Dodger board!

[brettportzer]

Wondering if anyone has some dodger board detail pics that they can share.

Mine need some fixing up, but I have also noticed that some of these boats have a nicer implementation of this feature than others.

We have a 1972 43DC and our dodger boards are pretty much just tacked on there with little brackets and there are lots of worn edges and corners and stuff.

I am sure some pieces have been replaced, as well.

What I have also seen, for instance on a 1987 63CPMY that came through on the loop, that they have a much more form fitted version of the panels, with some support around the various cutouts, etc...

Looking for some ideas additional to my own.

Thanks!

 

[johnjen50]

Pascal will jump in, or search his posts. He made really nice ones out of cross board, and his application was neat looking and strong.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I'd stick with the original material from Sam's. It looks the best. If you want to make it look like that 63, then take it all the way from the rail to the gunnel and caulk it in top and bottom.

 

[IOLANI]

Not looking to sidetrack this thread but I have been pondering over Dodger board. I have some areas on the walls of my engine room that are peeling, flaking, soft and just plain ugly. I'm thinking of going over it with Dodger board installed in sections and held on with construction adhesive. That stuff seems pretty durable, water proof and easy to wipe down etc. ...and it's thin so it's not like laying on another layer of plywood or luan etc..

Just wondering if anybody can see a negative side of doing it.

 

[bigbill]

steve at sams told me the earlier boats had brackets at the top and bottom and also screwed into the rail upright pipes, at some point hatteras switched to a track at the top and bottom. not sure when the switch occured. my 1972 has the brackets with about an inch of clearance at the top and bottom

 

[IOLANI]

My 1986 54 MY has the tracks top and bottom and fitted pretty nicely around the cleats . I talked to Ed a Sams in Ft Lauderdale and he told me they used to have a fixture (which he made) for bending the curved sections of the Dodger board which I believe he said was akin to a form of Mica. At some point the forms were sent to the North Carolina location but I'm not sure where they ended up from there.
If you type Dodger into the Sam's parts search you will see a lot of results for panlels, tracks, brackets, etc..

 

[Pascal]

I never liked the original set up. You have a bunch of stanchions and bases, brackets and bolts into the stanchions. When the port side of mines were destroyed in hurricane Irma, I just couldn’t get myself to just replace them so I redid the whole thing out of coosa, all epoxied. No more loose screws and bits. Especially the strips hatteras put to his the joints.

It was a big project but glad I did it.

No modern boat builder use that system nowadays, everything is built in and glassed.

 

[brettportzer]

I'd stick with the original material from Sam's. It looks the best. If you want to make it look like that 63, then take it all the way from the rail to the gunnel and caulk it in top and bottom.

Yea, I don’t want to reinvent the wheel. I just want to I guess copy a better dodgerboard install.

 

[Sadey]

There was a photo of a MY that used clear plexiglass or similar which looked kind of nice. Not sure I would do the whole surround that way. We used plexiglass for the center section that slides up to access the ladder to the swim platform.

 

[rob71]

I replaced mine with full length one piece side panels from Sam’s.
They were also tall enough to reach rail to deck.
I did have to paint them to match as they came in the Hatteras beige color.
Then used clear plexiglass across the transom to take advantage of the view.

 

[brettportzer]

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/1987-hatteras-63-cockpit-motoryacht-9298184/

Here is the boat I was on, actually... Looks like they have the track instead of the brackets.

It seems much nicer that way, to me.