Went to the boat last night after a trip to Downwind Marine for some sponge brushes and jack line .
Got to the boat and saw the new dodger was up.
The dodger and spacer look good. It all looks handsome enough. Not gorki looking at all. I was a little worried the sand color on the inside would look to weird with the white inside on some of the trim. The sand color looks fine, at least to me.
There are places that I like to see better attention to detail.
Some large space by side window handles, could be tighter.
The straps that hold the center window look too long.
A cover over forward solar panel brackets.
One zipper does not close all the way.
And some more etc.
All in all it is nice and will make life nicer on the boat.
We chose not to have the side panel windows come all the way down on the side.
Next year we will get new sails and a stack pack. It will be white also and that will add to the flow of the white on the boat.
We will be on the boat for the next ten days so we will water test the dodger out (sea trials) before we decide on any final changes.
We designed the dodger so all the windows come off leaving one big bimini.
The windows are a nice size and can easily be stored away.
The center window can be rolled up or simply removed all together as with the rest.
The lines from the traveler come through the window zippers so there is not any slits cut into the windows.
It is taking a bit of getting used to having the dodger there on the boat. At least the vinyl covering .
Today Debbie is exploring getting cam cleats that attach to the traveler. She will be at Sailing Supply later and to Ullman Sailes to pick up the traveler lines from sewing. She has the day off, I am jealous.
It may be my installation of the solar panel was not well done. It may have been better to have had two handles made for mounting on top of the dodger. This way the handles would have a stud that would go right through the dodger frame and canvas. Make the handles for the correct placement of the panel, then have the dodger made then install the handles and mount the solar panel on top of the handles. Could do the same mounting as I have done just use handles instead of the brackets. It is never too late to change the setup but it would have been easier to do it from the start. I am not convinced I need to change the setup yet though. I guess the other reason was the handles are expensive. I had one quote of $500.00. I would think that could be reduced by a lot though. That place also quoted the dodger frame at about twice what I paid. Any way sta tuned and we will see if I go a different route at a later time.
Did you have your dodger custom made or do it yourself?
ReplyDeleteThe dodger/bikini was custom built - we worked on the design with Todd at San Diego Canvas. We purchased the fabric and told Todd what we wanted in functionality. He did an excellent job!
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