(First read earlier post 1 of this same subject.) Construction Details I’ve made two of these sunshades. For my O’Day 240 I used 5 oz. “Fleetboat Dacron Cover Cloth” from Sailrite. (Ph 800-348-2769). For my O’Day 222 I used 4.5 oz. Dacron sailcloth from Defender Industries. (Ph. 800-628-8225) Either material works well. The awning is basically a trapezoidal layout. (See photo.) Finished dimensions for the awning for the 222: 84 in. wide at forward edge. 73 in. wide at aft edge. Length (not including the pair of 14 in. long ‘shirttails’), 58 in. (All dimensions for the 240 were slightly larger.) A 3 ½ in. ‘sleeve’ is sewn into the forward and aft edge. Forespar telescoping awning poles are slipped into the sleeves. (Note that the aft pole is set behind the back stay, hence the aft sleeve is slotted 3 ½ in. off-center in order to accommodate the boat’s off-center backstay. See inset detail in photo.) I used Forespar poles that telescope 4-to-8 ft. length. A S.S. ring is attached with webbing at the center of the awning. The main halyard connects here when at the dock. At the forward and aft corners, ¼ in. dia. single braided lines are tied to the brass grommets at the ends of the sleeves. Forward lines are 7 ½ ft. long; aft are 2 ½ ft. The forward lines lead to the port and starboard shrouds and are tied there about 5 ft. above deck. The aft lines loop around the aft lifeline stanchions and are clipped to themselves. For stabilization, at the forward corners and the lower corners of the ‘shirttails,’ and at the aft slot, there are 1/8 in. dia. Dacron lines. These small lines get tied to the lifelines. (See inset detail.) To speed set-up and maintain repeatability, there are 6 plastic Snaphooks. (West Marine M/N 2690212) The snaphooks clip to small loops of 1/8 in. line tied to the ends of the telescoping poles. Grommets are all #2 (3/8 in.). Be sure to use solid brass, or nickel grommets. Both awnings were sewn on a household Singer sewing machine. Double sided ¼ in. adhesive basting tape was used to hold the seams in position for sewing. You may have noticed that I also installed a plastic window in the awing for the 240 for sail trim observation. Also the ‘shirttails’ were more effective on the 240’s awning. They seem of less value on the 222.
