Sneakbox Hard Dodger

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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For quite some time I've been trying to do some work on my Devlin Broadbill, including making a hard dodger. By hard dodger I mean one made from wood and fiberglass as opposed to the typical canvas over metal frame. So after twenty seasons of use the boat is getting a fresh coat of paint job, rewiring, modification to the motor bracket to make it a little taller, and the hard dodger. Duck season is about a month away so it will be a race to get it done and have the paint hard enough to put in the water but I'm going to do my best.

With that said, today was a good day for progress. After playing with all kinds of shapes and sizes I honed in on one that should meet my needs. Those needs being a place to hold onto while driving the boat standing, and cover to hide behind or under when gunning, yet simple enough curves to be easily created in my shop.

So with all that figured out I purchased some 1/4" plywood and 1" foam board. With the plywood I made a template of the arch shape of the dodger and then routed that shape onto 33 pieces of foam. Each piece has a 45 degree angle on the bottom and is 1" shorter than the previous piece in the stack. I glued all 33 pieces together, faired the stack with sandpaper, and then taped the curved surface with packing tape to prevent the epoxy from bonding to the mold. With the plug complete I put down 8 layers of fiberglass (woven outer layers and bi-axial inner layers) resulting in a thickness of somewhere around 1/4". After it cures I'll pop it from the mold, add a bulkhead, grass rails, and trim it to fit the curvature of my Broadbill's deck. It will be held on with bolts through the deck with knobs for quick and easy removal. Below are pics of today's progress.


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might have been easier if you simply found a nose cone laying around redstone and cut a properly shaped piece off. Just saying....

[smile]
 
I should have grabbed a Patriot round on my way out the door. Well since I?m this far along I?ll save the Patriot for Sandhill season.
 
A little over gunner, maybe a LAW?

BTW, my son is settling in quite well at UAH. Had all A's at mid-terms.
 
Eric,

In regards to grassing rails; are you going to run vertical rails or laminate thin strips to conform to the arch so that the grass will be vertical?
 
More progress today on the Broadbill refresh project. All hardware and grass rails have been removed and I started sanding the hull. I also made a black locust cap/riser for the motor bracket. For years I've been using a stick for the motor to rest on. Now it will finally be the correct height. I made one mistake on the cap but thickened epoxy and glass cloth will hide the mistake. We popped the dodger from the mold with no issues. Tomorrow I'll add a bulkhead to it for rigidity. On it's own it's pretty strong. It's about 1/4" thick everywhere.

Below are some pics from the bracket cap build. I'll take more as the project goes along.


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Carl said:
A little over gunner, maybe a LAW?

BTW, my son is settling in quite well at UAH. Had all A's at mid-terms.
Click to expand...

That is fantastic. Is he interested in an internship? If he is send me his resume and I'll take it to our president for consideration.
 
Eric Patterson said:
For years I've been using a stick for the motor to rest on.
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Used for years, only to be unceremoniously tossed aside no doubt. [whistle] The cap looks good.

PS, There have been times when I have built a "proto type" using scrap and on hand materials. The prototype worked so well it never really got replaced. go figure [smile]
 
In this case the first attempt was meant to be the last. If I took the time to do it over I could have got a perfect part as my mistake and the correct way of making the cap became VERY apparent. When I saw my mistake I said screw it, it will fill with epoxy never to be seen under paint. Sometimes I will do something over, sometimes I accept it and move on. As you know in woodworking mistakes happen on every project. The trick is usually how to hide them and epoxy makes that trick easy if paint is the topcoat and not varnish.

Eric
 
Progress is moving right along. After letting the bulkhead fillet and glass harden overnight I was able to sand the dodger and work on the fit between the deck and the dodger edge. I scribed a line of the deck contour and used a grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut the line. Then after some trial and error adjusting with the Makita sander and 8" disc I got a nice fit of the dodger to the deck. Getting the two to mate turned out easier than I anticipated. I'll order some black rubber edging material from McMaster tomorrow and use it to prevent the dodger from rubbing and cutting into the deck over time. Still have more sanding to do and a few small epoxy repairs before I prime and paint the boat but if I can stay on track she will be done before the season opener, weather permitting. Also need to make a grass rail. That is going to require a bending form. Should be a cool little job to make one.


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Work on the Broadbill continues. Over the past few days I sanded the hull and the hard dodger and did some epoxy work as well on the transom. I now clearly remember why working on boats is frustrating this time of year. Too cool for the epoxy to cure and be sandable in less that 2-3 days. Talk about slowing down progress. Now I'm waiting on paint to harden which is also slowed by the current temps. Jeez, I'm going back to doing boat work in the summer from now on. But overall it's going well and I am ready to flip the boat back over and work on the interior.


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Eric,
Be thankful you can still spray paint without auxiliary heat. [;)] I took advantage of a 45 degree day yesterday to apply some silicone sealer and complete a repair on an enclosed trailer. Probably the last oportunity for that until next spring.
I assume you're going to be done and ready for the season just in time. How's the water looking at your blind location? Or will the boat get more use?
 
Dave, there is some water around the blind but I expect we will need and get more. I'll hunt from the blind some but will probably use the boat more. Just depends on where I think the best chance for success is.

Carl, 50s & low 60s highs, lows 30s.
 
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