One of my larger ($$$) projects last spring was the installation of a hard dodger on my C387.  Though I won’t mention the company that created it (good craftsmanship and poor customer relations), I have learned a lot about what makes the hard dodger a good investment and what issues captains should think about before they spring for this costly upgrade.

First of all, we love the new hard dodger.  Our old dodger’s glass was scratched and becoming opaque and difficult to clean.  The new dodger has a thicker Strataglass ™ that is sparkling clear and without the wrap-around nature of the old Eisenglass that caused wrinkles and distorted the vision.  The downside of this thicker glass is that it doesn’t roll up easily for storage.  When you take out a panel, you need to store it flat which can be problematic.  We tend to store it on the rear