Pontoon Enclosure for Cheapskates...

[Mosnowman]

I inadvertently posted this message in the Welcome Section thus my repeat post here...my apologies..but I was wanting to see if anyone else has tried this or has an opinion?

So being a creative cheapskate I got the following idea for a pontoon enclosure to use as a tent on the boat. We haven't camped a lot and probably won't do a lot of overnights on the water. I already have a full screen covering made by mosquitocurtains.com

You creative guys on here what do you think? Am I crazy? Would this work as a tent over my two bimini tops? I don't want to shell out 3K plus for a full enclosure..but $300 maybe...it has a couple of zippered openings as well...it would be used mainly for "privacy" tent camping on he toon...



http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/it ... 1-26/49125

[RonKMiller]

That's made from Tyvek. It's designed to keep moisture and dirt out. It's known as a "barrier" fabric. It might get just a bit "swampy" - and then how would you attach it without significant modification...

But, a good thought!

I think you would be better off using a REAL tent, and perhaps removing some furniture to make room for it. You could even use some recessed eye bolts around the perimeter in order to "stake" it down.

Unfortunately -a REAL tent - that could actually withstand strong wind and torrential rain is still going to set you back some serious $$.

I've owned this North Face VE25 tent for many years - and I literally lived through 50 mile per hour winds and blizzards in it, for $530.00 it is some serious shelter for 3 adults. Although this picture doesn't show it there is excellent ventilation as well - the mode shown in the picture is "survival" mode:

tent.jpg (7.28 KiB) Viewed 10979 times

[Bryden24shp]

I can relate to the "swampy" We wear Tyvek in the plant when working with certain chems and yep, it does not breath. Plus it shreds and tears easily, but this is pretty thin stuff that we are in. I would think it would be thicker for this kind of application.

[BobG]

I've owned this North Face VE25 tent for many years - and I literally lived through 50 mile per hour winds and blizzards in it, for $530.00 it is some serious shelter for 3 adults.

The VE-25 is absolutely bomb-proof. I've always wanted one (well, except before TNF came out with it - before that, I think it was the VE-24).

[fredeboy]

Hey Mosnowman
You have any pictures of your full screen installed. That is all we have but it has worked GREAT for us. Not going to sleep on boat when there is a chance of rain anyway. LOL

[BobG]

Not going to sleep on boat when there is a chance of rain anyway. LOL

I LOVE sleeping on the boat when it's raining! Most soothing sound EVER.

[HandymanHerb]

Wasn't so soothing last weekend, the rain came sidewards and got under the rain fly on my tent and got the sleeping stuff wet, so I folded tent, stayed till 2 am blowing shit up, drinking a little creek water and then drove two hours home, didn't feel like spending the night in the truck.

[Mosnowman]

Het Fredeboy....planning on driving the toon home in a week or so to install a new stereo and transducer. I'll try to get some pics and post. You were right the guy in Atlanta at mosquitocurtains.com was a first class guy ...and patient with this newb on my measurements.
It looks great and top quality!

Thanks guys for the opinions...I think I'll stick to the screen and a pack tent on the floor!

[cleatus]

Have you seen this thing over at Overtons?

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product ... 656&r=view

free shipping on it too.

[Mosnowman]

Cleatus...I did look into that, but after reading some pretty bad reviews decided against it. If your thinking about it check out the reviews. I figured since I do have full coverage due to double biminis the tent option is probably the way to go. If your thinking about doing the same thing check out mosquitocurtains.com gallery has a couple pics of full screen enclosures which I ended up buying. Fredeboy has pics of his as well. Thanks for the reply!

[MH Hawker]

I use this on my front deck

http://www.walmart.com/ip/GigaTent-Bear ... t/19207842