Hard Dodger

[P69]

I made my hard dodger out of 1" Airex and 2 layers of 1708 exterior and interior with epoxy resin. Painted with 1 part polyurethane.

Dodger is positioned on coach roof around a flange that is glassed to the coach roof. This flange keeps the dodger from moving around and six bolts secure it to the flange (3 on each side). I didn't glass dodger to coachroof because I want it removable and didn't want it to tear the coach roof apart if a wave carried the dodger away.

Acrylic windows are stuck to the outside surface with 3M VHB tape and Dow 791 sealant to cover up the crude edge of the VHB and cover the edges of the acrylic panels to prevent sunlight from penetrating the edge. The forward-facing window is hinged with an acrylic hinge. Dome is clear acrylic fastened with Dow 791 only and it's positioned directly above the companionway steps so I can stand on the 2nd step and see through the dome.

Traveler is on its own stainless steel structure that is independent of the dodger and through bolted to reinforced sections of the cockpit coaming and coach roof. Tubes are made of 1.25" schedule 40 pipe, 316 SS. One design criterion is that I need to be able to trim the main if the dodger were not in place. I also did not want the loads from the main sheet tear the dodger away.

Perimeter of dodger roof has a dam to capture rain water, which drains through threaded holes at the forward corners. When needed, I screw threaded hose barbs into those holes and connect to drain hoses --> buckets.

I used 3/4" x 3/4" sticks to get the basic design structure, then added 1/8" plywood to finalize the design. Once satisfied, I screwed the Airex to the wood mold and tacked the corners and joints with fiberglass. Removed the screws and applied the 2 layers of 1708 to the exterior. Flipped it over, removed the wood, then routed out passageway for wires. Following that, I added the 2 layers to the inside. After several days of fairing inside and out, I added light fixtures (then removed). Final step was to apply paint and reinstall fixtures.

Aires was very bendy and difficult to shape with sand paper. Divinycell might have been a better choice. I tried using 1700 (no mat, but that was a nightmare to work with because it fell apart during dry fit and wet-out. I went back to 1708, which I think took more resin. Overall the dodger doesn't flex, I can stand on it, but takes two people to move it because of it's size. It's slightly heavier than I can lift, but I never weighed it.

The most time-consuming process was the design; it took months of sketches (paper and on computer) and modeling on board with sticks. I wanted to make sure it didn't look like crap and tried to ensure that it blended in with the boat. Slopes forward and that sight line intersects the bow. The height above the cockpit sole is such that I can stand and see over the top. Previous cloth dodger was higher and I hated looking through dirty windows.

I added the PDF diagrams of the windows.

More pictures: https://bodylens.com/sailboat/index.php?album=Hard-Dodger

[SVJourney]

Nice work!  And good post.  It is great that others can see what can be done and a detailed way to do it here. The link pictures give a good idea of job progression.
Do you have a guesstimate of material costs?
Did you happen to make paper patterns or dimension drawings after you finalized your wood mold?
Cheers,
Wayne

[P69]

Wayne,
I didn't keep detailed records, but going back through receipts and memory, it probably cost between $2500 and $3000. Likely closer to or above $3000 when one factors in misc supplies and electrical/lighting. I installed lights in the dodger's overhead also.

Unfortunately, I don't have any drawings.  Even if I made drawings after wood mock up was finalized, those drawings would be invalid because I made further modifications after the fiberglass was laid up, but before fairing it out.  The fore/aft corners were too sharp, so I cut them to make a more rounded corner.


Rough breakdown of major components:

• 1708: Around 30 yards (50" wide rolls) (~ $9/yard @ USComposites (shipping rolled into that $9 price)
• Airex: 3 sheets (@ $200/sheet)
• Epoxy: 6 or 8 gallons (RakaEpoxy)
• Acrylic Windows (precut, delivered): $400
• Dome: $120
• VHB tape for windows: ?
• Dow 795: 3 rolls?
• Paint: 1/2 gallon primer, 1 gallon top coat (one part polyurethane
• Misc 2x4 and thin plywood