Iota Refit | Friday, April 11, 2008

Over a period of about 3 hours on Thursday afternoon, plus about 7 hours today, Seth Hetherington from Mobile Marine Canvas completed the dodger installation.  The dodger came out beautifully, thanks to Seth's attention to the overall design of the dodger and frame and some of his unique installation techniques.

This is an expensive dodger, but with good reason.  The devil is in the details.

A couple features that set this dodger apart from the crowd:

1.  Continuous track at the leading edges, equipped with zippered attachments for the main dodger, to secure the dodger consistently, tightly, and smoothly along the designed curves.  This allows for the clean lines, pleasing curves, and lack of turn-lock fasteners for the dodger front.

    
    

    


2.  Threaded, adjustable braces at the aft end to better tension and support the dodger frame


    


3.  In this particular case, where regular removal of the dodger for storage was a desired trait, some trick quick-release hardware for the dodger frame and adjustable braces to make removal easier.  For related reasons, this dodger does not have the commonly-seen handrail along the after edge of the frame.


    


4.  Overall design, including compound frame curvature, intended to enhance and complement the lines of the boat, rather than a more basic cookie-cutter approach to dodger shape.  As important as the other details are, in the end it's how it looks on the boat that's truly the key.


          

         

         


A secondary--and so far absent of mention here--project for Seth was a new set of cockpit cushions.  Here they are.



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