Updating the Dodger - Modifying the Frame

Raising the existing Dodger Frame.

We're modifying the Frame in order raise the top of the Dodger so that Peggy (5'6") can see under it when stood at the Helm. It also has to be high enough that it does not obscure my (6'0") vision forwards. And it has to be low enough that the boom will not touch the top when the sail is slack, topping lift loose, Vang and main sheet taught.

Cut the Frame extender and Internal splints

2 x 12" 7/8" dia. Internal Splint Tubes
2 x 10" 1" dia. Extension Tube

I had an old 7/8" Bimini Frame that I have cut bits from for various projects over the past 8 years, and it's the right diameter for the splints. I used a 4" angle grinder with Metal cutting wheels to cut  2 pieces of 12" length. They will get inserted inside the 1" Frame tube and the Extension, then they'll get Riveted into the existing Frame. The Extension tube will probably be about 7" but I'll cut them to 10 inches and check the Boom clearance, then trim their length to fit.

From the 6' of new 1" SS tubing, cut 2 pieces of 10" length, these will become the extension of the main dodger frame, joined with the existing tube using the splint cut as mentioned above.








Remove the existing dodger canvas. 

We have done this several times, some for cleaning and restitching, and other times as part of our Hurricane preparation - Note to self: New Dodger canvas must be removable for Hurricane Prep.

This is a pic of the current Dodger, note how the leading edge of the canvas is responsible for the forwards tension, the thin line at the back of the side window provides the aft tension. Also note the Dodger Tubes are wrapped in a Boat Blanket material to stop the windows getting burnt in the South Florida Summer Sun.

Remove the Grab Rail and reconnect it to the inside of the dodger - the grab rail sets the distance between the Main (aft) and Forward Dodger tube rails.

Add the Frame extension.

Internal Splint Tubes inserted Loosly into Extension Tubes

Pretty simple, at least that's my vision on this part. Just disconnect the lower Cap end from each side of the Dodger frame, Insert the 10" length of tubing into the Cap ends, insert the 12" Internal Splint into both the new extension and the bottom of the old tube.

Reconnect the Cap end to the Deck Hinge and check the height of the Dodger for Boom clearance.

Cut down the new extension tube to get to the correct height.

Once the extension height is correct, Drill the tubes and splint for Riveting. (New Titanium Drill bits!)

Internal Splint & Extension Pop Riveted
with Stainless Steel Rivets.

To make life easier, I drilled the tubes on my home Drill Press. 
3/16" Drill with Extension in Drill vice, easy.

Pop Riveted the Splint to the Extension, solid!
The other two holes will be drilled down at the boat, I don't intend to bring the frame home just to drill 4 holes.
Finally, Attach the Stainless Steel Rail Mount Hinges to either of the Dodger side rails just below the Grab Rail attachment bolts. These will eventually be part of the connector for the new tubes that reach from the back of the new Dodger down to a new deck hinge. These tubes will replace the current piece of 1/8" cord that pulls the dodger frame aft. So the new Dodger will have a sturdy rail for crew to grab as they exit the cockpit.

Stbd side of the Dodger Frame before Modification

Close up of the Stbd Side Deck Hinge before Modifying the Frame

The Extension Internal Splint would not fit inside the
ends of the Frame. So, removed the Dodger Frame from
the Boat to take home. It hung over the back of my F150

The Outside Diameter of the Splint is just larger than the
Inside Dia of the Frame.
Hence the slot along the length of the Splint.

The Splint was still a really tight fit even with
the Slot, Here the Splint has been cut to 3.5" 

1st side Extension fitted. It's a really tight fit.
No need to rivet the Extension in place.

Considering I cut the Extension with a hand held
angle grinder, it's a pretty good fit.

Extension fitted, End Cap installed.

With the Extensions and End Caps installed on both ends of the Dodger Frame, it's time to take it back to the boat and adjust the length of the Extension with the boom in it's lowest position.

Plan is to head down to the boat on Monday to make that adjustment and to create the template for the new Dodger.

We'e hoping this goes pretty quick, but will probably take a couple of weeks. At least at this time of year (it's November 17th 2019) it's pretty cool in my Garage where I do all my sewing.

Let's see how that works out.

Making progress.

Updating the Dodger

It's due! Time to replace the Dodger

This project is going to take some time: It's the most challenging I've tackled so far. It's expensive - at least $650 (by my initial calculation, but look at the Materials page of the spreadsheet below)  dependent upon materials choice. And it's complex compared to everything I've sewn so far.

Why update it?

Old Dodger with 2 year old side windows.
Note front window folded open towards the center for ventilation.

