I have been looking at the dodgers Hunter Owners has for sale. Has anyone had any experience with them? What about the quality? Thanks
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Where?
I could not locate the dodgers in the HOW chandlery. I know they used to be there and they were made by Island Nautical. IN made most if not all of the Hunter dodgers in the early years. Mine is 25 years old and still very serviceable. I have had to restitch a few feet of it as the UV rays do take their toll. The canvas is still waterproof with annual help from a sunbrella spray. And the "windows" are still transparent with occasional help from Starbrite. Lastly, IN has the patterns for a perfect fit.
I could not locate the dodgers in the HOW chandlery. I know they used to be there and they were made by Island Nautical. IN made most if not all of the Hunter dodgers in the early years. Mine is 25 years old and still very serviceable. I have had to restitch a few feet of it as the UV rays do take their toll. The canvas is still waterproof with annual help from a sunbrella spray. And the "windows" are still transparent with occasional help from Starbrite. Lastly, IN has the patterns for a perfect fit.
The Canvas Store
I bought one earlier this year from HO after investigating the differences between custom built, direct-from-Hunter, and buying one from Hunter Owners. Custom was, obviously, the most expensive (but you could have handrails, and this and that and anything anyway you wanted it); Hunter was guaranteed to fit but still expensive for doing your own installation; and HO had the best price, given you got to do everything yourself. Steve from The Canvas Store in New York made mine, for a Hunter 290 (there was some difficulty getting a 290 pattern from their usual source, so I don't know if Island Nautical would have otherwise been the maker). We had a little difficulty getting it installed properly; Steve at the Canvas Store and the crew at HO bent over backwards to remedy everything and, in the end, we have a tremendous product. Very good quality; I'm told better than Hunter's own. I would caution that installing a dodger is not for everyone. It needs to be pulled and prodded into place, presuming you want a tight, smooth window to look through. I'm relatively handy and saw it as one monumental task. If you can get any assistance (professional installer or someone who's participated in a similar installation), then call upon it. Finally, the installation should use stainless steel pop-rivets. Most pop-rivet guns will not work with stainless steel. However, given that you're only likely to do this once, a standard Home Depot gun will work. Amazingly, Stanley makes one that is inexpensive and I found, by accident, at my local True Value store, and DOES handle stainless-steel rivets. Given the cold weather in Maine, this has been our best purchase and has added weeks to our season. I would trust HO, presuming they still make the dodger available (where did that link go?) (If they removed the link because the dodger isn't the easiest thing to install, I'm not sure I would hold that against them.) Good luck with your purchase.
I bought one earlier this year from HO after investigating the differences between custom built, direct-from-Hunter, and buying one from Hunter Owners. Custom was, obviously, the most expensive (but you could have handrails, and this and that and anything anyway you wanted it); Hunter was guaranteed to fit but still expensive for doing your own installation; and HO had the best price, given you got to do everything yourself. Steve from The Canvas Store in New York made mine, for a Hunter 290 (there was some difficulty getting a 290 pattern from their usual source, so I don't know if Island Nautical would have otherwise been the maker). We had a little difficulty getting it installed properly; Steve at the Canvas Store and the crew at HO bent over backwards to remedy everything and, in the end, we have a tremendous product. Very good quality; I'm told better than Hunter's own. I would caution that installing a dodger is not for everyone. It needs to be pulled and prodded into place, presuming you want a tight, smooth window to look through. I'm relatively handy and saw it as one monumental task. If you can get any assistance (professional installer or someone who's participated in a similar installation), then call upon it. Finally, the installation should use stainless steel pop-rivets. Most pop-rivet guns will not work with stainless steel. However, given that you're only likely to do this once, a standard Home Depot gun will work. Amazingly, Stanley makes one that is inexpensive and I found, by accident, at my local True Value store, and DOES handle stainless-steel rivets. Given the cold weather in Maine, this has been our best purchase and has added weeks to our season. I would trust HO, presuming they still make the dodger available (where did that link go?) (If they removed the link because the dodger isn't the easiest thing to install, I'm not sure I would hold that against them.) Good luck with your purchase.
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