Seriously; How have I never thought of this until now.......Floating Portable Canopy

[2kwik4u]

So, for some reason, I have completely not thought of this until the other day. Why don't I float one of my EZ-Up portable canopies while we're on the water? We often spend hours at a time at anchor, and we now have a small child that needs to stay out of the sun, but likes being in the water. I'm seriously dumbfounded by how I haven't had this idea before.

So I start googling.....yeap 101 solutions to this problem.

First there was this system....

But it's $130 on Amazon, and seems excessive for what you get. Plus it won't work if punctured, which seems somewhat easy considering all the metal pieces around it.

Then I found this....

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/544443042444342724/

...Damn that seems easy, and it would store pretty small in the boat when not in use. I should do that!.....Wait, what happens if water fills up a leg. Then I'm done for, and we get waves from time to time, regardless of location......what else can I find....

Google comes through again!

Canopy/Gazebo (also Known As a EZ-UP) Float for the Pool or Lake for Cheap <--Check that out! What a brilliant idea. Pool Noodles and sealed PVC shouldn't take on water, that shape is pretty stable, and it should stow pretty easily right? Guess what I'm making and testing this weekend!!

Anyone else float a canopy at anchor? I feel like this is a serious "Ah-Ha" moment for me, and have no idea why I don't see it more often?

 

[Beachbummer]

Neat idea.

Those canopies will FLY away when wind gets underneath (that's how come I have a new one after my old one flew away and bent beyond repair)..and they are HEAVY and BULKY. I recommend trying a few hats hat may provide you a more localized shade with less complexity! Don't get me wrong, the canopy is awesome to haul in the car and set up in the ground, but floating...it seems more trouble than worth..perhaps an assembled one from igloo poles would be lighter?

 

[djetok]

you could always do a longer Bimini extension. I just bought one a couple weeks ago. Someone on here had one on a ar195. https://jetboaters.net/threads/ar195-build-mods.20950/post-380145 It truly works well, I would bought the wider one but they only had it in black or blue. Blue is probably what I should have done since the grays don't match, but hey it does a great job of keeping the sun off. If you had longer extendable poles and a longer extension, you could easily cover some water. It stows really easy too. I had it under a seat. I put it in the ski locker yesterday, since we are going to broken bow lake tomorrow. We will not be doing any watersports.

 

[jcyamaharider]

We can get around the wind thing. Just attach a couple of drift anchors to the canopy and it will be more solid on the water for wind gusts. I think this floating canopy idea is brilliant!




Amazon.com : 18" Drift Sock Sea Anchor Drogue, Sea Brake Fits Kayak Boats Up to 12-14ft : Gateway

 

[jjmparsons]

So, for some reason, I have completely not thought of this until the other day. Why don't I float one of my EZ-Up portable canopies while we're on the water? We often spend hours at a time at anchor, and we now have a small child that needs to stay out of the sun, but likes being in the water. I'm seriously dumbfounded by how I haven't had this idea before.

So I start googling.....yeap 101 solutions to this problem.

First there was this system....

But it's $130 on Amazon, and seems excessive for what you get. Plus it won't work if punctured, which seems somewhat easy considering all the metal pieces around it.

Then I found this....

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/544443042444342724/

...Damn that seems easy, and it would store pretty small in the boat when not in use. I should do that!.....Wait, what happens if water fills up a leg. Then I'm done for, and we get waves from time to time, regardless of location......what else can I find....

Google comes through again!

Canopy/Gazebo (also Known As a EZ-UP) Float for the Pool or Lake for Cheap <--Check that out! What a brilliant idea. Pool Noodles and sealed PVC shouldn't take on water, that shape is pretty stable, and it should stow pretty easily right? Guess what I'm making and testing this weekend!!

Anyone else float a canopy at anchor? I feel like this is a serious "Ah-Ha" moment for me, and have no idea why I don't see it more often?

Truly digging the thought process here. One thing I wish all boats had was more shade! We spend a huge majority of our time just sitting on the boat or (me particularly) just floating in the water and its often more moving around to get in the shade due to the fact the boat moves. I'm all for the innovative ideas to get more shade. Thanks for sharing!!!!

 

[Ancient canoe]

I like it. More shade that's easy to store is always a plus.

 

[haknslash]

Great idea! And yea how the hell have we just come to this realization??!!

 

[Julian]

Great idea! And yea how the hell have we just come to this realization??!!

You are going to need it with that teenie tiny bimini on your new boat! Does Moomba not offer something bigger? That almost looks comic....

 

[2kwik4u]

I have no idea how I've missed this for LITERALLY a decade of boating. I've had an expanding canopy that long as well. How I've not put two and two together before is completely dumbfounding me.

I'm going to test fit the canopy into the storage on the boat tonight. See if I can find an easy place to store it. Going to weight it as well to see what kind of weight I'm supporting. Need to run some buoyancy calculations to make sure I'm good on volume of displaced water compared to weight supported. Clearly it works, but I want to check anyway.

