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Aloha Discussion / Re: A32 - dodger options and pictures
« Last post by Julie M on Yesterday at 02:17:44 PM »A little late coming to the party but, if you're still looking for input, here's my 2 cents.
The attached picture was taken after we brought the boat home, in May 2019. First summer we sailed with the dodger and bimini up. It was great for escaping the brutal sun but not so great going forward or down into the cabin. It has a strut between the dodger and bimini and hard pipe to the deck, which makes the frames very solid.
But, because of the narrow space between the dodger and bimini frames, boarding the boat was difficult. The top of the dodger is right at my eye level and it drove me nuts. I either had to stoop or stand on tip toes to see forward. Going below required paying close attention to the dodger framing.
Because the bimini has a solar panel on it, we couldn't sew in a window to see the shape of the main. Personal preference, I suppose, but I like to see the sails. Under the bimini there was plenty of headroom.
With the hard pipe connecting dodger and bimini and both to the decking, you can't fold them back when you want them out of the way. On our return trip we had some pretty good blows and everything held up well. But we're most likely going to get rid of the hard pipe and replace it with polyester straps. Then make some covers for the dodger and bimini.
When Dorian was threatening last year, we removed all the canvas and tied back the framing. It's been that way ever since.
The attached picture was taken after we brought the boat home, in May 2019. First summer we sailed with the dodger and bimini up. It was great for escaping the brutal sun but not so great going forward or down into the cabin. It has a strut between the dodger and bimini and hard pipe to the deck, which makes the frames very solid.
But, because of the narrow space between the dodger and bimini frames, boarding the boat was difficult. The top of the dodger is right at my eye level and it drove me nuts. I either had to stoop or stand on tip toes to see forward. Going below required paying close attention to the dodger framing.
Because the bimini has a solar panel on it, we couldn't sew in a window to see the shape of the main. Personal preference, I suppose, but I like to see the sails. Under the bimini there was plenty of headroom.
With the hard pipe connecting dodger and bimini and both to the decking, you can't fold them back when you want them out of the way. On our return trip we had some pretty good blows and everything held up well. But we're most likely going to get rid of the hard pipe and replace it with polyester straps. Then make some covers for the dodger and bimini.
When Dorian was threatening last year, we removed all the canvas and tied back the framing. It's been that way ever since.