Adding a "pilot house" dodger?

[thompsonisland]

Is there a dodger set up that can shelter the wheel in foul weather? I don't want a pilot house most of the time, but there sure are moments...

[J Clark H356]

Get a full enclosure. You can remove or enclose based on conditions. I have sailed in 30 knot winds, 40 degrees inside my enclosure on a sunny day in a sweatshirt. It can be very comfortable.

[thompsonisland]

In a big blow, does that add scary surface area? With a pilot house, the wheel is further forward, so the house is shorter than what we would have on our enormous cockpit. I would imagine it would be for spring or fall passages, primarily, at least at this point.

[J Clark H356]

We don't usually have big blows on Kentucky Lake, but we have had hurricane force winds with Ike and this spring had 59 knot gusts. Both times we were in the slip and my enclosure has been off during those events. I start sailing in March and sail through November. Enclosure comes off early to mid May and goes on early to mid October. I get at least 2 months more season than most people on KY Lake with my set up.

[Eddiefuego]

J Clark, what does a setup like yours cost? Ballpark is good. Full enclosure with ...i assume...screens?
thanks

[J Clark H356]

I spent $12,000 for the dodger, bimini and enclosure in 2003. My memory says the enclosure panels were about 3 to 4M. It was made of mostly stratiglas and the heavy duty Sunbrella and sewed with goretex thread. It is first class and I have had very little maintenance on it. We are completeing our 10th season and I leave the bimini and dodger on year round and the enclosure panels on from mid October to early to mid May depending on the spring weather and rains. The windows zip open and I didn't get the screens. For our area, we stay down below with the HVAC on at night when the bugs are bad. We have a generator and use it all the time away from the dock.

[thompsonisland]

I'm wondering how we would design something like that to accommodate our jib sheets and main sheet.

[Eddiefuego]

Thank you J.C. ...that is a beautiful outfit. Is 12K$ a reasonable number for today?
E

[CarinaPDX]

If you buy a full canvas enclosure and go cruising you will probably find that you never, or rarely, take the front down and rarely put the back up except when moored. I started with a full canvas enclosure and changed to a rigid permanent dodger over the companionway and the very front of the cockpit. The rest is still a canvas cover. The stern vertical section only goes up for the off season. Of course it depends on the boat, where/when it is cruised, and the owner's preferences.

$12k sounds like a heck of a lot of money to pay for that - you can almost buy a new small car for that money. That said, expect to pay thousands, and quality in dodgers does not come cheap: better materials and skilled labor cost more than a cheap job.

Greg

[J Clark H356]

I would say where I am, It would cost over 12 today. We have one of the best canvas makers in the country in Grand Rivers and his quality is outstanding (Creative Canvas). Carina is right about never removing the dodger. Mine has a front panel that zips up on both sides and in hot weather I keep it rolled up except when it is raining. The rear center panel stays rolled up except when it is really cold or I am running downwind with a high wind and want to keep the wind off my back. My side panels just to the rear of the dodger stay on all year and are rolled up most of the time in the summer.

Thompsonisland asked about jib and main sheets. On my hunter 356 all the sheets run to blocks on the deck and into the cockpit. There are holes for the sheets through the bottom of the dodger. I put a small block on one of the vertical dodger supports and changed my furler line so I could attach it to my winch. It just runs under the side panels of the dodger. I have lines attached to the center of the vang and run through the center of the mid ship cleat and then back and under the side of each dodger panel. I use those two lines as preventers and attach them to a winch on the preventer side. I can control the boom and the preventer easily with that arrangement when running.

Some people prefer dodgers that are lower and more aerodynamic, but I prefer to have the full headroom my setup has. i don't have to duck to go down below. I have found my setup to be just about ideal for me. If I were doing it over, I would change very little.