I have tracked down the maker of the hard dodger for the northshore 33. The hard dodger was made and fitted by Noakes at North Sydney. The contact at Noakes is Sean Langman contact email info@noakes.net.au and tel: (02) 9925 0306. Any other northshore 33 owner interested contact myself or Sean. If enough interest a mould will be made. For those who missed the thread named Summer Breeze here is another picture of the dodger fitted on the northshore 33 Summer Breeze.

Hi HaveFun. Will you move your traveller & mainsheet up onto the hard dodger?
The traveller on my Northshore 34 is on the cabin top in front of the winches & clutches. It doesn't have the width of the one pictured, because of the hatch, but it works quite well.

Thanks Chris340. Yes the plan is to repeat what was done on Summerbreeze and move the traveller to the top of the hard dodger. I would be interested in any commentsyou might have on your experience with the traveller in your location on the cabin top? Can you share a photo?

Hey HaveFun, great to see you back on the forum again. No doubt you have been on some sort of hiatus, from what only thee would know.

Mate I reckon a hard dodger exactly the same shape as the one in your photo makes those North Shore 33s near perfect, cruising or racing, for a yacht in that size category. Looks very smart too.

If I may, I am giving you a couple of suggestions you may consider worthy of consideration. Great thing that consideration. I have found that with most things, if you give it 90% of that and 10% work, it usually comes out pretty good,

From what you have said it seems there is not yet a mould for that dodger. A good glasser with the measurements should be capable of making a plug for the mould in an afternoon and charge you no more than $300, I would expect less but Sydney prices seem to be higher than Bundaberg prices. Maybe "the good galsser ??" could build the mould for $1,000 or less.

Putting the economics aside, here are my considered suggestions from a trades and maintenance point of view.

If there was a mould, I would have a fairly light moulding taken from it. When I say light I mean light. As we all know, every ounce of unnecessary weight on a boat slows it down and every ounce of weight added above the centre of gravity raises it and makes the boat less stable, uhmm, usually.

For this application of the material I think 4 to 6 mm solid fibreglass would be highly durable aesthetically pleasing and economically satisfactory as the first piece of the puzzle.

This skin is then bolted and screwed to it's stainless steel, highly polished tubular backing frame which has previously been bolted to the boat. If the skin is made with a flange strip on it's front edge, it can be sealed/glued and screwed onto the cabin top. The hidden benefit is the whole lot can be fairly easily removed if later owners do not want it.

Just a note here about putting the traveller on top of the dodger. It should have a strong backing frame under it to the deck level and not just rely on the roof of the dodger to carry the load.

That is my two bob's worth but whichever way you do it, I am sure you are going to do it in a well considered fashion. Cheers.

Hi HaveFun.
The only concerns I have with the traveller on the cabin top is when I'm gybing.
My boat has a heavy boom furler and the forces on the traveller/blocks, from gybing, may be greater as they are closer to the mast. Due to a leverage effect.
However, this might be negated by the fact that the boom is swinging at a lower speed in that position, rather than further aft on the boom.
Someone here might be able to shed some light on that theory......

It's hard to see from those pics of Summer Breeze how you would access the mainsheet.
Maybe the sheet runs forward, then is redirected under the dodger back to the winches on the cabin top??

I'll take a closer look at her next time I'm in that part of the bay.

First thanks Cisco, I appreciate the info. I will pm you on my activities since we last sailed together for your interest. The total cost of the work on Summerbreeze in 2005 was $4,600 I have been told.

Secondly, thanks Chris340. I replaced the roller furler boom that was originally fitted to Have Fun with a conventional boom. The roller furler boom was quite heavy I agree. I have not had a look at Summerbreeze except in photos but it looks like the main sheet runs straight back off the dodger top. Unless ypu intended to us a winch this should not be problem I would think. Correct me seabreezers if I am mistaken. But I have not had to winch the mainsheet nor the traveller for the cruising I have done. Certainly on the larger racing boats working the traveller is a winch affair as is of course a large winch for the mainsheet.

Hi HaveFun, I took the inflatable out for a closer look at SummerBreeze today, and met the owner, who was onboard.
He told me the boat is currently for sale with a broker on Sydney.

The previous owner had the dodger fitted in 2005. The cost for the build, was as you said, $4600. But that may not have covered the bill for 5 days on the hard stand.

The dodger looks great. It is seemless & looks like part of the original boat.
It is reinforced onto the yach'ts combings by stainless steel brackets on the inner sides.

The mainsheet/traveller is on top, and he pulls the mainsheet on, in a downward action. He does this easily.

I can only pull the main sheet, on my boat, to a certain point (depending on the wind) before needing to winch the last bit. This is due to my mainsheet/traveller being further forward. (leverage).

The owner did mention he has a piece of canvass to join the dodger to the bimini for extra protection.
I later realised that this would make it impossible to access the mainsheet...... maybe a disadvantage, maybe a compromise.


If you still would like some pics of my boat, just let me know.

Cheers Chris.

Would love to see what you have done with your Northshore 33 Chris 340. I assume it is a 340 with the newer stern and skeg mounted rudder.
So please post those photos. I sailed a Hanse 54 where the mainsheet was run forward back along the boom to the mast and out to the side and the back along the side to the cockpit where it could be winched. So if I find there is a problem with the mainsheet, I could rig it similarly. I am still not sure how Summer breeze finds the traveller if there was a need to use a winch. Thanks for the help Chris340.

Hi Havefun, there's some pics of the mainsheet on my 340.
I recently saw another one, with the same system, with a soft dodger at the Lake Macquarie Y.C.

Summer Breeze is listed for sale at Sydney Boat Brokers Drummoyne. You might be able contact the owner through them, if you need more info. He was more than happy to chat about it, with me, when I met him earlier this week.

Cheers Chris.

HaveFun have a look at the hard dodger on a Garcia 52 Expedition, this boat is entirely aluminium but I think even on a GRP Northshore 33 a well built/designed and painted aluminium dodger.even lengthened a little longer, would be a great addition and not look out of place. I imagine it would be cheaper to make and what a great cruiser improvement it would be, especially if lengthened as suggested. You could then position the mainsheet traveler on top, nice and strong, and in easy reach of the helm.

Hard Dodger for HaveFun project commenced. Deep breath and have made the start. I trust I can download the pictures taken yesterday. Starting with a cardboard cut-out and moving to a foam core and fibreglassing. Off came the existing traveller. Will see what transpires. My old schoolmate and master rigger Joe Walsh hates it because it will present too much frontal to the wind. Then again he is a champion skiff racer so that would definitely reflect the views of racing enthusiasts. Personally for cruising I think it will be a real benefit, especially on those long cold and stormy winter passages. Only issue I see is that when I replaced the original roller furler boom years ago, the gooseneck was relocated lower on the mast. It will make for an angled boom but I will wait and see before making any change.