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Originally Posted by Jdoc
Thanks, I appreciate the discussion. BTW, I do like my Neptunus. It is a solid boat, and it can go fast, but also (considering the size of the vessel) is relatively economical when running at displacement speeds.
My Neptunus came with a hardtop flybridge, and upper and lower full helm controls. The original owner had the air conditioned flybridge enclosed with removable panels all around. With a glass on vinyl windshield and with lexan sides and back. I've already replaced a couple of panels due to deterioration, but am facing in the near future a full replacement or doing something else.
I'm sorry but IMHO most, including my soft sided enclosures look sucky. I wouldn't mind doing a replacement if it looked good aesthetically on the vessel. I'm challenged to find a practical solution that does not take away from the aesthetic beauty of the boat.
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Go to more than one canvas shop for some proposals and pricing. See what ideas they have. Start soon as canvas shops are notoriously slow in responding. I can't tell you they'll come up with great looking solutions but I do think there are many less sucky solutions. Also, you're not keeping the enclosure on all the time. There are different materials that look more like glass. They do have negatives though in maintenance and care. There are different ways of attaching. One thing I see often that looks "sucky" as you describe is that they're not tight and often it's just canvas on canvas rather than any posts to provide better support.
I'd suggest looking at some of the work on these sites:
https://www.pipewelders.com/enclosures
Custom Polycarbonate Enclosure
Gallery
We each have our personal preferences. I personally don't like any "canvas type materials, as much "windows" as possible, as clear as possible, and as tight as possible.