The Problem

When taking on a new project, it takes time to notice when things don’t work very well. We left La Rochelle in France at the end of autumn. During the days when we were having sailing lessons, we struggled to roll up the factory bimini clears efficiently.

After a while, we noticed that the screens produced by Christophe from Voilerie Klien, were far easier to roll out of the way. When we carefully compared the FP product against Christophe’s, it became clear.

The investigation

FP Webbing is square-ended. It was challenging to insert the end into the adjuster buckle. It was extremely difficult to use it, as it was exactly the width of the opening hole of the buckle. If not inserted into the buckle exactly square on, it can’t be pulled through.

Christophe’s webbing is angled 45 degrees. It entered the adjuster buckle without any effort. It was then easy to pass the webbing through the buckle efficiently.

The Solution

We used our hot knife and cut the square ends so they were now 45 degrees! The pointy end can now be easily inserted into the buckle and pulled through. There were about 45 straps to do.

Thank you to Dave and Patsy Mitchell who took turns holding the backing board so I could modify them in situ.