Dodger design

[John B]

Great job, very smart.

[Mike1902]

Very cool Rick, blending in nicely.

[Neil C]

Looks great.



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[Stiletto]

Nice!

[RFNK]

Thanks everyone! Posts get glued on tomorrow, then the whole thing gets brought home AGAIN! for finishing.

Current dilemma is trying to work out what solar panels to put on it. Solbian seem best but very expensive and I wonder whether I really need to spend sooo much!

[RFNK]

Phew! Finally got the dodger interior ready to undercoat

IMG_20230324_132736096_HDR.jpg

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For undercoat, I'll use Jotun Penguard which is a two pack epoxy hi-build primer. It's horrible stuff to put on as it stinks very strongly and dissolves foam rollers quickly. But once dry, it's a great primer as it dries hard, like chalk, but sands easily as long as you sand it within a few days. Other hi-build primers I've tried seem to be too gluggy and just clog up the sandpaper.

To fix any little scratches and dents, once the primer is sanded, I'll use polyester body filler as it sets really quickly. I'll paint the interior with Awlgrip but not until I've done 1 more fitting to locate fasteners and sealant.

[RFNK]

Still fairing and painting. The inside's been painted with poly two-pack, Altex. It was primed with Jotun Penguard. Now I'm doing the outside. It's been faired with epoxy and filler and is now getting close to completion with Penguard. To prepare the high-build primer for finishing, I use a 3M guide coat. It's a black powder that you wipe on and then sand off. The powder stays in any low spots so when it's all gone, it's flat as long as you're keeping sanders and blocks fairly flat. This is how it looks as you go:

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[John B]

I think I can see a spot.......
Very nice.

[RFNK]

There's always another spot ....

I also had two 100w solar panels delivered. I'm glad I didn't go any bigger as they only just fit. They're not the very exxy Solbian ones but the next best thing. They have a non-skid surface and should be okay to walk on as long as I don't wear high heels. They'll be stuck on with 1mm double-sided tape.

I've also decided on the handrails. There'll be a laminated, solid teak grip rail running across the back for a handhold and water barrier. And there'll be two traditional teak handrails on the sides. I want the thing to look like it belongs. The handrails will all be fastened with sealant and screws, not glassed on. I want them to be removable.

[John B]

I probably need to change my solar panels, they've been on since 2015 and technology has radically improved since then . At the time it was pretty easy to get them with the junctions on the back, so they went in a trough and the panels taped on. Now all I see have the connections on the top.

[RFNK]

It seems they're all on the top so that's the next challenge - how to sort of hide them or integrate them in some way that isn't hideous. And getting the cables down inside too. We need Bluetooth panels.

[RFNK]

This is the moulding of the handrail that runs along the back of the dodger. It's just four strips of teak, laminated with epoxy.

IMG_20230515_123741308.jpg

The sides of the roof are held down with a couple of props and the middle is jacked up to decrease the radius. This is to allow for a bit of spring back in the laminated rail so that when it's fitted, it shouldn't flatten out the curve in the roof too much.

I also made the side handrails but they're cut out of solid timber

IMG_20230515_123906774.jpg

I won't fit the side handrails yet as I want to see how it all looks on the boat and try some different positions.

[WX]

This is the moulding of the handrail that runs along the back of the dodger. It's just four strips of teak, laminated with epoxy.

IMG_20230515_123741308.jpg

The sides of the roof are held down with a couple of props and the middle is jacked up to decrease the radius. This is to allow for a bit of spring back in the laminated rail so that when it's fitted, it shouldn't flatten out the curve in the roof too much.

I also made the side handrails but they're cut out of solid timber

IMG_20230515_123906774.jpg

I won't fit the side handrails yet as I want to see how it all looks on the boat and try some different positions.

Nice.

[John B]

Curved handrails no less.
Hopefully its changed by now but I've not had success with those solar connectors. Maybe my chandlery was just stocking a crap brand but they were very poorly made and I ended up chopping them off, direct wiring the things.

[RFNK]

I have them on the other two panels that I have winged out off the pushpit and they've been fine. But I won't be using them on the roof as I want to keep it all clutter free, so I'll chop them off and just splice wiring on too.

[WX]

Curved handrails no less.
Hopefully its changed by now but I've not had success with those solar connectors. Maybe my chandlery was just stocking a crap brand but they were very poorly made and I ended up chopping them off, direct wiring the things.

I have to admit, I did admire them as well.

[RFNK]

Thanks! They weren't all that hard to make. I made a plywood template of the curve and screwed that to a block of teak. Then I cut the blanks out with the bandsaw and cleaned them up with a big (long) flush bearing router bit. Then I drilled each end of the gaps with a Forstner bit and cut the gaps out with a jigsaw. I rounded whatever I could with a rounding bit in a trimmer and did the rest with sandpaper. Teak is soft so it sands easily.