deck tent

[Randall S Anselmo]

I am interested in having a deck tent built per Wharram plans, and would like to hear from anyone who has one.  Does yours work well? Any problems/solutions? What materials did you use? Any guesses on what it should cost? 

[Andrés]

Hi, I have one. You can see it in

http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/photo/albums/2195841:Album:20041

It was with the boat when I bought it. I don't know about the material but it is very tough. Perhaps Luis, the former owner can tell you about it.

It is very comfortable, gives good shade in the summer and don't oscillate with the wind as happens with a lighter cloth. It works very well when there is little wind or you can have good shelter from the wind, for instance when you are in a river. In strong wind the tent acts as a sail and you have tu put it down, usually it happens at night under the rain and it is not very funny.

If you are going to use it in a place where there is usually strong wind, I suppose a low profile tent is better, but it will not be as comfortable as the original.

[paul anderson]

The more I think about it,the more i am considering a plain old tarp,with maybe a few lightweight sidescreens for privacy.Who knows? One thing for sure is that there will be a mozzie screen though.

[Michael Cook]

I wonder why the deck tent for the Tiki 21 couldn't be adapted to the 26? Comfortable sitting headroom (4' 6" I believe). When folded forward it becomes a dodger/spray hood. A simple two-bow aluminum frame well out of the way of the hatches and rigging. Although I've also considered rigging a tarp in various ways. My thought was to buy a bunch of cheap tarps of various sizes after the boat was basically built and test out different rigs. I'm pretty sure one could come up with a pretty decent tent this way.

[Randall S Anselmo]

I've goofed around with all sorts of tarps, old parachutes, and the like, and done pretty well with a simple deck tent we sewed out of lightweight tent material. The main problem is flogging while anchored/moored. What I like about the original Wharram design is that if made properly with heavy material and good tension, it should set up taught, like a conventional dodger, and not create an awful racket all night!

[Randall S Anselmo]

There are a couple of photos of it in action on my page. We used the whisker pole as a ridge pole, and sewed hooks into the lower hem that attached to padeyes screwed to the outboard cabin top stringer.