Almost a moot issue, there's plenty of room to store it while "under way"
and
then if we camp over night; we can put them back up.

Hit up a local fabric store for a couple of the tubes they use for bolts of
cloth. Folding the clear vinyl isn't a good idea... And then hunt down a
duffle bag (or two) that'll hold the panels. Makes it a lot easier to move
them around without wrecking them. Or have the canvas shop make you a
suitable storage bag.

There's certainly the upside of retained heat and shelter from the rain.
Overnight condensation can lead to a bit of clouding of the vinyl. But that
usually clears up once the sun hits it.

Carbon Monoxide build up is a concern. Keep in mind that CO detectors don't
necessarily hold up in an open air installation. They do sell portable
units designed to be worn on your person. You do want to make absolutely
sure that you have at least TWO built-in detectors if you're planning on
sleeping aboard if the boat has a generator, or if you're rafted up with
others that do. Even underway there's the 'station wagon effect' of fumes
being pulled back into the covered space. You really do not want to be
travelling underway without considerable amounts of fresh air circulating
through the space.

When having a camper custom made be sure the installation of the support
poles won't be a problem. It's one thing to pull off some canvas and fold
back some poles. But it's a huge hassle to have to remove poles, so they
usually fold together in a way that lets you stow them in place. Just make
sure that stowing doesn't otherwise make it hard to get around them. You
don't want to be tripping over them trying to dock the boat. And make sure
the cover can be unzipped from the poles. It's a huge pain to have to
unthread them from poles. Especially if a sudden wind kicks up and you need
to get those panels down in a hurry. I'd have lost them during a
thunderstorm last July 4th had they not had zippers holding the top to the
overhead poles. It was a challenge getting them off in +50 knot gusts but
it wouldn've been impossible without the zippers.

Also make sure the installation of the rear panels (or any panels for that
matter) aren't going to chafe against something like a vinyl seat or an edge
of something. You don't want to have the seats get ruined, or the canvas
rubbed-though. Our 'whole cockpit' cover tends to get a bit chafed against
the snaps on the top of the windshield. I've been meaning to make a strip
that I can snap in to cover them when using the cockpit cover.

If you're going to bother with the camper back, make sure it's actually
usable. I've seen some 'fastback' style covers that don't actually let you
use the rear-most seating because of how the cover slopes forward.

All in all we love having the camper back. We usually leave the top of the
bimini installed all the time and just stow the side panels.

-Bill Kearney