Making a Hard-Top

Someone asked for more pictures, so here's a few about making a hard-top for the dodger. All the way across the Pacific to New Zealand, we had no dodger. I designed one, and had it made there for the return trip to Washington. It was great to have, but I decided to replace the canvas top with a hard one. Over the past few weeks, I've been working on it, and it's almost ready toinstall on our next trip soon.

I started by laminating a couple of 1/8" sheets to a curve I made.

Then I glued edging, boom chocks, and nav light bases on the top, and various pieces on the bottom for mounting and structure.

Finally came sealing with penetrating epoxy, and lastly, paint.

I still have to attach the awning track for the cockpit awning, and the grab rails that I made from a nice piece of jarrah. Incidentally, jarrah is a much better wood for boats than teak. It is at least as rot resistant, but it weathers much better and is significantly cheaper. I'll post a final picture in a couple of weeks when I install it on the boat.