Building our new Hard Dodger! - Episode 159
Well the title describes exactly what happens this week. It didn't begin well...but it was pretty much smooth sailing once we moved operations to our friend's shed.
We've really enjoyed building the dodger and the results have been quite rewarding. As usual there's plenty of Free Range tips and tricks if you have a fiber glass project of your own in mind.
This turned into a film making marathon, we were trying to fit the whole build into the video but didn't quite make it. It's a little late because we spent the whole of last week painting the hull and deck and making the most of the sunny weather. We've just had 3 days of wet weather so I finally got a chance to put all the footage together over the weekend and Monday. We hope that the length of the video makes up for the delay in its release.
With gratitude
Pascale
Building our NEW HARD DODGER - Free Range Sailing Ep 159 (YouTube)
Comments (36)
Troy & Pascale. About time we became a patreon as you guys have really & massively inspired Me( Brett) & Sammy... We started out a 2 years ago by watching all your episodes & love your off grid lifestyle & easygoing Fair Dinkum Aussie humor & passion for Australians awesome outdoor lifestyle. ( I coped a hammering Business wise due to COVID hence the delay.) Sammy is a 47 year old Artist with Koori Heritage & Keen as Fisherwoman & adventure buddy exploring OZ will be doing Art full time 2021 towards our online-off grid lifestyle goal.... we also love your love of indigenous art. I am a full blown bogan 53 year old Tradie... Builder- Carpenter/ Sheetie-Boilermaker& not new to boating( Stink boats) but new to sailing.. I have had 2 bareboat charters in the whitsundays but not much sailing experience.but we hope to change that... I conned Charter Yachts Australia about my level of sailing experience & have had a 40 ft Seawind & 43 ft Jeanneu & Sammy thought she saw Pascale on a Big mono 50 foot blue hulled mid September 2019 in SID Harbour... A 35-40 Blowing from the SE ...there was 68 boats I counted hiding there including us....we where anchored near Solway Lass in a white hulled 43 Jennuea ( I told her she was full of it as Mirrool is further south by now...please confirm for my sanity. :) .... Our first FRS inspired purchase was our 12 foot port-a-bote purchase last year ( great dinghy but can be flipped: We had to be rescued by the NSW water police in Botany 2 weeks ago... very very VERY embarrassing .. but did learn a lot about complacency with safety .) My Dad was a Master 5 Tugboat skipper & I decked for him so I looked a utter & proper dill . Sammy has made Kimchi & Pate & numerous other delicacies inspired by Pascale .. And I now have a few nice parangs ( Condor Knifes ) All my knives are very sharp thanks to Troy... nearly. Also neatly spliced 20 litre square very handy buckets . We both have home made Japanese Damascus steel knives due to us doing a week course in Canberra.....again FRS inspired Our Next FRS inspired purchase was a CLANSMAN..Coquille. 1 owner.... Yes.,..My first Sailing boat ..I was looking at trailer sailors to learn to sail a bit but when I saw the clansman up for sail in Gosford in October 2020 I bought it sight unseen 17 Grand.. I have since added 18-22K on top of that.... but still cheap I think to that.for our first Yacht.... going to town on it..... Batteries/New toilet /stove /wind generator/panels/ Radios/ ETC the list goes on... I probably want a bit more beamy boat 38-42 foot down to the track . COQUILLE is now on our own 4 ton mooring in Kogarah Bay @ SANS Souci Botany Bay NSW...so when we head out there is permanent big mooring 1-2 years around OZ but anti-clockwise & hope to be more experienced before our Broome to Perth hammering. So the fit out is in full swing .I love it dearly already.... I brought it down from Brooklyn Fenwicks Marina & the clansman went under both bridges fine 11.2m to the masthead off the water and clearing the underside of the bridge by 300-400 mm. about 50 NM all up southerly blowing all the way 2 mt seas no dodger at all & I used 11 lts diesel doing 8-9 knots at 2100 RPM I didn't get wet slightly,,, great sea boat & thanks again for the heads up on a reliable comfortable yacht.. The full keel is great. She has a new 20HP betta diesel & a very dry boat with unbelievably no wet wot decay or Osmosis blisters when I put it on the hard for clean anti-foul/new anode etc in November Many many Thanks Troy & Pascale for your great Channel & I have it particular loved all the spots you have stopped on your way round OZ.. Such great memories for me especially the Dampier shots near the sport Club./Weipa.& Gove too. I was based in Cairns North Greenslopes St so laughed when I heard the planes roaring overhead near the Botanical gardens. I used to be FIFO supervisor for Pilbara Iron & many a awesome piss up in Karratha was had before our flight back to Perth :) Keep up the good work guys & the original owner of Coqulille .. (Bought in Gosford and never left) was the treasurer of the THISTLE clansman owners newsletter and I have has the original invoices papers/newsletters and other paperwork dating back to the early Seventies..& I can forward to you if you are interested Many thanks againTroy & Pascale.. Brett & Sam Woodward. info@restwell.com.au 0417 696 277
Hey Brett and Sam. We're really excited to have you on board and another couple of Clansman owners! Thanks for sharing a bit about yourselves. I think you and Troy would get along like a house on fire. I just read your wonderful message to him in the saloon. He had a big grin on his face for its entirety. I can confirm that it was definitely not me in the Whitsundays in 2019. We were there October - December 2018 and we have not returned since. I think there a few of my doppelgangers getting around, it's not the first time that I have been 2 places at once! That would be really cool to see some of the old Thistle newsletters if you have any scanned PDF copies we'd love it if you sent them through to our email mail@freerangsailing.com . Hopefully we may cross paths with you both and Coquille on your anti-clockwise tour! Until then wishing you both all the best with your extensive refit, it warms our hearts to know that another Clansman is getting so much love and being saved from wrack and ruin. Pascale
Watching others doing meticulous detail work is very satisfying. Thank you.
