Spray hoods

In an ideal world I’d have a fixed windscreen with the sprayhood attached to the top. Folding it down to reduce windage has caused the clutches to go through the windows on mine
Ocean Canvas in Plymouth did a great job repairing it BTW.
 
I loved the sprayhood on a 31 footer sailed in Channel and Biscay in the 90s - could sit under it with the autohelm doing the tiller bit in the wet.

Since then my boats have been a 24 footer sailed as a fun day boat mostly and I took the sprayhood off on day one and never put it back on - the joy of spray and vigourous sailing, but not my floating holiday home. My other current boat is 42 foot and in the Med and the Bimini is crucial but I've never wanted or fitted a sprayhood as getting wet in warm waters feels like much less of a problem - and spray happens less often with a longer boat.

So for me it's all down to the circumstances. Dodgers, of course, are just nasty in all situations.
 
jac said:
So how well does the toast keep the spray off?
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Really depends on the make. That soft cotton wool stuff, Mothers Pride is pretty rubbish. I prefer a good honest brown bread with a raspberry conserve, if no decent raspberry is available a jar of Coopers Oxford Cut marmalade is a close second.
 
My "spray hood" was never designed as a spray hood. Its purpose is to create usable sheltered space on a very small boat when at anchor. It is always collapsed under way, and looks pretty ugly when up. Also you can scarcely work on deck with it up. I wouldn't be without it for its purpose. Motoring in dirty conditions we have left it up, but it is a pain 'cos you can't really see anything from the helm without standing up.
 
I have sailed for many years with no spray hood on any of my boats. Having one made and fitted seemed expensive for what they are, just got on with the sailing. Five years ago I changed boats and this one had a spray hood, the galley slave was delighted. It looks good and is really good keeping the weather off when conditions are rougher. I also had a full cockpit cover made so we have an extra space when on the mooring etc. Some spray hoods do look like steam engines but if designed well are a big advantage and can look good.
 
We love our spray hood, it gets lowered when coming in to a marina for better visibility. Ours is much better than the usual as it sits much further back than usual, so two crew can be totally protected. In fact it was so far back that the genoa winch was under the sprayhood, so I promptly moved the winch to the aft position.
Oh, and I like dodgers too!
 
STOL71 said:
I am not a fan of spray hoods as they can cause a lot of undesired windage, plus sitting behind a spray hood obscures vision and I loose feel where the wind comes from. In my opinion, they are not very esthetic either.
My sailing takes me into all sorts of weathers and territories and I only ever could do with a spray hood about once or twice a year. Mine is a relatively dry boat.
What does the readership make of spray hoods and does the readership agree with the opinion of a few hardened sailors I spoke to that spray hoods are for wusses? :rolleyes:
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Completely disagree. Just done Clyde to Azores and then to Gibraltar. Without the spray hood, the trip would have been hell. One does not care about the esthetics at 0300 in a cold head wind with rain.
 
We sailed from 1971 in a succession of boats, Cirrus, Mystere and Sadler29 without sprayhoods because I, like the OP, considered them unaesthetic and effete. We sailed everywhere from the Channel Isles to Denmark quite happily, until I became senile and bought a Hallberg-Rassy. I have to admit that a proper glass screen (that you can see through) and hood make things a lot more comfortable. I would be prepared to put up with not having a sprayhood if I could have my youth back.
 
Another big fan of them but will admit to sitting the side deck so that I can see past them if the weather is good.

My only gripe is the lack of shelter when sailing downwind in the rain. Our last boat had a full cockpit enclosure with zip up sides and rear so could have all those panels out to preserve visibility and stay out of the gloom!

Impractical though and ugly. One neat solution I saw in a marina was the usual sprayhood but coming fairly far back then a clear plastic flap that could be rolled up when not needed but when bad weather struck could be unrolled and I presume held down by bungee or something similar to the rear of the sprayhood thereby creating a sort of poor mans wheelhouse where the on watch crew could hide from the rain.
 
We have a dodger that goes round the entire cockpit. Ideal for keeping out if the weather from any angle. On passage we steer using the autohelm and navigation is done down at the nav table.

One significant advantage with the all round dodger is privacy at anchor should you wish to sunbath au natural.
 
They have a very different "user experience" depending on the boat and the sprayhood. On my old tiller steered Sabre 27 it was quite tall compared to the size of the cockpit, but enabled me to steer with just my head poking out of the side if needed. I didn't really need to wear my foulie jacket (softshell was fine) as I was not really exposed and could duck behind the sprayhood if a big wave was coming.

No such luck in my wheel steered B32...if a big one is going to spray into the cockpit I'm going to get wet. However the vision through and over the sprayhood is much, much better. I'd also say on a smaller boat, they give you a lot more usable "dry" space below in rain, where having the hatch shut might compromise headroom. Less of an issue in a bigger boat.

Aesthetics wise, I actually quite like them as long as the hood is a nice design (there are some howlers out there), and as has been pointed out, at anchor or on a swinging mooring they are fab in terms of a wind break.
 
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