My friend, and local mechanical artisan, Matt Ross made this custom cockpit tent for me. As with most of my projects, I made a prototype first; in this case from inexpensive polytarp. Tried it a while, modified it a lot, then turned the final pattern over to the pro for construction.

It fastens at four places on each side, at the mast, end of boom, and top of the rudder. We used brass snap eyes for several of the connections. Some with the spring-loaded arm removed by pulling the hinge pin (see photo), where it was not needed. At the mast and boom we made hook & loop (Velcro) fasteners for security and quick and easy installation and removal.

The sides of the tent unhook to allow me to simply slide in for the night, eliminating the possibility of slipping and ending up in the water. The addition of the cockpit tent, has more than doubled the useful covered area of the M15 and made overnighting in bad weather a dream.

John Butler (Montgomery 15 "Rejoyce!")