Designing and building Rosalind’s hardtop

The idea to built the hardtop had been on our minds for several years so we were happy,  

in September 2021, to start the design process. We quickly decided on a foam cored fiberglass hardtop built on a male mold.

Onboard measurements were made to get the dimensions, shape, camber, and connection to the existing hard dodger. The hardtop size drove the selection of all the solar panels and grab handles. There were three main challenges:

1. How to make the hardtop rigid without making it too heavy,
2. What type of connection we would use to connect it to the hard dodger, and 
3. What type of supports we would use aft.

A number of options were considered and we arrived at these final solutions:

1. We would fiberglass Coosa board (a composite boat building material that can be used instead of marine plywood) all around the interior perimeter of the hardtop to solve the flexibility/ rigidity issue.
2. We would build a “bridge” piece to connect the hardtop to the hard dodger. This was necessary as the aft (back end) of the hard dodger is not straight. The idea behind the “bridge connector piece” is that it will get fiberglassed to the hard dodger and offer a flat surface for the hardtop to connect with. This avoids having to built a hardtop that perfectly matches the curves/ imperfections of the aft end of the hard dodger.
3. We decided on custom made aluminum supports. We designed them, bought the aluminum, cut everything to size and had them welded. The design allows us to make the final vertical measurement onboard and cut the tube to size before final assembly. 

Rosalind on her mooring on a calm summer day. 

The West River is a beautiful place.

Here are some pictures of the design and fabrication of the hardtop. It has been a great project. 

This has been a big project. We built the hardtop in our basement and before we started  we measured very carefully to check that we could get it out. Once finished we were able to get it out of the basement, without an inch to spare! The project took a while and we are really looking forward to the installation. It will be great to have weather protection in the cockpit and the 200W of solar will be essential for charging our batteries. On the next we will share an unexpected decision based on last summers’ sea trials…

 Rosalind’s cockpit enclosure

After returning from our trip to the Bahamas in the spring of 2010, we decided we wanted more protection that what had our trusted Camper Nicholson 31, Aisling, could provide. Spending several months cruising made us realize that we wanted increased protection not only from the sun, but also from the wind and rain. This would enhance our comfort, and by extension our safety, give us protection from the elements both at anchor and at sea. Additionally, it would make the entire cruising experience so much more pleasurable. Part of the allure of voyaging under sail in a small boat is to enjoy the sea and to experience, and see beautiful distant places. You cannot really do this from the protection of the cabin peaking out a 6 inch tall portlight! Some sailboat designers solve this challenge by adding a pilot house, a raised enclosed cabin with large windows. This is a great solution but is not common and it is hard to pull off in smaller sailboats. A dodger (typically canvas over frame protection in the forward part of the cockpit) is a minimum and this is what we had on Aisling. To get additional protection from the elements sailors add biminis (cockpit tents or covers). While an open cockpit is great for day sailing, many if not most cruising sailors look for some type of protection from the elements.

When we purchased Rosalind, some 15 years ago, in addition to a hard dodger made out of fiberglass and glass windows, she had a full cockpit enclosure. This was one of the many features that attracted us to her design. The enclosure was made out of 7/8” diameter stainless steel horizontal “U” shaped tube attached to the aft (back) end of the hard dodger. The frame was covered by a dark gray marine outdoor fabric. The frame was held up by two vertical supports on the sides of the cockpit. An aluminum and stainless steel frame supported an 80W solar panel a couple of inches above the enclosure frame. Here is a picture from the first time we moved Rosalind.

Rosalind on her first outing, note enclosure supports near (original) primary winches and additional supports for solar panel.

Rosalind’s cockpit fully enclosed, looking aft.

Clear panels, when zippered in, fully enclosed the cockpit for inclement weather.  I remember, shortly after we got Rosalind we were sailing with friends in the West River. It was late fall, and there was a definite chill in the air.  We were heading back to our mooring when it started to drizzle then rain. In the comfort of the enclosure, the rain added to the overall experience. While we were heading up the river, a number of sailboats were sailing out to go racing. Everyone was decked out in full foul weather gear in the rain, while we were snug in the cockpit in our light fleeces (we may have even had coffee mugs in our hands!). I can tell you we got more that one not so friendly stare…

Some limitations of the old design. 

We got Rodsalind in the fall, and the benefits of the enclosure for cooler weather sailing were very obvious. In the upcoming years we made many adjustments/ improvements to Rosalind. In the cockpit, new self-tailing two-speed primary winches required that we move the vertical enclosure supports (to allow the winch handles to rotate 360 degrees). We also removed the solar panel over the enclosure as reefing lines from the mainsail were getting snagged there all the time. We also found out, that the dark synthetic canvas was acting as a very powerful  “sun collector” very nicely warming the cockpit in the cooler months but the fabric reached temperatures over 150 F (65 C) in the summer. We were literally getting baked in the cockpit during the Chesapeake summers!

A few years after we got Rosalind we replaced all the soft parts of the enclosure, as soft enclosures typically only last about five to seven years. Losing the solar panels also had to be remedied so we added two semi-rigid solar panels (100W total) and secured them with Velcro on the enclosure fabric (more dark surfaces on top of the dark fabric!).   

Soft top enclosure with two 50 W solar panels.

After ten years, we were getting ready for a second replacement of the soft (fabric) parts when we decided to build a hardtop out of fiberglass. Here is a picture on the finished but unpainted hardtop in our basement. 

New fiberglass hardtop, with stainless steel handles and two 100 W rigid solar panels, unpainted in our basement.

In the next post we will share the design, features and benefits and how we build the hardtop. We will share the installation work as it takes place.