Hard Dodger

[nopenowaydude]

Hi all,

I wanted to share this Hard Dodger mod with the forum since I am sure many of you have searched for a good dodger solution for the Mac. I too searched all over for a dodger that would fit the bill but was never really satisfied with what was out there so I built my own hard dodger out of marine ply and epoxy. I am really happy with how it turned out and the protection, visibility, and extra shaded headroom it provides.

Built this onsite with the boat in its slip, first framing it out, then cutting the individual pieces, routing the window inlays, cutting the sliding hatch pass-thru, epoxying and clamping everything together, then took it home to the garage for sanding, epoxy sealing, more sanding, painting, and stainless hardware installs.

Front window on stainless hinges lets air through to the cockpit when desired, otherwise this dodger cuts down on wind and spray dramatically and allows much more headroom standing at the galley and at the base of the companionway steps. Sliding hatch passes directly through the bottom frame but the gap is minimal so everything stays dry. Best upgrade I have done to the boat - and I have done many...





I have a bristol 2003 26x (original owner) that has been heavily upgraded for sale if you guys know anyone interested:
https://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/b ... 85105.html

[DaveC426913]

Those links are to pages, not images. probably used the link tag.

Anyway...

Cool.

Do you find it affects sailing at all? e.g. how you operate the mainsheet/vang/boom?

[ecossebob]

That's a very interesting mod. Can you tell me.
1. Are all the windows glass and is only the windshield moveable?.
2. What are the dimensions height etc and is there interference with the boom?.
3. Is hard top permanent?.
4. I see hand rails on the top deck. How do you get to the bow, through the hatch or climb over the hardtop?.
5. How do you raise and lower the mast, does it clear the top?.
Any other info would be helpful. By the way great job.
Thanks Bob.

[tching911]

Nice job.

[BOAT]

I saw this in the mods and I begged "no way dude" to post it on the forum - it's the first attempt I have seen at a pilot house for the Mac - I really really really want a hard shell pilothouse to put on my M boat for heavy weather sailing - I too am going to attempt a removable hard dodger because I think it is a must for sailing over 100 miles from shore. I got a lot of ideas from this one.

Anyone else thinking of making one of these?

I hope to start on one soon. Thanks for the post!

[bwygirl]

That looks very nice! Understand that in an emergency if you need to get forward, to untangle that jib sheet for instance, you will need to run inside and go through the bow hatch. Is that correct? Other than that it looks great! Not sure if the mainsheet will have the angle it needs, but maybe. Also, the weight of it is a concern if you need to take it off to trailer the boat.

[BOAT]

He has an X boat so the pilot house does not interfere at all with the main-sheet. On the M boat there would be an issue because of the traveler - (I'm noodling on a solution for that) - in heavy sea or really ANYTIME your far out at sea it's really safer to go through the cabin to get to the fore-deck than to scramble across the top of the cabin - if your solo sailing that is the ONLY way you should go forward.

As for the weight - it's not trailering that would concern me but sailing: I am always concerned about weight on the deck - that one might be very light for all I know - but the one I am in the process of designing will be very light, one piece, and easy to put on and take off. Much like the hard top for a T-bird convertible car. So far I'm leaning towards a fiberglass shell

I think the design in the pictures is really innovative and looks really nautical in a traditional way.

[Highlander]

I saw this in the mods and I begged "no way dude" to post it on the forum - it's the first attempt I have seen at a pilot house for the Mac - I really really really want a hard shell pilothouse to put on my M boat for heavy weather sailing - I too am going to attempt a removable hard dodger because I think it is a must for sailing over 100 miles from shore. I got a lot of ideas from this one.

Anyone else thinking of making one of these?

I hope to start on one soon. Thanks for the post!

Mark
I do not like this mod it takes away the stream line of the boat makes it look like a commercial tug or work boat does not allow u access to the bow unless u r a monkey
Also wondering why he went to all that bother to make this Mod & then put the boat up for sale !!
Now the one u posted earlier was sleek & also followed the the boats original sleek lines
now if it could b made as a 4 piece sectional unit for ease of moving & on board storing . left side & right side section , center section & the forth being the roof . what do u think of that Idea
looin forward to see how u make this
http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u63 ... 17ncgh.png

This is ur design & the best I,ve seen yet

J
PS when I get a chance I measure the height of my dodger because I think if u lower the front roof height by 1/2" u would not have to remove it to lower the mast for trailering but I,d have to check for sure & SS handles on top would b great for going forward , but they may need to be mounted on the side so as not to interfere with the boom

[sailboatmike]

Ummm not my cuppa tea, but I dont have to live with it (thank god).

The X is a brutally beautiful boat, anything that ruins her lines is a abomination in my book, I would like a dodger as my sailing area is renown for very short, very steep chop, so we get shower then the bow drops over the first wave in the set and we take the next one on the way up.

[BOAT]

Well John, I know his design is more traditional but still I wanted to encourage him. I also want to expose the fact that this is a real thing that people would be willing to buy. (BWY, hint hint )
It is, like you said: all about coming up with the right design. Now, 'no way dudes' design is very generic and would be fine as a generic dodger. I wanted a dodger that was a little smaller and lighter and more "MAC" looking so that was why I designed this one:



And I will be needing to make this out fiberglass with molded in windows so it's going to be a lot harder to fabricate (for me) although if we had any folks here on the site that were surfboard shapers or glass shapers they could probably knock out my design in a few hours. The guys that make the parts for BWY could make molds for it in about two days but molds are expensive and they won't do it unless they have 10 or 20 orders up front.

