MacGregorSailors.com

Hello,

I am slowly purchasing a section per year to ultimately have a full enclosure from BWY. So far I have a Bimini, Doger and mid Connector. What I am wondering is what do you think about the small side windows that go behind the winches and connect to the doger and mid connector. Do they restrict bow access? Do any of you use them without the side windows? I was hoping they might give a little bit more spray protection to people in the cockpit.

Thanks

I have the Dowsar enclosure, and the dodger includes the side panels, which are not separate (unfortunately). They do get in the way a little, but I've gotten used to them being there, and have no trouble getting forward.

You can use them without the side windows (although they may flap) and they will protect you from head on spray, however as soon as you turn off the wind the water will still find you. They connect with two zippers, one on the dodger which connects up to the bimini and mid-connector and one on the side window. With the full enclosure on we just unzip the window from the side panel and half unzip from the dodger leaving it connected at the top and flip the whole thing up onto the bimini. This opens up enough to get off onto the dock or move up to the cabin top. Either way it is restrictive but it is a lot dryer. Hope this helps

yukonbob wrote:You can use them without the side windows (although they may flap) and they will protect you from head on spray, however as soon as you turn off the wind the water will still find you. They connect with two zippers, one on the dodger which connects up to the bimini and mid-connector and one on the side window. With the full enclosure on we just unzip the window from the side panel and half unzip from the dodger leaving it connected at the top and flip the whole thing up onto the bimini. This opens up enough to get off onto the dock or move up to the cabin top. Either way it is restrictive but it is a lot dryer. Hope this helps

Great, don't suppose you have any pic's? Do they block your access to walk up on the front deck?

Cheers

I have the Dowsar enclosure also I usually just undo the front section & flip it back or undo the center roof section on one side & then step over the window
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 0038-1.jpg

J

This is about all i have...

yukonbob wrote:
This is about all i have...

That is great....It looks like the access is not too bad if needed, and it is fairly removable. Thanks for that..time to call Ezra at BWY!

one step closer to my full enclosure.

Although the photo doesn't show this, I'm sure Yukon Bob does like we often do. In addition to opening the forward side panel, as in the picture, you can also unzip the overhead connector panel part way, and flip the connector up on top of itself. This gives more headroom for entering and exiting. We also keep several strips of self adhering Velcro handy and use them to roll up the side panels. When the rain is off and on, it's nice to open things up when possible, but also be able to quickly lower them again. I store our surround panels by rolling them up, around a short length of carpet roll cardboard. I think this is better than folding them up and creasing the clear plastic. They're rather slippery against each other unless you secure them in some fashion, so rolling them up and securing them with that Velcro strip works well. We've had our surround for about 12 years and it still looks good and works great.

FYI if you already have or plan to have teh stern rail seats you'll need a differnt bimini and enclosure, so this might be the time to placn ahead.

yukonbob wrote:FYI if you already have or plan to have teh stern rail seats you'll need a differnt bimini and enclosure, so this might be the time to placn ahead.

When I bought the boat, I walked down the street to BWY and bought their big bimini, and the boat came originally from BWY and already had a doger. I do have stern rail seats, They should fit?
Boy I hope so, they are expensive parts!

Ya the large bimini fits the stern seats. Should be good.

Somebody was posting about a enclosure from powersaling.com or something like that .said enclosures were 1700.00 .but I can't find it !

bahama bound wrote:Somebody was posting about a enclosure from powersaling.com or something like that .said enclosures were 1700.00 .but I can't find it !

That is a great price! With the Canadian dollar in the basement....shopping south is not a good option, glad I bought my boat in the US last year, would not be able to afford it with the current exchange. Now I have to add 20% to everything. I might look at having the sides and stern pieces custom made to fit my bimini and doger. I know a small town seamstress that does boat covers out of her garage. She has done a few great repairs on my catamaran sails. She carries sunbrella fabric and has all the industrial equipment. I imagine the hard part would be matching the zippers.

Do you guys find a lot of windage with that enclosure? I find even sailing with the Bimini up pulls me over a bit!

Don't notice any wind with the enclosure

How long does it take to put the enclosure up as I have never had one but I am thinking of getting one. Also do you find when it is down that it restricts your movement in anyway or in any spot on the Mac? Is it harder to get off the boat out the stern? I can think of at least two times where having one of them would had been awesome and one is to do with rain and the other is to do with way too much sun and almost getting sunstroke.