DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Questions about boat repairs with our resins and fiberglass: hull patches, transoms and stringers, foam, rot etc.
DAYTRIP
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DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by DAYTRIP »

I am building a hard top with my neighbor for his 33 Contender and thought I would share the process with you here. The top will be made on a cambered mold with the bottom side to the mold face. The mold is 8' wide and 12' long. Made it with plywood arches for the 1.5" camber shape then 2x4 bents between them. The arches are 2' on center and there are 5 bents. Then we applied 5/8 melamine across the arches. Then we put black mica on for a smooth final surface. The melamine would have been ok but since we are going to vacuum it down I thought the mica would help seal the surface better.
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The top will be 134" long and 81 inches wide in the back 72" in the front. We are using 2" pvc foam of various density depending on the location. Where the top attached to the legs we used 15 lb/ft3 foam. That is the dark cream foam 6" strips. The center section is H80 equivalent to accept the load of standing on it. The areas that will not have any load on the are H45 equivalent foam. In the last photo you can see the leave outs for the high density under the outriggers. We started piecing it together today and epoxied it up.
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I will use one 12oz 45/45 and one 12 oz 0/90 on the bottom. On the top the same with one more 45/45 in the area of the legs and door. Resign is the Marine epoxy. All of course from Bateau. I really have not found other epoxies that I like as much as the marine epoxy. Thought of using polyester but the working time of the epoxy and the strength are appealing given the use. All told the foam glass and resign is about 2k.

I made Templates in AutoCAD that we will use to cut the shape.

More photos once we make some progress!
Last edited by DAYTRIP on Thu Jul 23, 2015 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by NOTHING ELSE MATTERS »

Nice work. Any idea of how heavy it will be?

DAYTRIP
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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by DAYTRIP »

I am guessing a couple hundred pounds. The foam is right at 110 lbs. about 3lbs/sf?

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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by tech_support »

that is a nice mold, thanks for sharing it. Are you going to try to bag the whole thing at once or take one side at a time?

DAYTRIP
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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

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I was thinking one at a time Joel just to be sure the resin does not kick. I would do both at once if I thought I had the time. What do you think? Anyway to slow the marine epoxy down?

These are a couple screen shot from sketchup of what it should look like.


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DAYTRIP
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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by DAYTRIP »

Let me know if you want one before we destroy the mold. Better yet if you want to store it???? :)

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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by Walkers Run »

I would like to talk about using your mold. I might even be able to store it in my warehouse. I'm in Stuart.
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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by tech_support »

It would be a shame to break it down, it could be used for tops of any size.
I would do both at once if I thought I had the time. What do you think? Anyway to slow the marine epoxy down?
You can chill it and work fast. With two other people mixing, I think you could do it, especially if the mold is cool. It sure would be a lot safer one at a time though :)

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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by DAYTRIP »

WALKERS

Once we do his top and the buggy top I am sure you could use it. Kevin actually paid fo the materials bu I am fairly sure he will want it gone. I want to build one for me 25 but not sure when. What do you want to build? It has 1.5" of camber in 8' of width.

Joel , I am thinking safe given there are $2k in materials :o . You could build anything really on this although I think we are close to max size!

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Re: DAYTRIPs Hardtop Adventure

Post by DAYTRIP »

Made some progress on the top yesterday, Glued the balance of foam together with fast cure hardener and wood flour. I also printed full size tempate out to serve as the guild for cutting out the top. Uses a jig saw and followed the edge of the paper. I let Kevin cut it out since it is his. That way if he muffs it up he can't blame me! The final phot is the cut out shape. It feels lighter than I calculated so not sure how much it weighs yet. We guessed 75 lbs? :doh: Now we are going to round over edges and route in wire paths. I am itching ot lay this thing up!

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