Dodgers
By Dave and Jaja

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Hi again SetSail,

Can Dave give us a sense of how DRIVER's dodger is fastened to the boat? All of the canvas/dodger people to whom I have spoken where I live (Vancouver, Canada) only have experience installing them on fiberglass boats. Since the methods used are quite possibly different from glass boats, to be sure it's done properly on mine for offshore use, I thought it might be a good idea to ask him how it's done on theirs (I saw their boat dodger pic on the site). Are the fittings that hold the frame on the boat through-bolted to the deck? Or are the holes simply drilled and tapped (my deck is 1/4") --which means no need to remove inside liner panel to thread nuts on through-bolts? How about the bottom edges of the canvas: snapped to snaps screwed in to the deck, as on a glass boat? Or, are there alternative methods of fastening the canvas? And the BIG question: how to prevent leaks and thus, eventually, insidious rust through any holes drilled through the deck?...(We're reading Into the Light slowly, week by week, chapter by chapter for inspiration!)

Cheers, and thanks again, Jud B

The dodger on DRIVER is installed in the same fashion as on a fiberglass boat. But, instead of using sheet metal screws, I tapped holes in the deck and used 10-24 machine screws. These are sealed with silicon sealant.

Something I did (and it is something I would also do on a fiberglass boat) is I avoided using those annoying little male/female push-clips that dodger builders are so found of. The problem with those things is they aren't very strong, and they come unclipped easily if the load is pulling "up" instead of in "shear". They also permit water to seep under the dodger. If a big wave rumbles aboard, sea water will literally spray under the dodger and soak everything--worse yet, it will run down the companionway.

As I mentioned, I hold DRIVER's dodger mechanically to the deck with machine screws. However, to avoid having the dodger's fabric tear around the screw heads, I installed a 1 inch x 3/16 inch aluminum strip over dodger's bottom lip then ran the screws through the aluminum strip on 6-inch centers. Done in this manner, the fabric gets "sandwiched" between the deck and the aluminum. To make it waterproof, I put a bead of regular silicon between the fabric and the deck. The silicon also acts as glue and holds the fabric in place, making the dodger stronger (no hard spots).

Since I didn't like the look of the shiny aluminum strip on black fabric, I glued (with contact cement) black fabric over, and under, the strip to camouflage it. (Note: drill holes through the aluminum before covering, then poke holes in the fabric afterwards. Otherwise, the aluminum shavings gum up in the contact cement and get stuck under the fabric.)

Bye for now, Dave