Its hot so why in the heck did I not do this sooner...

[Osprey69]

Given the temps these days the salon was being temp challenged late in the afternoon as the transom now faces west. It is under-vented (66%), but was maintaining 79/80/81 (even with fans pulling up air from below-decks). Not bad but not great. Just realized (Doh!) that behind shades and curtains the windows were HOT.

Yesterday I threw a temp cover over aft deck from the roof to the caprail. Made a difference, but not a big difference as it was late in the afternoon and things were heated up.

This morning I went to Wally-World and picked up 2 white blackout curtains and rigged up a mock-up of a permanent solution. Holy crap. Salon running at 76 degrees! My only excuse is I am a lifelong sailor so it took a awhile for it to sink in that we needed an aft canvas...I have no idea what you call the thing.

Still a-lernin this stuff.

 

[kthoennes]

Covers do make a huge difference. We learned that recently when we removed our bimini and shipped it off to a canvas shop to be replaced because the old one had gotten tired and threadbare. While the bimini was gone, we had some hot summer days (high 80's, low to mid 90's). We have two 16k A/C units for a boat that's not huge, so you'd think they'd have plenty of cooling ability but the salon never got cooler than 78-80 in the daytime. The new bimini came back a couple months later and we put it up -- suddenly we had to turn down the A/C or icicles would form on our noses. And it's not like there's one big flat exposed panel on the upper helm, you've got lots of seating up there, the helm itself, a layer of heavy marine carpet. Didn't really dissipate or deflect the heat at all though, just cooked the salon. Made far more of a difference to interior temps than I ever imagined.

 

[Insequent]

Keeping direct sun off glass or other surfaces does make a big difference. My boat came from Seattle and the PO had canvas trimmed clear covers that would roll up/down for the cockpit to keep out rain. Inevitably the clears got to the point of needing to be replaced. But instead of new clears I went with 95% blockout shadecloth-style material. Similar to this stuff from Amazon. From the inside you can still see out quite well.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Windscreen4less-Beige-Sunblock-Shade-Fabric/dp/B00NTF6J30?th=1

I also put it on the exterior where there was glass. Obviously removed for the front windscreen for travel. It is not as effective as full blockout, but still makes a huge difference.