Wood roof on A25

[tribologist]

I thought this roof was kind of elegant! Saw it on the Swedish Albin Facebook group so I asked for a few more images.

[WillieC]

I like that! A few gallons of epoxy and a few more of Epiphanes and viola!

I could be so done with our one off hardtop. With a little thought you could plan out wiring chases and lighting. Maybe next winter if OSB drops back below $75 a sheet.

[nebulatech]

A very cool design, thank you for sharing! I like the overhang over the windshield, the aft sidewall extension and the exposed beams inside. They did a good job with the sliding hatches also. I'm curious how they handled the wiring for the solar panel, since it is on a moving panel. Of interest to note is that even though the owners went through the trouble to build a hard top, they still chose to leave a section of canvas at the rear. This choice preserves the ability to get some overhead sunlight and alleviates the need for rear supports. I wonder what impact it has on the boarding process, or rather getting into and out of the cockpit. That seems to be an area of concern for both hard and soft tops.

WIllieC, I have never read you speaking ill of your hard top. I've been impressed with the pictures I've seen of yours. Apart from wiring and lighting, are there other areas of improvement would you look for if you were to redesign your top?

[WillieC]

It is a confluence of design issues which we have come to live with so it really isn't that bad.
Here goes:

The inside is "unfinished" fiberglass. We are spoiled by the smooth inside top of the galley/vee berth ceiling since ours is The DeLuxe Model, v2.

The wiring in the original structure is failing and the interface between the original structure and the overlayed hardtop is sorely lacking, especially to this union electrician.

When we bought the boat, the outside was a mess of failing fiberglass due to years of neglect, avian excreta, and exposed marina storage. A bunch of epoxy and untold cans of the expensive marine bondo has corrected most of that, but I stopped short of re-glassing the surface. I probably should have done so, but I was up to my neck in new boater skills overload. I need to keep a close eye on any crackage and repair/touch up annually.

The grab bar mounting bolts are buried in between the two tops. This really only affects the two forward rails, but simple refinishing and tightening of same is a major pain, so it doesn't get done. Let alone proper rebedding, another whole topic.

The original bronze chrome mast mount is AWOL, so a PO has fashioned a wood plate for the mounting, complete with its necessary love and care that wood boaty stuff requires, and also provides six more holes in the top for water ingress. Kill me now. (Any AOGers have the original fitting gathering dust, anyone, anyone, Buehler?)

The wiring to the nav light, besides never having been properly installed all the way from the dashboard with a two pole switch (ever heard an electrician whine before?) is all fubar. In my early years I found a brass fitting that I made into a proper wiring port in the flat top and then ran pex up to the light fixture in which I buried the butt splices. (The original wiring was buried inside the mast with a hole in the top, just a hole mind you.) How many code violations is that, which nags the very core of my relativistic, shallow, self-absorbed retired electrician soul? But I digress.

Did I mention pulling the 650 pound engine and its replacement without removing the top? Totally doable. Modern humanity can still build pyramids. As noted, I was deep into a whole new world when I refreshed my first diesel engine and wasn't about to re-invent the wheel with all that the hardtop really requires. It was easier to leave it in place for a future project. And this was before I learned of Mr. K's e-z boat winter boat cover. Though I have a shop, it is only 24 feet deep. I should have bought an A23.

Ingress and egress is evermore bone crunching and spinal deforming as the years take their toll on these aging bodies. The gull wing designs are very appealing. Just need to find a totalled Delorean that didn't scratch the doors.

We do love the cover, shade, weather protection and general look of the HT. Now that I made a couple recesses in the built in gutter rails it even sort of drains better, reducing the inherent damage and "@#$%#@ I just put my hand in it again!!" factor of pooling bird discharge.

Other than that, It's perfect!