08/23/2009, League City, TX
I used 3/4 inch square teak sticks for stiffeners and 3/4 inch polystyrene pink foam insulation (from HomeDepot) for core material. You can bend the Pink foam with a heat gun. But, be careful, if the epoxy kicks (heats up) too hard it will melt the foam.
The PVC core material from fibreglass suppliers cost about 50$ per 4'x4' square. The Pink foam from HomeDepot is about $10. West system epoxy sticks to both.
I cut the teak from my broken bow sprit (as a result of the Oil Rig incident... previously blogged).
The fibreglass top at this stage weights only about 50lbs. The frame weighs about the same.
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08/23/2009, League City, TX
After the stainless steel bows were bent and test fitted, I could start making the fibreglass top. Yes, this will be a hard top dodger. We wanted something that we could grab ahold or lean on if needed.
So, I purchased some inexpensive cardboard insulated sheathing from McCoys Lumber. It was flexible yet flat. I added some wood slats to help stiffen my cardboard mold where needed. I clamped it to the frame to ensure that shape was correct.
I put mylar over the sheathing. Mylar is smooth and will release from West System Epoxy with the use of a heat gun.
Pictured above is after I removed the mylar and flipped the whole thing over in preparation for glassing in the core material to the top.
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08/23/2009, League City, TX
For those of you who regularly read our blogs you may have noticed that Nicki and I are too often wearing our foul weather gear. We have grown weary of sitting out and being totally exposed to the elements. Our bimini helps, but we really need a dodger. Sorry, we're not 'blood and guts' sailors... getting soaked and freezing our butts off gets old after about 12 hours.
Every dodger starts with the frame (a.k.a. bows). I needed a cheap and easy way to determine the proper size and shape of the stainless steel frame. So, I purchased some PVC pipe. It bends easy with a heat gun and is inexpensive, so that you can experiment cheaply.
After I got the right bow shape bent in PVC. I built a Jig, so that I could bend the stainless steel, without buying an expensive pipe bending machine. The Jig had to have angles that are about 30% sharper than the final product... so there is a little guesswork involved. My dodger requires 2 bows. I bent 4 10ft lengths of stainless steel pipe. Then I put in a 15 inch sleeve to join each pair to create two bows. Some cutting was required to get the proper lengths, but it was much easier and stronger than expected.
The jig has a 4x4 at the bottom with a 1 inch diameter hole. The 2x4s have 1 inch semi-circular holes on the edge to hold the pipe as it is bent.
1 inch Stainless Steel pipe can be bent in this Jig with 2 people (Nicki and I). No heat or other special equipment is required. There we no kinks or flat spots, but as you can see I designed bows that had a gradual bend rather than sharp bends.
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