Hard Dodgers - good, bad, or ugly???

[Arcanum]

My Father in Law has a Hunter 460 and we are thinking of getting him a hard dodger for his 75th Bday. Anyone have experience they would care to share on these conversions? Costs, things to consider, etc. Were you happy that you had one made???

[denverd0n]

Personally, I would get a hard-top bimini before I would get a hard dodger, but to each his own.

[David_Old_Jersey]

If I recall correctly one of the guys here makes hard dodgers for a living (hobby?!), there is a thread around here somewhere! - he also had a website.......

.........found it

Picasa Web Albums - Steve - Hard dodgers ...


And the thread I was thinking of:-

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...er-8814-2.html

[SkiprJohn]

They are only ugly until you are out in a blow and hiding behind it.
JohnL

[Karletto]

hard dodger are ugly but very useful

[Vasco]

They aren't all ugly. Take a look at these. I'd love one.
TARTAROOGA (tm) HARD DODGERS

I like the looks, and the functionality. May be my old age I am getting soft, but I sure like being out of the weather when I can.
They are great for mounting things like solar panels, and they are only ugly if they are built that way. If you have one built custom, it will look like what ever you want it to. Some of the draw backs are limited air flow, but this can be addressed by using removable window, or even soft zip out windows. I would suggest looking on sites such as Yachtworld.com for similar boats with a hard dodger, so you can get a visual idea of what looks good to you.

[Patrick_DeepPlaya]

When I opened this thread I was thinking it was going to be about built-on hard dodger something made of wood and fiberglass and heldfast to the cabin top with same. Did you mean that or the standard 1" stainless tubing dodger with a hard top attached to it?

[Arcanum]

Helpful answers. Thinking of the custom fiberglass top with the stratglass or other hard glass. I am hearing prices to build out around $4-6k. Also have heard that there is a "kit" for Catalina yachts but have not heard of it for other brands.

[Boracay]

I am currently putting a hard dodger on Boracay. It has taken longer and been much trickier than anticipated. Progress picture on my Blog.

The main problems are that there is no exact centreline, and the whole thing is sitting up in mid air. All support pillars have to be "exactly" parallel to each other so that the glazing will fit.

I had stainless mounting plates welded into place.

I made the mistake of building the sides first, then the top, then the front. Side front windows still to go.

If I was to do it again (Gods' forbid) I would build a temporary central structure, then the front, top, sides and side front windows.