(I was hoping to spark some interest in the entrepreneurial spirit of some MAC parts dealers like say BWY? hint hint hint

These are not really a "pilothouse" they are really a campanionway fairing and they are very common in the open 60 class which has the same set up as the M boat - (an open cockpit and small companionway) - but in heavy sea you really need that fairing to get out of the water and you need it to keep the sea out of the companionway - and in the open 60 class they make some really nice designs that cover the companionway and give the skipper protection from the waves:





My idea was to also add a tiller below decks (VERY easy to do - just extend one of the tiller arms) so that it was possible to sail the boat from inside the companionway - thus making the dodger a "Pilothouse" Much like the MAC 65 pilothouse version (probably one of the most comfortable boat's you can take through a storm) See pic in next post:

below

[BOAT]

I read several ships logs online from skippers that chartered the 65 across the Pacific, Atlantic, and even the North Sea and they all say it's the most comfortable sail through a storm they have ever experienced. The boat cut's through the waves like a submarine and does not pitch or hobby horse like wider boats do and the skippers really brag about how easy their passengers can navigate the narrow cabins in the worst storms because the boat is so narrow unlike wide boats that make the passengers crawl up hill to get from one side of the boat to the other.

But most of all the Skippers like the comfortable pilothouse that allows them to steer and sail the boat in the worst weather while they stay high and dry and warm and having the pilothouse right over the galley is a big plus too because the skipper can get a hot cup of joe or a cheese sandwich without really taking his eye off the helm.

It's a great design for real open ocean sailing.

[Seapup]

Nice job on the hard dodger, looks very professional.

Anyone else thinking of making one of these?

I had a boring winter a few years ago I was living on the boat a couple nights a week and wanted to be able to stand when cooking and getting dressed for work, so built a raised hatch for headroom. It slid forward and back similar to the hatch. Since the hatch is so relatively huge on an I always thought a raised replacement sliding hatch would be a cool item. Slide off the factory hatch and on a taller one.

Mine was just an inexpensive test project. It did make the boat feel larger and much more comfortable for living aboard in the winter closed up, soon as spring came I ditched it though. It would have been useless for a green water dodger. Standard dodgers and enclosures seem pretty hard to beat for 99% of people trailer sailing.

[Tomfoolery]

One of the nice things, IMO at least, of S/V Delos (53 ft Amel Super Maramu) is the hard dodger, with soft extensions. Certainly beamier than the Mac 60 for it's length, but the center cockpit, hard dodger, and an extension should make for a dry ship in a storm, depending on where the wind and waves are hitting you of course.





Photos are not of Delos - they're just random pics I found. If I remember correctly, Delos has a shorter soft dodger extension than the one in the pic that they normally keep up, but it can be further extended I believe with half panels that go back to the mizzen mast.

[BOAT]

Nice, but still way too cold for me.

Yes, seapup is right and also seapup is in the right direction - I agree that this is not going to work for keeping out the water:



BUT, it's a nice start on an idea that seapup eluded to:

I always thought a raised replacement sliding hatch would be a cool item. Slide off the factory hatch and on a taller one.

BINGO!
That's exactly what I was starting to think too after I tried to make drawing for the one I was designing - I ran into trouble trying to incorporate the existing hatch as a sort of a "pop-up" to use as the top of the dodger but after making the drawing I realized it would not work and I went back to noodling in my brain.

The answer is indeed to remove the existing hatch. It would be easy to make a release of some kind on one side like a hinge or slot the slider so the top can be removed when it's at a certain spot or any number of ways that the slider top can be easily removed and replaced - it would be easy to make something that could do that and it will still look exactly like the original - I can do it - I could add a hidden fastener under one of the slider thingy (those white strips of plastic that look crappy on my boat because they have mold stains - been meaning to replace them anyway)

So it would be as easy as slide off the stock hatch and slide on the white water hatch and away you go - simple - so you only use the white water hatch or "pilot house" for going far out at sea or for more room when you living aboard for more than a few days.

I think people would buy it and it also make a great place in the boat to start on the inside hot water shower. (yet another mod coming)

[Tomfoolery]

The answer is indeed to remove the existing hatch. It would be easy to make a release of some kind on one side like a hinge or slot the slider so the top can be removed when it's at a certain spot or any number of ways that the slider top can be easily removed and replaced - it would be easy to make something that could do that and it will still look exactly like the original - I can do it - I could add a hidden fastener under one of the slider thingy (those white strips of plastic that look crappy on my boat because they have mold stains - been meaning to replace them anyway)

If I remember correctly from when I had mine off (by removing the upper track rails on each side), the only thing keeping the OEM hatch from pulling off toward the stern was the lip on the front of the sliding hatch. Make that a two-piece feature, easily removable, and the hatch will slide right off into the cockpit. That's the , of course, and I don't know how the is made, but it might give someone some ideas.