How to Make an Enclosure Aft Curtain
Details
Details
If you've been following along with our Full Powerboat Enclosure video series, you've come to the final project. In today's video, we'll be showing you how to sew a new enclosure aft curtain. If you missed any of our videos in this series, be sure to check out those tutorials. Learn how to make an enclosure aft curtain, front curtain, side curtains and a bimini. Just type "Full Powerboat Enclosure" into the Sailrite search engine and click on the "DIY Projects" tab to find all the related video tutorials.
The final piece of the puzzle for our Project Powerboat's Full Boat Enclosure is the aft curtain. Our aft curtain includes a zippered, roll-up door and is attached at the top to the radar arch with awning track.
The previous aft curtain on this boat attached to the radar arch via snaps. We chose to use an awning track instead because it offers a sleeker, cleaner look and is very secure. Plus, the old enclosure had some issues with water running in between the snaps when it rained, and the awning track system will prevent those issues.
This attachment system consists of the awning track attached directly to the radar arch with an awning rope running through the track. The fabric panels then attach to the awning rope with a zipper. To assemble this we first bent and installed Flex-a-Rail Awning Track to the radar arch. To get a clean look and to protect the zippers from the sun, we created a small Sunbrella flap that we attached to the flange of our Keder Awning rope. Then we installed half of our zippers (the side with the starter pin) on the awning rope flange as well. The result is a hidden zipper and rope, which we think looks really great.
For our enclosure we used Sunbrella® Marine Grade fabric for the facings, but vinyl is also a popular option. Stamoid™ or Weblon® Regatta® vinyl would both be great fabric options, if you prefer vinyl. And, as always, the principles used in this video are also applicable for sailboat enclosure projects.
In this video you will also learn how to bend awning track and install it on your boat. You'll learn how to pattern your aft panels, sew and install zippers, and how to add fasteners.