Much of the stitching is failing, it no longer fits well - many of the snaps can no longer be used (material is probably 10-20 years old and has shrunk) and, most importantly, the top of the dodger is directly in Peggy's line of sight, so she has either to sit at the helm or stoop to see under it. I can easily see over it, but I still have to duck coming out or going into the cabin.

Step 1: Decide on the features we want.

• Dodger height increased - at least 6" but it can be raised as much as 7.5"
• Front window panel center opening for ventilation
• Add Dodger frame struts to replace existing lashing from aft of top to combing.
• Wear strips on Aft top edge of dodger (existing canvas has suffered for not having this)

Step 2: Raise the existing Dodger Frame.

• Add a Frame Extension to the bottom of the existing frame.
• Basically I'll remove the lower end Cap end of the main Dodger frame tube, insert a internal splint and add a new piece of 1" SS 316 tubing to the bottom and replace the end cap. Then make any adjustments before templating the new dodger (have to make sure the Boom will not touch the dodger when the sail is fully raised and the topping lift is slack)

Step 3: Follow Sailrite's example concept of templating the new canvas & windows

Step 4: Get down to the construction process - I'll detail that as I go.

Materials

Those prices are after a 10% discount as I purchased them during the Annapolis Boat Show special.
I had some of the binding left over from previous projects for Eximius, and a couple of yards of the Sunbrella and a couple of the zippers. 

With all of the materials at the ready, it's time to start on the project. But 1st, I need to go earn a few boat bucks!!! I'm sure I'll have some material left over, but still had to pay for it. It had better turn our really really well!!

I'll add new posts with pics as we (Peggy will have to help with some of the work - it's much easier to move all of this stuff around with two people involved, besides, this is catering to some of her needs (being able to see out of the dodger when it's raining)  ... at least, that's my story.

Existing Dodger - new side windows, bottom edge does not
reach the studs except for the front, the rear tensioning line
is not strong enough for someone to grab hold and they do!
The Grab rail is one of my additions, it's a huge help so they
will be incorporated in the new design.

Note the lower edge is not snapped in place. The Dodger tubes
are covered in boat blanket and the window was new a couple of
years ago, the old windows were crispy from being burnt by
contact with the tubing in the hot Florida Sunshine

The existing Dodger does not handle the running rigging lines
that now come back to the cockpit, the new Dodger will.

See you on the water!

Something Broke on the Boat

Does something have to break every time we take the boat out?

We took the boat out to Lake Boca a couple of weeks ago and noted that our Anchor light was not working, as things that could go wrong, this is not a biggy, but it does mean I need to go up the mast.

Ok, so I should have checked the circuit breaker 1st, but they rarely go bad. It didn't!

After recovering from the weekend, we both went down to the boat intent on fixing the Anchor Light.

Up the mast #1

With a Trip up the mast to see if it was just the Lamp or the wiring or the fitting. Turned out the fitting was in pieces from Sun Damage and the LED lamp was damaged, probably got wet while lit.

Mast Cap. The block with the empty connector is the old
Wind Transducer that was broken when we purchased
Eximius. The White cable under the connector is the
Anchor Light wire that slipped inside the mast.
The old Anchor Light was sealed with Silicone, but the
Lens had dozens of cracks and several missing bits
probably due to UV damage over the years.

Up the mast #2

After getting a replacement Light fitting from Boat Owners Warehouse on State Road 84, we went back to the boat the next day. I was sore from the day before, my Bosuns 'seat' is webbing and not at all comfortable, today I could not get my butt up the mast due to the discomfort and finally gave up to go and get a decent Bosuns Chair. Down to West Marine off State Road 84, I found a Harken Bosuns Chair for $229 - Wow! But it's nice and should be comfortable. Back to the boat and in no time I was up at the top of the mast.

It took about 20 mins to install the new Lamp Fitting and prepare the wire ends for crimping to the old cable that came out of the top of the mast. First I tested the light using the wires from the mast and it worked fine, I even got the polarity of the lamp the right way around 1st time!

With the Lamp installed, I just needed to attach it with Crimped Butt Joints. Fully prepared, I had the butt joints and heat shrink tubing in my tool kit. with the cables prepared for crimping, I reached into my tool bag for a Butt Joint and Crimpers. Putting one in the Crimpers, I reached up for the supply wire - Where did it go? Oh S@%t! the wire had fallen down inside the mast, absolutely no chance of retrieving it! Grrrrrr. back down the mast, go home and figure out the process.

