Hard Top Project

rinker312

All, just wanted to share with you a project that I am working on.  I am running a little behind due to the cold weather not letting up, but I am finally starting to make some good progress.  In this pic, I just finished fusing the two halfs together, as I made them separately, so that I could check fit them in place first.  it will sit on top of the radar arch and then use the existing canvas rails for front support.  I am making it out of 1 inch foam, so it should be very light and the existing supports that are in place for the canvas I believe will support it without any problem.  If all goes well with the front roof and it looks good, i will then start on the back one.  I will continue to post updates as I have them.  Wish me luck!!

Michael T

x

DanD2

Awesome....this is something that I'm really interested in. Please add more pics. Are you planning on fiberglassing over the foam?

rinker312

Yes just finished glassing over all the foam tonight. Prior to starting I sat it in place and I am very pleased with how well the curve matches up to the radar arch curve. That was my biggest concern as I wanted it to look like it belongs there and not just a flat piece of crap that somebody threw on. Tomorrow I will be ready to sand down and start skim coating it. Will send some pics after skim is applied.

Dream_Inn

Definitely take a lot of pictures and post.  I'm sure many others will be interested.  I'd love to see how it looks, as I used to own a 310 and always wondered about a hardtop on it.  Good luck!

rinker312

Update

gathered all my pictures just to give you an  idea of the process that I have used so far.
1.  Took some foam and held it against my radar arch and traced the outline.
2.  using that foam cutout, I cut out 4 pieces of plywood to match, then screwed those pieces of plywood to 2x4 so that they would sit upright.
3.  I then took a piece of foam and with the help of a friend, kind of held it in place where I wanted it, and bent it over the edge of the arch, traced it and cut it out.
4.  put the cutout onto the plywood forms and screwed it down, ended up having to come back through and place a couple small supports in because the foam was wavy on the edge, but the extra supports straightened it out.
5.  then glassed over a portion of the foam, couldn't really do the whole thing because of the screws holding it down, but I got enough of it that it was able to hold the contour in place
6.  After that I joined the two pieces, finished glassing over the rest of the foam, and the final picture shows the roof after the first skim coat.  tonight I start sanding my brains out trying to make it look good. 

Hoping to mount it up this weekend prior to painting.

Michael T

Hey 312 - Awesome - are you ready to "tool-up" for the coming onslaught of orders? :-) MT

rinker312

All, I just had to post a pic of the front top mounted in place.  It still needs some final filler and sanding prior to painting, but I wanted to get all the holes poked in it and see how it looks before I paint it.  I am thrilled with it. 

Now the question is, what color to paint it?  I was figuring white to try to match the radar arch.  My daughter says to paint it navy to match the canvas.  What would you guys do?

golfdog

rinker312, Looks great! 

I would try to match the radar arch, think it would blend in better but I have a daughter and know how that goes. Keep the pictures coming, great project.

Weber

Looks good, what year is your 312? I have the same boat.

Dream_Inn

Oh man is that looking great! go with white and have that hard top look! please keep pictures going. I'd love to see some close ups as well!

OldDogNewTrix

Looking good. I guess you'll be having custom canvas made?

Michael T

Beautiful job! I'd color match the arch. You're gonna get a lot of calls - got your shop ready?.....So when are you fabricating a hard top for the back half?????  MT

rinker312

My boat is an 04. Ok going with white. Just wanted to see what others thought about blue. Probably just going to spray it with white epoxy spray cans this year. Next year arch and all are coming off as the arch is all cracked. So will do them matched up properly next year. I started the back two days ago and will continue to post pics till it is all done. Yes I will need to make a custom enclosure once I am done but that will be next years project also. Our slip is under roof so not having the sides on shouldn't be too big a deal. Maybe just a little extra bird and spider crap. The first thing we do when we get there is remove the sides anyway so I don't think we will miss them this year.

DanD2

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you make it to match you canvas top so that you could still use your side and front enclosure? Its looking real nice. I might have to do one for my boat.

rinker312

The sides attach to the top. So since the top has gone away so have the zippers to attach the sides to. Ultimately I could probably reuse my existing sides bot some amount of modification would be necessary. but my canvas needs replacing any way which is why I went this route to begin with.

rinker312

Just a quick update for everyone.  The front is painted and has been installed for a week or two now.  I will try to get some pics of that soon.  Here is the back top.  Just put a final coat of filler on the bottom, should be one last sanding and then flip her over for another coat of filler on top.  I'm getting there.  The back is not going to be quite as nice as the front because I could not get the foam to bend without breaking, so I had to cut two strips out of it, so you can kind of see how it is stripped together.  But I think it will still look fine.   

Michael T

It looks great and you get the big kohanas award for taking the project on! Thanks for the pics , keep 'em coming:-). MT

MarkB

Looks great, good work.  How are you going to secure it to the rail, considering with high air velocities when your motors are humming along.  I'm thinking if there is an upward pressure, the anchors will go into tension, and so you don't want it to be held just with screws fastened to the fibreglass (material isn't the strongest under tension especially concentrated in a small area).  You kind of want anchors that cross through the fiberglass, like a plate to distribute the stress, and then when tightened, it puts the fibreglass under compression.

Also are you going to seal the joint between the radar arch and hard top to ensure water doesn't come back into the cockpit.  I'm assuming that was your thought by the fact that you overlapped the hard top, which is a great idea.

rinker312

You've just hit my biggest concern all along.  I am securing it to the rail with half moon pipe clamps, and bolts with big fender washers on both sides.  The front piece has been on several weeks now and has been through some pretty nasty wind in my driveway and it seems very solid.  when under way, I am hoping that there will not be that much up pressure on it, as you will be sort of cutting through the air.  At least that is what I am hoping.  I think I have it down well enough that she won't just come flying off, and if there is too much pressure and it starts to crack, I can always glass in some metal reinforcement on the top, since you really don't see the top anyway.

I am securing it to the arch with bigger self tapping metal screws and fender washers, and yes I am sealing it with silicon, so with any luck I shouldn't get any leaks

Keep your fingers crossed for me, this is kind of an experiment that I am hoping will turn out well.  

MarkB

Okay. Go slow, take it in steps. There just might be an upward draft if the underside is in a closed up area, that being your windshield is closed up to the hard top, it is essentially still air on the undetside, and a suction on top as the wind blows past.

rinker312

Well here it is, finally done! It is not perfect, I could have done a better job finishing it, but I was so **** tired of sanding I just wanted to get it on and enjoy it.  I can always work on it some more next year as I would like to remove the arch and fix that, as it is all cracked up.  I love it, it seems to brighten up the whole cockpit area, and seems cooler sitting under that than the canvas.  We took her down the road about 60 miles to the lake and even at 60mph on the interstate it held on very solid and underway on the water, you don't hear the support rails rattle like they used to when the canvas was on them.  Thank you all for your support

JC290

Looks nice I'm jealous

Michael T

x

MarkB

Good job. No, great job.

OldDogNewTrix

Wow, great creation! Looks good!

Lifes Good

Looks great! Either color would be great. I would lean towards your daughters eye.

Dream_Inn

I think it looks fantastic! & the white would brighten it up a bit and keep things cooler!  Time to enjoy!

blueman9155

I'm surprised an aftermarket company has not come after this kind of business ? Great idea and looks great as well!!!