[Dennis John Woods]

I am building a hard dodger. I want to run the traveler on the aft edge. I am making it with NICO cell board layered with fiberglass; one bottom: three top with 1/4 ” plywood formers laminated to 1 1/2 inches, thick, running 65″ side to side and 25″ from each other fore annd aft. There will be similar braces running fore and aft for four feet that are 37″ apart and mated to what will become the wind screen forward, some 14″ further forward from the forward cross piece. There will be gussets aplenty to make all this solid and a curve is built into the 65″ laminated plywood as well as the top itself of about 6″. On each side, along with the plywood supports will be an aluminum T beams, the center part of which is 1″. They will be bolted and fiberglassed to the side of the cabin top and throughly laminated in. The top will easily support a 185 pound man pulling in the main, but that is down ward pressure. The main sheet will pull the traveler up. I think it will all work–but I don’t know. Does anybody out there have some idea how much lifting pressure there will be? I hear read that it was about 1000 lbs for a 35-36 foot boat like Mine. HELP!!!

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