Making a Hard Dodger

Last summer I replaced Sedna's canvas dodger with one made of marine plywood.

I began by cutting the arc that I wanted in two lengths of 1"x12" pine.  I made a temporary box frame with these boards and 1"x2" boards for the sides.  I then screwed a rectangular piece of 1/4" marine plywood to the arc of the frame starting at the center line and working out to the sides.

I attached temporary legs to the corners of the frame.  Adjusting and trimming the legs, I was able to position the frame over Sedna's existing windscreen.  Webbing attached to the boat held everything in place.                                                                                                                                                                                       I heated up water in my electric kettle and poured the water over the bent plywood.  The idea was to "steam bend the arc into the plywood" dried to minimize springback when the frame was removed later.

Next, I went underneath the top and cut cardboard templates for the permanent frames that would attach to the existing aluminum windscreen frame.

The templates were trimmed to fit and labeled.                                                                                                                                               




Plywood panels were cut out to match the templates.  The panel edges were cut and shaved to fit flush with a hand plane.













Pieces of Z profile aluminum were bolted to the marine ply frame panels... then bolted to the existing aluminum windscreen frames.















The plywood panels were wired together in the stitch and glue boat building technique...


















The panels were then fiberglassed, taped, glassed more, sanded, sanded. and sanded.










The top was trimmed to be 3-4" outside the frame panels











A 3" wide stiffener strip was epoxied to the aft edge.  This strip will also help divert rain away from the cockpit.

Then more sanding, sanding, and sanding.




Finish roll and brushed with Interlux Brightside polyurethane topside paint... 

Winter was coming so I covered the project and this coming spring will add more paint and the handrails.

Settee Rebuild

Sedna has a Cole brand wood stove on her saloon bulkhead.  It's a warming delight in the winter, but presents a couple issues that after 6 years I decided to fix.

First issue is that the stove sticks into the settee about 8 inches and is a real head bonker.

Secondly, ashes drop down on the settee cushion creating a mess and potential fire hazard.



So I decided to put a shelf/mantel/hearth under the stove to catch ashes and move the seat back away.






First I needed to demo the existing Settee while destroying as little of the beautiful mahogany as possible.  This was made easier by my reciprocating saw (seen here on the bilge) and removing screws piece by piece with care.

Sedna's bilge looks shallow because the potable water tank runs above the keel and fits a mere 2 inches below the sole boards.  There's a 3'x3'x4' deep well fore the companionway and aft the water tanks.  I sucked that dry and will repaint it.

Next, I checked for damage and painted the inside of the hull, bilge, and battery compartment while all the clutter was out... 

I removed the steel cover, cleaned, and flushed out the potable water tank...

After shortening the settee panel 9", I inserted a shelf under the wood stove. 

I re-positioned the settee back to fit on the face of the shelf and also be movable to leave a foot cubby-hole for my taller guests.  When done, i stored blankets and pillows in the cubby.

Here is a shot with the panel positioned for a sleeping giant.

Tube Plugs

Not perfect, but recently I needed to plug 5/8" tubes to replace my water heater on Sedna.

While at it, I needed to spread a little caulking and didn't want it on my fingers... so I covered my index finger with tape 

Sail Repair

Be prepared for sail repairs at sea with these supplies...

1. Roll of sticky-back Dacron sailcloth about 4 inches wide for fixing small tears along seams.
2. 6+ sq yds of Dacron sticky-back sailcloth (w/ rounded corners) for larger repairs or chafe patches...
3. Webbing to replace a clew.
4. Stainless steel rings to replace a grommet.
5. Heavy sail needles and strong thread or nylon sail twine. a sewing palm, and pliers.

Micro by Shop Vac (R)

Meet my new friend Mic, yeah he sucks but wet or dry he's there for me. Compact and light... Total impulse buy, think I paid $25 on sale.  

Right away I threw away the paper filter and used the foam sleeve filter. 
























When I need more filtration, I cut off some old pantyhose and stretch a leg over the foam filter. 

A  strip of inner tube makes a large rubber band to hold the pantyhose over the foam filter.

Wet vac is great for cleaning out the 4 foot deep bilge well...

Columbia River Day Sails and Tomahawk bay Marina

I just wanted to post a few pictures of the river at various times of day... If you see buildings with lights, I'm probably looking west... Mt Hood is up river due east.  That's the November 14, 2016 Perigee Super Moon at the bottom. The closest the moon has been to the earth since 1948 and until November 2034.

Clear Companionway Hanging Cover

It gets pretty dark in Oregon during the winter.  If the late sunrise and early sunset isn't enough, we get an average of 39" rainfall per year which means grey clouds and the sun AWOL for days at a time.  During mosquito season this summer I installed a hanging screen for the companionway by screwing a snap on top of each side of the companionway hatch.



That screen worked so well, that I recently went to TAP Plastics and bought a sheet of 20mm clear acrylic. The sheet has snaps on each upper corner for attaching to the hatch.














The clear sheet simply hangs down over the companionway.

The 20mm sheet is heavy enough to lay flat, yet light enough to easily roll up of flop up onto the hatch.

On the right is a view into the cabin when it is dark outside.





Below is the view of the light yet rainy cockpit... It helps that Sedna has a fully enclosed cockpit.