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Thank you to the anonymous donor down at the marina for two of these frames, and proving once again; one man's garbage is another man's treasure. It gave me a starting point and saved me the cost of ordering a bunch of stainless steel tubing and all the fittings.  I've been pricing tubing and a hydraulic tubing bender on the internet the last month or so, this is a welcome free-be.

I took some measurements on the boat and sketched out a rough drawing of where I'm going with this project.  Unfortunately, having never done this before, I'm making it up as I go.  I'm starting with where I want the aft end to be and I'm going to work forward one loop at a time until it ties into the dodger frame.  The initial measurements I took were the distance between the hand rails where I plan to attach it.  That done I measured from those points aft to the hand rail's furthest point aft, where I want the top to terminate, right behind the driver.  The other measurement I took was from a few inches over my head to the attachment point.  That's how high it's going to be, and the good news on that measurement; it is below the boom, so I don't have to worry about it interfering with the movement of the boom.  Now if only I could remember all that geometry crap I slept through in high school and college.

I started by cutting 10" out of the middle of one of the used frames and then rejoined them, using solid stainless stock that fit snugly into the interior of the tubing.  I then drilled,  tapped, and installed stainless screws with plenty of Loc-tite.  You can see the frame in the second picture back in one piece but 10 inches more narrow than the original. (also in the picture)

I then took the frame to the boat and hung a plumb line from the center of the aft arch and moved it around until it was 31" above the existing life rail and even with the aft hand rail.  Marked it, and cut it to length.  I re-installed the end fittings and attached it to the existing hand rail. 

Another trip to the boat, some more measurements, cutting, joining, and the forward loop is done.  All the fittings have been drilled tapped and attached.  The frame is ready for installation on the boat.  Now I need to reinstall the dodger frame and tie the two together.

More later as the project progresses

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