SAILS
Building A Seahood
Rob Squires, Head-Over-Heels, #96
The lines of my sea hood are designed to match the Triton lines. I engineered the mold and unit, complete with prototypes, prefittings and all that goes with this kind of project.
The sea hood was then made in the mold using West Systems epoxy and 9 layers of mat and roving. You can stand on it with only a minimal deflection. It is attached to phenolic rails and the corners filleted with an epoxy/sanding filler mix. The aft rail of the hood is laminated wood and takes the snaps for the dodger bottom edge. The entire piece was sanded, primed and painted with Brightside.
My "theme" for Head-Over-Heals refit was a cruiser that could qualify for a single handed trans-pac (a race from San Francisco to Hawii.) and felt that every effort to keep the cockpit dry needed to be explored. My findings after looking at many ocean boats...in places like Honolulu, Miami, Chesapeake Bay and Newport...showed sea hoods to be a fairly standard item.
If you aren't going to take green water over the bow, or are going to, but not very often, sealing the front of a dodger isn't required.
The bottom line - I wanted the darn thing, so I made it!
Building the mold - Step #1....
Building the mold - Step #2....
Seahood removed & faired....
Seahood completed....
Seahood mounted over hatch....
Seahood & Cabin top painted....
Project Completed