Island Nautical Canvas - Cape Dory 25D

[Carl Thunberg]

Like Russel said, when you're beating to weather, there's an awful lot of spray, even on a beatiful day. All I know is, my family will tuck in under the dodger and keep me company when they would otherwise be forced down below. Without a dodger, there would be many days when I would have been all alone in the cockpit. I like their company. The investment in family time is worth it.

[Carter Brey]

Steve,

Nobody should be offended by your opinion about a dodger. But I have to say that a dodger was the single best addition I ever made to my several boats for all the reasons and more that Troy so well stated.

Agreed, and may I add that I actually can reach the wheel (a destroyer wheel but shippy and seaworthy nonetheless and sporting the coolest rawhide covering you ever saw) while seated within my dodger, steering with one hand from the windward side. This has come in surprisingly handy, as when recently I had a long beat to windward from Norwalk to New York City into winds gusting over 25 knots. The spray came arcing over the windward bow, passing over my head and at times splattering the dodger window with some violence. That's a four-hour trip. Had I been without a dodger, even with foulies on, my glasses would have been crusted with salt and virtually opaque within minutes. Salt, and the rest of the miasma that passes for seawater in Western Long Island Sound. You really don't want that up your nose, bud.

Then there are those dog days at anchor when I can unzip the front panel and roll it up. There is then no better place than in the shade of the dodger to relax with a beer and a book or a buddy, the breeze wafting in through that window.

At night you can leave the companionway completely open, fresh air given free run of the cabin, secure in the knowledge that should a storm make up, the cabin will remain dry. You can huddle under the dodger while the rain comes down and the wind howls, checking to make sure your anchor isn't dragging without even bothering to put on your pants.

Yup, best upgrade ever.

Cheers,
Carter

[The Patriot]

... Dodgers are popular with people who want to drive ... , not sail ...

Now I'm thinking of getting a dodger for my Buick's sunroof. The sailboat dodger has worked quite well for over 100,000 miles.

... Bad weather? Put on some proper clothing (Scandinavian proverb: There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing) ...

This information may explain the abnormally high suicide rates in Nordic countries.

[Al Levesque]

Steve, count me as a member of the "no stinkin dodger" group. Our current boat had one when we bought it and I gave in to my wife by keeping it for a while. It was a relief when I finally removed it.

The dodger was difficult to get around to go on deck and I can understand why so many sailors want lines run back to the cockpit. The dodger also makes it difficult to lash down the boom and sheet the trysail in bad weather.

I also suffer from lack of height when sitting alongside the helm and often had to stand to see where I was going. Even then, when standing, the plastic window distorted the view. Besides, why would anyone want to stand when they can sit.

I grew up sailing open boats and only suffered through dodgers when I borrowed boats between the early years and these later ones. While I have my own boat I will enjoy the freedom from dodgers, as well as a few other so-called conveniences.

[Jim Walsh]

How high is your dodger. Standing at the wheel, or tiller, do you look over or through?

[Troy Scott]

Russell,

The Robinhood 36 MINKE has a nice hard dodger. Maybe you've seen it?

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/C ... 162676.jpg

I like it. I would like for the forward section of Lexan to be be removable or at least to open somehow for ventilation in hot weather. I would like the installation to be through-bolted in a very thorough and secure installation.

I believe a hard dodger should fit the lines and style of the boat so well that it looks like it was always there. It should never look like an after-thought.

[Duncan]

The Robinhood one looks ~maybe ok~ . It's certainly better-designed and executed than most, even though it's still obviously an add-on to the original design.

I've seen so many ugly, home-made hard dodgers that I think it's almost impossible to get it right. I'll bet that 90% of add-on hard dodgers end up getting dismounted by the next owner of the boat.

Having said that, I just saw one this morning that looked not-too-bad:

There are several more images of this one at VdS 46 Listing. Even though it looks better than most, I think that it cuts visibility too much.

I think the appearance issue with most hard dodgers is that they are too high and too short to blend with the lines of the boat. They stick out 'like a sore thumb' and detract from the rest of the lines of the boat.

I'm thinking that to make a shelter that's long and low enough to suit the boat, it really needs to be a proper pilothouse that was designed in from the beginning. Even so, a lot of pilothouses end up looking out of place, too.

Here's one I do like, the Labrador 44. It's a boat designed for high latitude sailing, so the pilothouse would be the primary steering station. It's clearly a central aspect of the boat's design, not an add-on:



Anyway, I think it's hard to second-guess a good naval architect, so it's probably wiser to buy a pilothouse boat if you want permanent shelter from the elements?

