I own a ShadeTree and I love it, with a couple of caveats. I did by the grey and in comparative testing of mine own, it dropped inside temperature after sitting in the August sun by almost 20 degrees (about 115 inside down to low 90s) with it being in the 90s outside, that was excellent.
The pros
- Great customer service. I think it is a couple who run the entire show and they were great in helping me figure out how I wanted it, what length and even how to shorten it myself, for a more custom fit.
- Durable. I put it up and leave it up. The only time I took it down last year (aside from sailing) was a hurricane. Wind/Rain no problem. I think they warn you to take it down, but once you have it up you will see even heavy winds are not an issue
- Standard sizes fit most boats. They will customize, but most of their "standard" will fit. Emergpa1 went with 2, I only needed one.
- Useful even in the rain. Even when it rains it give you cover. So, I was out working on the deck hatches during a rain because I could. A carport of boats.
- It covers the entire deck - lifeline to lifeline
- It folds up small. Real small. I am not sure how they fit all of that in the small bag (also a nice feature), but it fits.
The cons
- If you boat is almost the right size, you want to check where things fall. They were willing to take it back and cut it back a little for me, but I kept it as is. The problem is it falls onto the lifeline gate if fully extended. (Not a product issue, but a warning to watch for it)
- It does not seem like long, but when you leave the office to go sailing, the 30 minutes it takes to take down seems long and the fiberglass poles are difficult to get in and out by yourself. Two people can get it off (stuffed into a corner) in about 10 minutes.
- The slant of the top means you cannot walk around the deck easily with it in place. You kind of lean inward and never stand straight up. So running up to the foredeck for a second, is a little cumbersome.
I had been tinkering with the idea of what Hayden has. There are a couple of boats here that have a very similar setup. The upside, it is quick to deploy and return. It opens the side decks so walking around is not an issue. The down side is it is very low to the desk or it catches wind like the sail. So no rain cover and it does not extend (although it could) to the far sides of the deck.
If I had to do it over again would I? 93.2383% yes. But I would definitely have had them shorten it for my 31. The gate thing is continuously annoying.