:)
Very impressive Pascal you are a master at epoxy looks like Troy can put his feet up with a beer
Now I know why we are going through so much beer!
Looks good. What’s with the fancy specks Troy. 😃
It was Elton John week. The COVID side effects include limited selection of glasses in the chemists of small Australian towns I'm afraid.
Great video...as usual. My dodger/Bimini is 1 year old. When it gets worn or damaged, I now know how to make a new one c/o FRS. I’m sure there were some expletives deleted when that gust hit you! I’ve seen some rainwater collection systems on dodgers that I might try. Seeing your dodger rim got me thinking... outstanding video. Thank you for taking the time to do it right and show us.
There are a bunch of ways to approach the build but we chose this way for speed. Making the columns up and not cutting out windows would save on material but we were able to use the laminated foam panels from the cutouts as material to replace rotten bits we cut out of other parts of the boat! We will show how we will use the dodger roof to harvest rain- the lip is the key but I hope it doesn't interfer with the clean up after fish filleting.
I'm no longer amazed by Troy's expertise at seemingly everything, but I'm really happy to see how capable Pascale seems to be. Not just a pretty face!
We have discovered that while I am ok for dad jokes and unusual solutions to problems, Pascale has more genius for logistics and in future, she will be given the title of Project Manager. If we had done that this time, we might be already afloat!
Nice video! I would love a hard dodger on Capers. AFTER the new one wears out. Great work, very inspirational. Looking forward to more of Pascales' recipes!
Yes, I was also waiting till the old one wore out but the Indian Ocean sped the programme along a little!
Another great video, thanks!
You're welcome!
Finally! I've really been looking forward to this! Excellent video. Very helpful. Thank you.
Glad to hear it! Let us know if you have any questions.
Excellent video, Pascale. TY for sharing. Curious if you used a cross ply fiber or one direction ply. My aviation experience tells me we use cross ply in areas where the loads and shear are in various directions. The dodger is a complicated shape and I don't know but suspect the loads come in various ways on it, not all straight buckling along a length.
We used two types of glass cloth; a simple weave of fibres at 90 degrees to one another in 250g/ sq.m or in the States, referred to as 7 oz. cloth. To reinforce edges and to form a load bearing lattice we used 400g/ sq.m double bias tape, 100mm (4 in.) wide. Double Bias fabric is a two (2) layer fabric with fibreglass roving laid down parallel in the – 45° and + 45° axis. Lightweight stitching holds these fibres together and parallel in each layer. Double Bias fabrics are used where complex contours and curved surfaces make other fabrics hard to laminate. These fabrics adds good structural support to square composite panels and provide stability in long laminates, which may experience torsional twist.
Each time I watch I learn something. Well done. It blows my mind how strong simple materials can be made when glass fibre, resin and substrate are put together.
Composites seem very basic but a small venture into what's possible with them leads to quite a rabbit hole indeed! They are quite simple to work with after the first hurdle of how messy they can be in those first few projects!
Loving that dodger! You guys are setting the bar high on this rebuild. I often think that Bruce Fairlie would be pretty chuffed with the way you’re rebuilding his Clannie. I also think he may have had a twinge of embarrassment at times with Troy’s insights into some of the earlier design decisions.... And your video work is also the same high standard! Did Pascale hint you were approaching 100k subscribers? More power to you!
Oh we hope we wouldn't embarrass Bruce too much as we think he built a fine boat for his time. Some of the people who modified Mirrool after launching may have erred though!
Awesome work guys, looks amazing 👍
Thanks guys!
Excellent, I have learned a lot doing my own fiberglass work over the last few years all on my own. But I have picked up a ton of tips from you guys with this project so thanks again! Ben S/V DAWN
The wooden chisel for scooping up every last bit of stray epoxy and polishing with a gloved finger and alcohol are life changing to people allergic to sandpaper!
Hi Guys, thanks for the learning process. I’m looking at replacing a pop top on my 23ft trailer sailer with something similar to this. The small overhang at the front adds real character. I was going to add the little raised rim on the top as a simple way to catch rainwater, I didn’t think about improving the glass adhesion. Thanks, I will stand by for the next instalment.
The lip does enable us to collect rain from the roof and we put two 1/2" metal tubes in the front corners that hoses can be slid onto in a rain storm. We'll make sure w film it closely for you.
That dodger is looking fantastic. Well done
Cheers mate. We can't wait till it's all done and the tinted Lexan windows are in.
Fantastic education! PVC foam looks like an excellent core material, and certainly looks easy to work with, aside from it's escape tendencies ;) Very glad you found yet another nice shop to finish up out of the elements....
A nice shop indeed! It was actually constructed for boatbuilding but there is now several ton of lathes, mills and assorted metal machining magic packed in there. The owner is too modest or else we would have given a short tour of the wonders to found within. The foam is indeed very fine material, though a bit harder on the wallet than plywood so some people will still prefer that option and just work a bit longer on it.
thanks for yet another awesome video packed full of knowledge and skill. You're the only reason I have any courage to try fiberglass work myself.
Well, start small, get yourself organized and it's not too hard. Hope you had a chance to have a look at the Gougeon Brothers book we provided a link to.