The following weekend, without an Anchor Light, we went up to Sunrise Bay to anchor among 12 other boats from the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club (HISC) and I used a temporary anchor light for the weekend. We purchased a pair of Dinghy lights at the Annapolis Boat Show a year ago, so I just used one of those secured to the Backstay as our Anchor light. It's Bright and easily lasted the whole night long. During the weekend, I was able to pull the fallen Anchor Light cable out from the base of the mast. I also confirmed that there were two unused cables, an old VHF cable and the old Wind Transducer Cable (our New Transducer is Wireless). The VHF cable was already cut off just outside of the base of the Mast.

Back to the Boat  today (Saturday) and Backup the mast. My Neighbor offered me a used Full Fall Arrest Harness, which is just what Harken instructs users of their Bosuns Chair to use.

With Harness attached to a safety line, and my Bosuns chair attached to a climbing rig (a couple of Prussic knots), Tool bag attached to a pull up line, my phone, and wearing my Ear Tec headset, Peggy assisted me wearing her headset while working the Main Halyard Winch (safety line was the Halyard), I headed up the mast.

Once at the top, I pulled up on the old VHF wire and the attached Anchor Light cable, luckily the two passed together through the hole in the top of the mast.

Within an hour of leaving the deck to go up the mast, the Lamp was connected, insulated and tested. We were good to go.

Of course, the tool bag hoisting line got snagged on the furled jib sail and the old VHF cable got snagged on the Radar Reflector and the spreaders, but I was able to free both and retrieve them.

Once back down on the deck after Peggy lowered me via the Main Halyard winch, we checked the Anchor Light, Steaming and Deck Lights, all working great!

Time for a lunch break, clear up and head home. We're ready for our next trip out on Eximius.

Eximius, she is Special! 😏

AIS - nice to know we can be seen

When you're only a small boat, it's nice to know that you can be seen.

We motored back from the HISC Oktoberfest Cruise on Monday morning. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is being put together for it's opening on October 30th. So all of the Big boats are in town.

This is what the AIS overlay looked like as we motored past the boat show.

Just in case it's not obvious, each Red Arrow is an AIS target!

My Splicing Kit

My DIY Splicing Kit

Needing to splice different types of line for everything from Fender Lines to Soft Shackles, I've watched dozens of YouTube videos on the subject. This is despite the Navy training I had at age 15 on how to make various splices in ropes, typically Coir Rope (Coconut Husk material).

1964 That's me in the Back Row 5th from the left.

HMS St. Vincent's Rope Work Class - Jnr Seaman

Over the past 4 years, I have made Fender lines, Dock Lines, Main Halyard Loops and the list goes on. I've built up a simple Splicing Kit and find it's pretty much all I need to complete any splice on the lines sized to suit Eximius. A larger boat might need thicker lines and a couple of extra, larger splicing tools.

My DIY Splicing Kit comprises of a Small & Medium sized FID, a line puller, Marker Pen, Ruler, Line Cutting Board and Sharp Knife

Fids: Used to open the rope strands or push a line end though the parts of the line. I purchased a pack of hollow, aluminum, knitting needles from the local fabric store. Cut the blunt ends off and then ground down that end with my rotary sander (could have used my Dremel)

Line Puller: Used to pull a line or part of a line inside of the rest of the line, I know, that's not very descriptive, I'll show it in pics.

Here are the parts of my kit:

My original Line Puller, Version II, Long Fid, Short Fid

Single Sided Razorblade, Sharpie Marking Pen

I spent a few minutes making a holder for everything except the Razor and Ruler

Note: The holder is marked at 6" 8" and 12" 

so that I don't have to have a 3' rule at hand.

Still thinking about how to include the Razor in the holder

Solution for the Razor, I've started to using a box cutter to hold the blade.

I purchased these (available on Amazon)
The cutter fits easily into the Splicing Kit holder. I didn't need 12 cutters, but what's the chance I'll loose one (or more 😉







Now I can sit and watch TV while I'm making a Soft Shackle or putting an Eye Splice in a piece of Dyneema.

See you on the water!

Multi-Purpose Block and Tackle

Should have made one of these years ago.

In preparation for Hurricane Dorian's visit (didn't happen here), I realized that Peggy was having trouble hoisting our Outboard engine from the Rail Mounting so that I could remove the outboard from the boat and get it safely in our Garage. The block was small and only had a 2:1 advantage. My solution was to replace the block with a 4:1 Block and tackle.

While on my buddy's, Peder, boat, he setup a Preventer to keep the Main sail steady during a downhill run, Wow! I never realized what a difference a Preventer would make. I'll have to get one.

This week we took our 69lb Inflatable dinghy back to the boat, it's been at home for cleaning and safe from the Hurricane (didn't happen here) and that reminded me that hauling the dink from the water onto the foredeck with a spare halyard (1:1) was a real pain. I need to have a better system.

