Re: Adding a T-Top to my Aqua Sport
Hi Tony. I've been playing with the idea of the hardtop,too. This is what I came up with.<br />For the support cage, 1" stainless pipe. Schedule 40 is plenty thick, and will provide enough support without adding massive amounts of weight. I figured to do 2 pieces of that, extending from stbd. to port-up and over the deck. One piece is mounted behind the driver console, and the other piece is mounted in front of the windshield. I don't have a protractor with me, but it'll angle toward the center. Between those two pieces, I'll tig-weld two crossbeams in place, so they basically give support forward to aft between the two pieces of bent pipe. At the bottom, where it will mount to the boat, I'll tig a piece of plate on each of the four legs for flush mounting. <br />For the actual hardtop, I'm really intent on it being light but durable. This is harder to explain than envision, but it would go about like this:<br />Take a 2x4, the width of the boat(with an overhang). Going down the length of it, round it down in front. Take two more, which must line up with the cross-beams of your frame. These 3 pieces need to be fastened together. Simple enough. For the edges, which should overhang the boat sides by just a hair(drain-off), take 2 more 2x4's that are cut to the length you want your hardtop to be, and with 45 degree angles at the front. I'll take about 1/4 inch off of these so that there is drainageway on top when it's finished. Sand the outer edges around like with the front, and fasten the 3 pieces together using 45 degree cuts. Round the front corners off so there is a nice looking, rounded corner on it. Use the calibrated eyeball for squareness, and sand it until you're happy. Go back to your pipe frame, and tig a couple of pieces of plate flush to the top of your front-stbd. to port piece. Do one each on the two support beams, toward the aft end. These are mounted flush to the sky. Lay your 2x4 frame down on top of your new cage, and pre-drill holes through the plate and 2x4's for your fasteners. <br />Now, I don't know what it's called, but at home depot you can buy a nut that is hammered in from the back side of your bolt hole. It has spikes on it, and it will allow you to bolt up and through something without allowing the bolt to ever free-spin. My kid's swingset had these fasteners. If anyone knows what it's called, I'd love to hear it. From the top of the holes in the 2x4, nail those nuts down into the wood. Lay the wood back up there, and run a bolt up and in to be sure they're aligned. Make sure your bolt is a little long, because there's more to add to that frame yet. An extra 1/2 inch or so should cover it, but make sure the bolt won't extend past the nut when your product is finished. Those backing nuts are deep, so this won't be a problem. <br />Take that top down and take some of that 1/16" particle board they sell at home depot. It'll flex just the little bit that you need. Cut it to size, and screw it down, top and bottom of the frame. Don't go all the way over the curves, but just onto the edges of the outside 2x4's. Sand/fair this into the 2x4's. Brace it all, and pour urethane foam in the center. Glass the whole thing, keeping your holes open, and you have a custom hardtop that probably doesn't weigh much over 30 or 40 lbs. You can remove it when it isn't in use. You can remove the frame fairly quickly, and as it's glassed, you can paint it to match the boat. I can't tell you I've done it yet, but I'm planning to, so if anyone has anything to add, or better ideas, I'd love to hear them. I will tell you that it will probably take just a couple of days, and only that long because of fiberglass and paint. It won't cost the outrageous amounts they sell for, either. If mine comes out nice enough, maybe I'll advertise.
<br />By the way, I saw this posted on another forum, and missed it-you might want to add a 3/8 to 1/2" spoiler toward the back. It will guide water over the sides rather than down your buddy's neck if he's standing under the back end of your hardtop. <br />I've no doubt that you can attach the snap-fasteners for vinyl between your top and the windshield, or that if you want to spend the money, you can have a one-piece vinyl cover custom-made to cover sides, back, and windshield. There's all kinds of places you can go with that, and since I don't sew, I guess I'll be coughing up the cash for it.