[Carl Thunberg]

Sorry, Duncan - I have to disagree with you on this one, even if you did give me a BMYC hat . I've been on Lenny's boat several times. Minke's dodger is absolutely gorgeous and looks completely at home on his boat. It's a great enhancement.

[MFC]

I like the look of the scandanavian hard dodgers (HR, Mallo, Najad) where only the windshield is permanent and the top and side pieces are canvass. That might be a difficult retrofit, but it seems to work both functionally and aesthetically (they are all pretty sharp designs -- to my eye).
Matt

[Duncan]

Sorry, Duncan - I have to disagree with you on this one, even if you did give me a BMYC hat . I've been on Lenny's boat several times. Minke's dodger is absolutely gorgeous and looks completely at home on his boat. It's a great enhancement.

And a tip of the BMYC hat to those who can do these well. Like I said, from a photo, Lenny's hard dodger looks to me to be better-designed and executed than most.

I know I need some kind of dodger. I've taken enough waves full in the face or straight down my neck to realize that!

[Russell]

Apologies to bill to having derailed his topics!

I have seen the photos of the Robinhood with a hard dodger before, it does look well done, though I would likely do without the teak ( last thing I want is somethign else to varnish). No matter what, as Duncan said, it would be a tough job to get one to look right on a boat that was not designed for one, and you could spend a lot of money and hours and easily end up with something that didnt come out how you hoped. Hence why it remains and idea I am kicking around still, no plans to actually do it.

I am confident it can be done and have seen some suprisingly good results. I actually saw an Alberg 30 in the bahamas that was convered to a pilot house! The entire cockpit enclosed solid with doors on the side and the interior transformed into what one expects in a pilot house. Amazingly the boat didnt suffer stern squat from the weight and it looked extreamly good but one would never guess it was an alberg 30. The owner was a crusty old sailor who had spent far too much time in the sun and couldnt afford to spend anymore.

[mike ritenour]

I don't know about your boats but LaVida is a dry deck boat.
Unless its a nasty day few, if anything comes aboard.
When it does I rely on my dodger to keep my fanny dry.
Rit

[Steve Laume]

I have been toying with the hard dodger idea for a couple of years.

The last two trips I did were the perfect occasions to have a dodger. Late Oct and early Nov sailing sustained winds up to 20 knots with gusts to 30 knots or better. I let the wind vane do most of the steering but the dodger allows me to sit in the cockpit and read while dressed in my foul weather gear. Without the dodger I would need the companion way closed up tight and my book would turn to pulp.

In the summer I want all the shade I can get. The dodger also keeps the dew off of things so we can sit in the cockpit and enjoy those starry nights without feeling like the clams we might have eaten earlier.

Unfortunately the dodger I have has never fit very good so I get water and lots of cold air streaming in under it. It is also getting old. The windows are somewhat foggy and stiff. This last trip one of the zippers let go and a briefly flogging sheet whipped a hole in one of the side windows. I think it is time to do something and I don't want to put money into what I currently have.

I have seen lots of bad hard dodger designs and have some ideas on why they don't look so good. Most don't seem to follow the lines of the boat and they never seem to have enough curves to fit the original shapes of the boat.

I have had plenty of time to contemplate the design and construction while huddled up under my old dodger. What I am considering is a cedar strip design. It gives all sorts of possibilities for creating complex shapes. It is also a very light and strong form of construction. It would be bolted to the boat without the pathways for water to enter under it. It would also have solid hand rails, a mount for a solar panel, cockpit dome light and built in stowage for all sorts of things. The center window would have to open for ventilation but the sides would be shorter or have canvas extensions. With really secure hand rails the dodger would actually add to safety in the cockpit and going forward rather than make it more difficult. The whole affair would be glassed and painted so as to keep it cool in the summer and not add to maintenance.

I am considering working with some mock ups to get the look and fit right. If I do manage to get this done I will post some pictures.

I would never want to give up the dodger except on those rare days when the sun is not too hot or the wind and waves are not too cold.

You just don't get that many Goldilocks days where things are just right.

I don't consider myself a wimp but I do like my dodger, Steve.

[rtbates]

We have a full dodger on our 25D. Seraph, and love it. By full, I mean that it covers the entire cabin top aft of the companion way, not just the companion way

[Troy Scott]

Steve L,

I'm with you. I really like the idea of an excellent hard dodger that suits the boat. The cedar strip idea is good, and similar to the foam cored fiberglass method I've thought about.

How would you design the removable center window? I've thought about flexible lexan or acrylic within a canvas "frame" that would then attach to the hard dodger using the same little twist fasteners that soft dodgers use to attach to the cabin top. But that retains a feature of soft dodgers that I don't like. There must be a better way....