So that's 3 reasons for having a block and tackle at hand on the boat, there's a 4th! Hauling someone from the water after a MOB event is no easy task, and a block and tackle would make that doable.

So, at least 4 reasons for a Multi-Purpose Block and Tackle.

I figure the max load would be about 250lbs (heavier than that and you're not coming on my boat, sorry, it's not a big boat!). So the SWL should be about 2.5 times that load, that's around 625lbs or 1.4Kgm and the attachment point would need to be able take a load of 500lbs or 1.1Kgm

NEW ENGLAND ROPES Solid Color Sta-Set Polyester Yacht Braid


50' of 5/16" Diameter

The Top Block

Lewmar 60mm Synchro Double Block with Becket

The Bottom Block

Lewmar 60mm Synchro Single Block

We need to give this a name, we'll call it 'The Blue Block and Tackle' 

Yesterday, we hoisted the deflated dinghy from the Dock to the Foredeck using The Blue Block and Tackle, literally - NO SWEAT!

Now I need to make a dinghy hoisting harness. It'll be a simple 4 point harness with snap shackles on the 5 ends. Easy job using my Sailrite LSZ-1 sewing machine.

See you on the water.

Paul

Raw Toast Explosion

Exploding Bread

I have now been baking bread for just over a year and since getting the America's Test Kitchen Bread Illustrated book, my bread baking skills have risen (pun intended) greatly.

Here's a link to ATK: https://www.americastestkitchen.com

Yesterday I baked my 1st ever Soaker, Sponge, Dough bread - Whole-wheat sandwich bread (See page 209 of Bread Illustrated).

It exploded! 

This method of baking (which should not normally blow up like this)

The Soaker process seemed to go ok, although it probably had a higher hydration % (I didn't have any wheat germ and used toasted Flax Seed instead). The Sponge processing went well too (as per the book)

I followed this process when I made the dough by combining the soaker and sponge: Putting the Sponge in the mixer bowl and setting it on Low, then adding the soaker one tablespoon at a time until incorporated. Then I added the other ingredients. Finally kneading for 8 mins on med-low.  Into a greased (EVO) bowl with plastic lid to rise. It rose to the top of the bowl within 30 minutes! (15mins early) but hey, this is South Florida in Summer = Hot, Humid even with the AC running to 78º F .

Folded dough the 6 times as described, next rise, that was quick too.

Split and shaped the dough then into the Bread Pans (8.5" x 4/5") and covered with greased plastic wrap.

My oven takes a while to get to temp. So I set the oven to 350 while the final rise was taking place.

15 minutes and the bread was overflowing the pans!!! I pulled the bread from over the pan sides onto the top and pressed to seal - did not slash the dough.

Popped the pans into the oven sitting on a baking sheet - just as well

I checked the bread at 25 minutes to rotate but - Explosion!! Dough had spilt over the sides of both pans and had risen even more on the baking pan (the baking pans were hardly visible)

As I have learned, if it fails - finish the cooking - it might be salvageable.  Baked until 205ºF

Pulled out of oven, had to let them cool in the pans until set sufficiently to try removing them.

I had to  do some major surgery to get the loaves from the pan, but was successful and transferred loaves to the cooling rack.

My wife buttered a couple of pieces of the lava left overs, delicious!

This morning we had some of the bread toasted - Delicious!!! Very light, lots of reasonable sized holes  and the toasted Flax seed added flavor to the bread.

So, I'm guessing that the problem was the amount of yeast in the final dough!

The recipe on page 290 indicates 2 Tablespoons of Yeast, I'm betting that's a typo and should read 2 teaspoons!


And the good news:

 None of the dough spilt over into the oven! It was close.

And the bread in the pans looks good.

They were cojoined but none of it was burnt, a hint in the left corners nearest  to the camera.

With the excess cut crusts cut off, the bread came out of the pans in one piece, the 'open' sides of the bread were not trimmed, that's how they came out of the pan.

Size and shape were just fine. It's just odd having a loaf with no side crusts.

Not too shabby!

The loaf is very light, really light! I was expecting a rock, as I have baked a few of those over the last year or so.

But the crumb was very airy, the flax seed was we distributed, and the flavor was really much better than I expected.

Next time I'll use just 2 teaspoons of yeast and will not use Flax seed but use the suggested Wheat Germ.

Oh, what did we do with the overflowing crusts? We ate about 1/3rd of it and tossed the rest. Too much bread crumbs in my galley already.




This is not a bread I would or could make on the boat! It requires a stand mixer - don't have one on the boat - and it takes 24 hours total to make - I started my prep at 14:30 and the bread came out of the oven at 18:00 the next day!  But I must say, it is really delicious.

See you on the water - and I'll probably have Boat Baked Bread on board too!

Paul