Fruits Of My Labor (A-113)

[Tony G]

Ebb

I have been putzing around with this idea of DIYing a dodger, a bimini, a pulpit, a pushpit, a..., and a ... You get the picture. So having access to a unit that has the ability to do multiple radii is a must. I have decided that other than a anchor platform, thin walled tubing is plenty strong. A few years back we ordered some 7/8" thin wall for some project I've since forgotten. But I can tell you a 8foot length isn't very heavy, by my standards, and is still pretty dang strong. Put a couple of bends in it, and give some thought as to where the weak points are and you can make a piece that will do the job just fine.

I'm trying to keep the 1" stuff very simple as far as bends go. Instead using it in straight runs that can be cut and, here's the wrinkle, welded. The dodger and bimini are definately going to be 7/8". The hand rails on the cabin top will be 7/8" too. On our boats its all short lengths and that alone will keep it plenty strong. Just about anything is going to bend if we start running into stuff. And having a 'crush zone' that is something other than our beloveds sounds like a good idea to me.

Back to the hand rails. I've had this love affair of making the hand rails, dorade guards and mast pulpit all one continuous sweep with a single strut coming off it near the dorade vents to stabilize it. Dash it all-it might not work because the RBV might clip the tube where it bends up from hand rail to dorade guard/mast pulpit when the main is eased all the way out to the aft lower shrouds. A full sized working mock-up of the lower 3' of mast and a model of the RBV and a line substituted for the aft lower shroud and the hand rail/dorade guard/mast pulpit. Whew! I don't get that much done in season!

If Don Casey knows what he's talking about,(and I believe he does) his diagram in This Old Boat is a very simple unit that may do the job just fine with a low introductory cost. I'll just keep looking...

If you head over to the Technical threads I posted a link in the Bow Pulpit/ Stern Rail/ Pushpit thread to a crotch rocket forum where a guy discusses his DIY tubing bender. One thing he stated that no one else has is his bender fully surrounds the tubing while being bent. Somewhere in that post they discuss fillling the tube with sand and the 'author' states he did not, and did not believe it was necessary as the tube is surrounded. But sand would be cheap and easy to deal with. Wax would eat up too much boat money for me.