My A25 renovation blog

[kerrye]

I raised the edges of the roof and flattened the whole thing to produce our roof. Pictures here somewhere I think.

[kerrye]

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[DesertAlbin736]

I've noted how our 2014 hard top project was accomplised. First, I only covered the roof opening above the helm and made a modified copy of the original stock canvas enclosure design. Yes, there's the "crown" curvature to deal with. So my solution was to make a fiberglass layup cored with diviny cell foam coring. I was only able to get that type of coring in sheets of 1/4 inch thickness, so I alternated layers of chopped strand mat with layers of coring. So in order to make a fiberglass layup like this I had to make a one-off mold out of scrap lumber and smooth surface masonite paneling first. To make the mold I needed to have a pattern. Actually two patterns using 1/2 inch thick styrofoam sheet insulation, one for the horizontal shape, the other to trace the vertical "crown" curve. The curves at the front edge are actually slightly different than the aft edge.
This first photo shows shows the front and rear of the mold frame establishing the curves, cut from a piece of plywood and 2x10 pine board glued & screwed to bases.

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The port & starboard edges are not curved. Since the layup is "upside down" in the mold, I marked which sides and ends were port, starboard, forward & aft to avoid confusion. In the upper left background of this photo the horizontal pattern can be seen leaned up against the wall.

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Frames were made for a pair of openings for 18x18 inch roof hatches, leaving room in the center for the 20 watt solar panel that came with the boat. Again, the foam pattern can be seen leaning up against the storage cabinet doors.

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The completed mold. Note that the forward edge is not only "crown" curved, but curved horizontally, so that side of the mold frame had to be pulled & blocked to match that curve. Also note the edges being filleted with mold clay.

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Then there was the matter of pre-cutting & fitting the 'glass mat and foam coring, getting everything staged for laying up. Then coating the mold with release wax & PVA. No such thing as having too many C and bar clamps!

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Then the fun of actual layup with isothalic resin. All had to be temperature controlled. This was done in the fall when the garage was naturally near room temperature.

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Framing the hatch openings was the most difficult. The openings are framed with 3/4" birch ply all glassed in. Also added plywood backers for the hatch hinges and anchor points for the solar panel.

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Although there were some voids & thin spots in the gelcoat that had to be filled & in the end painted with Interlux deck paint, it turned out well.

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Through bolted on 8" centers, sealed with 3M 4200 (removable) adhesive/sealer. Totally 100% water tight.

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[DesertAlbin736]

Love your blog! You've done a great job so far. Am a bit envious of the front boarding ladder, but of course we have our anchor bowsprit in place. The bow-in docking/mooring while stern tied to a buoy is interesting, especially up against a rock boulder shoreline. Here's what they do with steep shores in BC, Canada, dropping anchor and stern tying to shore with floating polyester line. Needless to day, having a dinghy is a necessity in these cases. This was the only time we did a stern tie on this year's cruise.

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[ppaalo]

I raised the edges of the roof and flattened the whole thing to produce our roof. Pictures here somewhere I think.

We were attempting something similar and kind of got the front curvature to match but when the wife saw it she didn't like the look of it so one more reason to scrap the whole idea.

[ppaalo]

Love your blog! You've done a great job so far. Am a bit envious of the front boarding ladder, but of course we have our anchor bowsprit in place. The bow-in docking/mooring while stern tied to a buoy is interesting, especially up against a rock boulder shoreline. Here's what they do with steep shores in BC, Canada, dropping anchor and stern tying to shore with floating polyester line. Needless to day, having a dinghy is a necessity in these cases. This was the only time we did a stern tie on this year's cruise

Thanks! It's very common around these parts to dock this way, both at the marinas with buoy and at cliffs/beaches with anchor and for sure the ladder helps a lot.