As anyone who has been reading for a while knows, the boat came with a pretty crappy pre-fab dodger that I installed soon after I found it in a locker, and then removed just before Swiftsure 2017 in an ill-conceived attempt to make us look ‘more racey’. And also because it was too high and blocked the boom from being able to be pulled down fully with the mainsheet while beating.
I decided not to put it back on as it was ‘pretty garbage’ in the words of my friend, and then the rest of the entries since then have been me moaning about not having a dodger, planning to build a dodger, and then coming up with excuses why I haven’t built a dodger.
In the end I decided that with the boat in Mexico I may as well get one made while I’m not there. So behold – the hard top of the dodger. The canvas sides/front I’ll get done when I go back down and am in Mazatlan for the month of October. I’ve done some calculations and I can fit two 100W semi-flex solar panels on top, and I am also going to get some handholds added onto the side. The one thing I’m worried about is I think it’s positioned too far forward and may interfere with one of the mainsheet bails – we will see.
Also the random tshirts lying around are to protect the lines from the sun, not because I’m a slob (I am a slob though)
Nice addition! My hard dodger extends over the cockpit and I love it. I’d prefer a pilot house but that didn’t pan out so this is the next best thing. I also have solar panels on top which means no moon roof with easy line of sight to the main sail but that is a minor detail. Now I just need to install rod holders.
I think I’m going to try to have some kind of soft bimini on a roller from my solar arch that connects to the dodger, mostly for shade at anchor.