the boat. Additionally the backstays, whether single or twin, are used if applicable.
- Fast deployment and are comfortably within the normal dynamic sailing loads.
- We consciously try to avoid the use of battens that take time to deploy, which can induce chafe and the need for a place to store them when not in use.
- The awnings can have optional zip-on side panels, either in solid fabric as the roof part, or in a mesh fabric.
- The mesh fabric allows the passage of any cooling breeze and light
- The mesh side panels allow vision from inside the cockpit out but restrict most of the vision from the outside in out.
- The result is an awning with tension distributed across the entire structure; no lofting or flapping of the edges and no pooling of water after rainfall and no framework or bracing poles.
Overall Boat and Tender Covers
Form found designs transform simple overall covers to create more than just a product to protect your yacht during winter or tender.
- Form found covers that wrap, hug and protect your boat
- Stable shapes that reduce flogging and chafe
- Stunning designs that stay in keeping with your boat
- Reduces chance of water pooling
- Effective, practical and easy to use
- Re-useable, with an expected lifespan of 10+ years
Off-site design – we are able to model and produce covers direct from design drawings without visiting the boat itself. This allows for rapid production turnarounds, ideal for tight build schedules.
Our flexible awning structures can also be designed to blend seamlessly with the superstructure of a yacht or motorboats. The form-finding process was used to produce the most stable shape whilst the design would blend seamlessly in with the body of the yacht. Our engineer was able to use this data to analyse the geometry of the superstructure and model wind flow across our concept design. The result is an awning with tension distributed across the entire structure; no lofting or flapping of the edges and no pooling of water after rainfall and no framework or bracing poles.
Form found designs transform simple overall covers to create more than just a product to protect your tender. The design software creates a more stable form found shape which cuts down on windage, flapping and chafe.
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- Form found covers that wrap, hug and protect your boat
- Stable shapes that reduce flogging and chafe
- Stunning designs that stay in keeping with your boat
- Reduces chance of water pooling
- Effective, practical and easy to use
- Re-useable, with an expected lifespan of 10+ years
Off-site design – we are able to model and produce covers direct from design drawings without visiting the boat itself. This allows for rapid production turnarounds, ideal for tight build schedules.