Any ideas for a CS17 spray dodger?

[Dave Newell]

Gday All - Myself and a mate are the proud new owners of a second hand CS17 we bought in Sydney last week - I have long admired the design and almost got the plans myself a couple of years ago - so couldnt believe my luck when one came up for a very resonable price in the local trading post paper.

Im interested in making a dodger to provide shade and wind/spray protection for kids and less hardy passengers (my mum!). This boat has been built with a square finish to the cockpit coming - not nice and curved like the original plan - has anyone got/seen any plans or designs?

Thanks for the help - and I'm glad to be joining the B&B family! Been reading the postings with much interest. Will have the first sail tomorrow, weather permitting (raining a bit here at the moment - nice but need lots more to get out of this drought). Wish me luck with my first go at a cat ketch rig!

Cheers

DN

[Stump]

Congrats on your find 8) and welcome!!! I'm sure one of the folks here can give you a hand. I'm one of those other guys from the next forum over that kind of dip in here now and again for ideas that fit all boats. :wink: My guess would be you'd have to custom design to fit your coamings. Shouldn't be that hard though. Best of luck

[Scott Dufour]

Welcome to the club, Dave.

I've been thinking about the same issue for my CS17. I'm going to put the curved coaming on mine, but I do wan to set it up so I can put a spray dodger - convertable to a tent. Anybody out there got experience or designs?

Dave, do you know what hull number CS17 it is? Any history on it? (And of course, any pictures?)

Nice to have you here.

[Rob Blackburn]

I have just started on this for my CS 20 and have a photo at home on the computer I will send you. It is from the inside cover of this months Watercraft magazine and shows a cat ketch with a really good looking spray dodger and detachable cockpit cover that sort of continues up on gradually increasing hoop sizes if you can understand me.. Shall do it tonight.

Good luck with the boat. We are off up to Fraser Island on thursday in ours for one week of camping and whale watching.

Rob

[Designer]

Congratulations Dave, you have a great boat there. I too am now the proud new owner of CS17 # 34. She was buitifully built by my neibour Bill who is moving to New Mexico and is getting out of boating. While I did not build her I followed every step of her building and lent a hand here and there. She is the green hull at the bottom of the CS17 web page.

I am going to be making a dodger over the next few months for her and will post the progress.

We are going to the local wooden boat show at Plymouth NC tomorrow if any one from the area would like to visit.

Rob, a week at Fraser Island, I'm envious.

[Rob Blackburn]

It is a bit hard getting onto the computer here at home due to ebay mania but here is the piccies of the dodger/tent I like the look of.

http://homepage.mac.com/blackburns/Expeditions/PhotoAlbum78.html

It is in 2 parts which I like the look of and looks simple enough. What always puzzles me is how to attach it to the boat without buggering up the look of the boat with lots of ordinary deck fittings.

I was thinking you could get some small polished stainless fittings made to screw onto the coaming lip which you could have all the sharp edges rounded off. Then the hoops for the tent end would go in OK. But at the front with the dodger the only stuff I have seen is that used on speed boats and is big and clunky looking. Could be a business opportunity.

My latest project is a solar panel with gel batteries (off ebay of course) installed in a ply box with cigarette lighter plugs and a regulator to run the flouros at "base camp", air bed pump, chargers etc. A couple of Chinese hurricane lamps would be cheaper but you know how it feels when you have some sort of obsessive disorder...

Rob

[Ken_Potts]

I plan to make a tent for CS17 #121 by putting snaps on the underside of the rub rail. I'm currently working on the cockpit sides and the other night I had a bunch of parts clamped into place and a few pieces of scrap wood marking various points in space: The end of the deck, the end of the centerboard trunk, etc. and this boat looks like it will be the ultimate camper - better than any pickup truck I can think of

I think a dodger might be workable with the same sort of attachment. If you put snaps or those turning button things on the underside of the rub rails the dodger will be pulling against the snaps in a direction (up) that tends to keep them seated. The curve of the foredeck should help keep the front of the dodger snug against it. If that isn't good enough you could always use a semi-rigid batten (sewn into a pocket in the dodger) across the deck to keep the dodger in place or run a line from the middle of the bottom of the dodger to the base of the main mast to tension the leading edge.

There are some universal tent pole replacements (fiberglass/carbon fiber?) that can be had from outdoor supply places that might work as hoops to hold the dodger up but I haven't looked at them closely so I don't know if they can really handle a lot of wind pressure. They are probably a better solution than PVC pipe but I'm sure there is someone out there who has practical experience with either PVC or tent poles who can address the subject with more authority (This entire post is pure speculation).

I'm looking forward to the future posts on this thread because it will help me build my tent

[Dave Newell]

Wow! thanks for the warm welcome guys and the great info - i really feel like part of the "club" now. will let you know how the first sail went on a different thread. oh and my partner reminded me that this boat isnt owned by my mate and me but by the whole two families!

cheers

DN