OceanAir Recessed Skyscreens

OceanAir SkyScreens

Back in July, we were greeted at our slip by a fellow Caliber 40lrc owner who was cruising from NC with his family. We quickly became fast friends with Monty Edge and his family. Their boat, a 2008 model, has a few updated features that really impressed the Admiral. One of these must haves was the OceanAir recessed screen/shade combos. Our boat has the Lewmar screen frame with removable screens. To open the hatch you have to remove the screen completely and then reinstall. There is no shading option so we would simply use a square of reflective bubble wrap from the local home store to block the light. The OceanAir recessed screen/shade combo was the perfect solution. We could now easily open and close the hatch and screen and blocking the light was as simple as sliding the automatically retracting sunshade out. Installation was a little tricky but not as bad as I thought it would be. I am not sure how the factory attached the unit and I was not about to ask Monty if I could disassemble his. See the photos for more info.

Update 2013: We added 3 more SkyScreens in the galley and the forward head. These are the smaller hatches.

Here is a photo of the OceanAir screen/shade photo from S/V Song of The South, the Edge's 2008 Caliber 40LRC. The screen frame here is trimmed out with Teak. That may also be how the unit is held up. After cutting into my headliner, I found very little room to provide support from above. I did not add the teak trim but may eventually. Photo courtesy of Monty Edge.

The original Lewmar screen frame. These are no longer produced or available except used. I found when taking the frame down, the UV light has deteriorated the plastic and made it very brittle. Anyone doing work on the hatch itself may be required to remove this frame and find it self destruct in their hands as it did mine.

I removed the old frame and found small plywood battens stapled to the edge of the plywood. Here you can see one on the aft section after I removed the one on the port section. The wood support frame will have to be cut back to accommodate the new unit. I also marked and cut the teak trim battens that run fore/aft to the proper length of the new screen frame.

Another photo of the port side with the batten removed.

Using the built in liner that slips up vertically between the wood frame and the hatch, I temporarily attached the new screen frame to the wood frame and traced around the flange to get the general frame cutout size. Next, I stapled the headliner back beyond where I would have to cut the wood frame.

Once stapled I cut the headliner along the line with a utility knife.

I then removed the wood frame edges fore and aft which are simply screwed into the longitudinal sections which are attached to the cabin top.

Now the fun part. I used my Fein Multimaster with a wood blade to cut out the longitudinal sections.

Here you can see the increased width to the wood frame with the headliner neatly stapled to it in it's new position.

After measuring the fore/aft distance required for the cutout, I cut and attached some small sections of 1/2" plywood previously removed. This is not structural and is simply in place to attach the headliner to.

Here, you can see i stapled the headliner up to the newly fabricated frame.

Closeup of how I stapled the headliner.

The rough opening is now set to accept the OceanAir screen/shade frame. The upper right corner was re-stapled to remove the wrinkles.

Next, I had to trim the vertical liner(not pictured) to allow it to slide up around the aluminum hatch frame.

To attach the screen frame, I epoxied in some wood blocks and a piece of aluminum that will get drilled and tapped for the 6x1-1/4 machine screws in each corner.

Nice finished look that appears like original equipment. Notice the matching vertical trim liner that goes between the new frame and the existing hatch flange.

Here is the finished product with the screen deployed.

Shade deployed.

Partial screen and shade.

Open. If you are considering this project, the part numbers for the two Oceanair hatch screen/shade assembly is RSSL-60-R42-W. The W is for color white. They can also be ordered in beige. I spoke to Kim at OceanAir's US headquarters in Vermont and she supplied me with this part number based on what they sell to Caliber directly for their new boats. Also note that these are not part of OceanAir's retail product line and must be special ordered through outlets such at Defender.