If calcs look good, and the thing stores somewhere other than the floor, I'll get the supplies Friday night and start building. With any luck I can test this weekend.

@djetok I have an AnchorShade3 now. I typically set it up over the rear swim platform and it works well. I like that setup you have even better though and will probably move to that next year. We're still left with one person on the boat with the baby, and the rest of us in the water staying cool. Hoping that a floating canopy gets us all in the water (including the baby, probably floating on the iDrodisc) and in the shade at the same time.

Between the neighbor and myself, we have 3 floating canopies between us. There are already talks of figuring out a way to make a swim up bar in the shade under these things. Stay tuned for shenanigans!

 

[djetok]

I have no idea how I've missed this for LITERALLY a decade of boating. I've had an expanding canopy that long as well. How I've not put two and two together before is completely dumbfounding me.

I'm going to test fit the canopy into the storage on the boat tonight. See if I can find an easy place to store it. Going to weight it as well to see what kind of weight I'm supporting. Need to run some buoyancy calculations to make sure I'm good on volume of displaced water compared to weight supported. Clearly it works, but I want to check anyway.

If calcs look good, and the thing stores somewhere other than the floor, I'll get the supplies Friday night and start building. With any luck I can test this weekend.

@djetok I have an AnchorShade3 now. I typically set it up over the rear swim platform and it works well. I like that setup you have even better though and will probably move to that next year. We're still left with one person on the boat with the baby, and the rest of us in the water staying cool. Hoping that a floating canopy gets us all in the water (including the baby, probably floating on the iDrodisc) and in the shade at the same time.

Between the neighbor and myself, we have 3 floating canopies between us. There are already talks of figuring out a way to make a swim up bar in the shade under these things. Stay tuned for shenanigans!

I kept looking at the anchor shade. The reason I didnt want it was the center support pole.

 

[haknslash]

You are going to need it with that teenie tiny bimini on your new boat! Does Moomba not offer something bigger? That almost looks comic....

It covers the captain and observers area and about half of the midship. It has worked fine for us while eating lunch on the boat. My AR bimini didn’t cover the very most rear of the bench either so it’s not as big of an issue for us but YMMV depending on what you’re accustomed to. The tower and bimini are made by Roswell but I don’t think they offer a more extended bimini for the Aviator tower. I honestly don’t mind it because those rear poles sucked on the AR since you couldn’t use but one of the settings but mainly I don’t have to worry about the rope causing many chaffing. Works for us.

I do like the idea of a floating shade to chill and float under though!

 

[2kwik4u]

I kept looking at the anchor shade. The reason I didnt want it was the center support pole.

This is the exact reason we want to move away from it. The 15mo old seems to think it's the best thing to hang on to when navigating his way over the seats in the back. We also prefer to not step any higher than we have to over the rear seats when exiting/entering the cockpit area.

What do those poles on the back set into? Rod Holders? The cupholders?

 

[djetok]

This is the exact reason we want to move away from it. The 15mo old seems to think it's the best thing to hang on to when navigating his way over the seats in the back. We also prefer to not step any higher than we have to over the rear seats when exiting/entering the cockpit area.

What do those poles on the back set into? Rod Holders? The cupholders?

I put it in the cup holders.

 

[2kwik4u]

those rear poles sucked on the AR since you couldn’t use but one of the settings

One of those things I really dislike about the AR190 Bimini. Those stupid "adjustable" rear poles.

The second being that the front is about |...| that far BEHIND the windshield, so when it rains hard the bimini drips on the guages instead of the windshield........Seriously, another 1.5-2in of length out the front and the rain would drip on the windshield and run down the front instead of all over the instruments. My guess is Yamaha never tested it in the rain.

 

[2kwik4u]

I put it in the cup holders.

Great info. Thanks!.......I assume no issues with cup holder strength then?

 

[Gym]

And It doubles as a parasail.

 

[djetok]

One of those things I really dislike about the AR190 Bimini. Those stupid "adjustable" rear poles.

The second being that the front is about |...| that far BEHIND the windshield, so when it rains hard the bimini drips on the guages instead of the windshield........Seriously, another 1.5-2in of length out the front and the rain would drip on the windshield and run down the front instead of all over the instruments. My guess is Yamaha never tested it in the rain.

I am thinking about buying another for the front too

 

[haknslash]

To add to this idea create a “deluxe chill chamber” version which includes:

Tsunami / Bilge pump
Plastic tubing
Spray nozzles
Solar panels

Profit?

 

[jEt_jAk]

Having an easy up once flip from wind and break clear through a 2 pane glass window I would be a bit cautious. Cool idea though would love it if it worked.

 

[waternutt]

We bring a pop-up canopy every trip since we spend most of our time anchored with the stern to the beach. It gives some much needed shade when the kids play or the adults sit on the beach. I would love to have more shade on the boat though.

This is a good idea though. I wonder how it would work if you just wrapped noodles around the canopy legs?? It would probably sit a little lower in the water, but most sit in the water and it would not be as high up for the wind to catch??