CS20 spray dodger

[wkisting]

Seat tops to deck height is about 10", so the distance from the seat tops to the roof is about 32"--give or take a bit as you move forward or aft, plus an additional 3" if you move to the boat's centerline (I'll put some crown in the crossbeams). It's plenty for my wife to sit up, and just enough for me if I bend my head down (I'm 6' tall) or sit right on the centerline of the forward thwart. I'm trying to keep it as small as possible. The hard dodger I threw together a year or two ago was only 24" above the seat tops (shoulder height) and it worked very well for shading our daughter, but now that we've extended our masts for better clearance under the sails, Anna wants something she can get under for shelter also.

I think I've managed to put together a bending jig that will do the trick... About $50 and 6 hours of time. Half the cost was for the 7/8" round nose router bit, and the rest was for miscellaneous bolts, nuts, and a small sheet of plywood.

[PinoyPiper]

cool! I was thinking the same for my wife as well, she's only 5'2" so plenty of room for her. will follow your lead and do the same for my 17 in a year or so. will you be posting details of this on your website as well?

[wkisting]

Yep, I'll try to do a write-up for the website after I finish the dodger. There are a few useful articles on tube bending and dodger design online, but none that quite have the level of detail I was looking for. I'll try to write up a detailed report once I have my questions all sorted out.

[Edit to add: Sorry, Dave, I overlooked your post. From what I've read, a 90-degree angle between bows is optimal for fabric tension. It equalizes the two forces needed to stretch the fabric (upward, to stretch the front panel, and aftward to stretch the roof). In practice, I don't know how much it matters, but since I've never designed a dodger, I tried to stay reasonably close to that. Based on my shallow understanding of geometry, I think you wouldn't want the angle between bows to be less than 60 degrees or you would probably end up with a sag in the fabric (or need a lot of tension in the straps to remedy it).]

[wkisting]

Well, happy to report that the homemade bender works great! No kinks, wrinkles, or other irregularities. Just a nice, smooth radius. The picture shows the four legs I bent tonight. I bent one piece, measured the resulting angle carefully, then re-calibrated my angle marks on the bender (to adjust for springback). After that, it was as easy as turning to the same mark each time... it puts the same bend in exactly the same place for each piece.

I'm relieved because I kept reading/hearing anecdotes from others that suggested bending would be hard or the results would be inconsistent. Very glad I listened to the few who encouraged me instead. It'll probably take a few more hours to make certain the corresponding bends in the crossbeams (to put some crown in the roof) all add up correctly and symmetrically to the desired angles, but I think this project is going to turn out much easier than I worried it might.

[ecgossett]

You did everything right... The big thing is to always measure, measure, measure!! As long as you hit the same marks, and the middle goes in the same place, and clamp is in same place on ridge you are always good. We always do the crown and bends based off the natural curve of the piping.

On boats the angle for us usually isn't important because customers want the dodger in specific places and just want it to "work", while meeting there imagined requirements. A few times we've put up frames and covered with pattern material and new holes for base get drilled and frame moved because someone realizes they don't want to bend as much coming out of boat hatch or it overhangs cockpit more then thought..

With binimi's the chief thing is no one every thinks about seeing the sails, or thinks a little window will do the trick. I've talked a lot more customers into splitting binimi in half and having two sets of bows, that way one half can come down when sailing for easier views of sails.

[wkisting]

Last part I was worried about was how tricky it might be to match the crown in the crossbeams to the angled sides for the correct overall dimensions. But I got lucky and it came out right on the first try. Here's the first complete bow. One more to go.

I won't know how much to adjust the overall height until I order the fittings next month, but so far, this really has not been difficult. Hardest part is hacksawing through the tubing in a hot, humid garage... which really isn't bad either.

[ecgossett]

It's called a dremel!! Also recommend locktite for for set screws on hardware.

[tom151]

it came out right on the first try. Here's the first complete bow. One more to go.

Very nice, and I see that it's full standing headroom for some of the crew

[wkisting]

Plenty of room for Bella! Actually, the bow will be cut down a bit once I have the fittings. I want to see how much the attachment hardware will alter the dimensions before I do any cutting.

Several folks PM'd or e-mailed me with questions about the bender already, so I made this little video this morning in case others are going to attempt this...

Hope that helps!

[Joe Anderson]

Thanks Wes that was great. You are amazing.

I just need to think of some reason to bend some tubing.

[rattus]

This is coming from an *English* major?

Damn ;-)

I'm impressed!

Mike

[Doug Cameron]

Sorry to be so late with this, but here are some pictures of what I did on my boat:

http://capt-doug.blogspot.com/2012/02/completed-boat-work-on-core-sound-20.html

[Chick Ludwig]

I'll be using a standard bimini top from a marine supplier. I've used these on several boat. You can get one from West Marine or order one from any boat dealer. Get one made of Sunbrella fabric, the vinyl ones mildew WAY too much. Measure how wide you want it to fit on the side decks, and get the shortest (height) you can---about 36" to 39" if I remember right. There are only two heights available. You will have to cut down the length of the main tube to clear the sail. My CS-20 Mk-2 will have one.