bertram31.com

Hi All,

I am going to glass the roof on tonight and want to make sure I am thinking out all the items that I want to accomplish so no rework later on...

1st - Do you think there is enough bonding area on the inside alone to hold on the top, roughly 40" wide and front to back 44"? I was thinking 2 layers of 1708 covered in 1.5oz mat
https://photos.app.goo.gl/P7hbRSSV8xi2vdet6

2nd - pre-planning for mounting my outriggers - I am worried about how much torque I could generate running with the riggers and want to make sure the area is well supported.

I have lees top mount bases like the ones in the link below - not sure which model, they aren't on Lees site anymore
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threa ... 29&slide=0

I have Taco telescoping 2" diameter 15' poles and I was thinking that I would like the riggers to be as far back as possible on the top to try to get the release back on the lines right but I do not want the rigger mounts to be over an area which is unsupported from below. My thoughts are to beef up the glass joint from wall to top at the very end and mount the riggers on top of that area.

Ideas in my head are:
- mount the bases so 1/2 of the bolts are inside the doghouse wall, 1/2 outside
- oversize drill out the bolt holes, fill with epoxy/filler then drill out proper size holes. Large washers
- I think the VHF panel will act as a gusset, It will get mounted roughly 18" in from the back face of the doghouse, the front rigger bolts hidden behind the panel, the back ones visible, so I might want to put an excess of glass holding that panel in front side and back as well as on the top to the roof.


Anything I am not thinking of?? suggestions? - I am most concerned with stuff I could glass in now in preparation.

Wow. You are going to mount outriggers? I think you asking alot of thin nida-core panels and a layer or 2 of 1708. The doghouse is very tall and has small surface area in contact with the boat. Torsional loads might twist the doghouse it like a pretzel and/or rip the top off.

In my opinion there is not enough capacity in the structure to support the big roof, let alone the roof + outriggers. This is why production boats with thin section consoles have a jungle gym of aluminum pipe to support T-Top assemblies. The loads need to be carried by the deck, not the console, unless you make a big strong, wide, long console.

But, that's just my opinion.

Cam,

That doghouse won't twist - there is plenty of cross structure in there to prevent that. As for holding it down to the boat, I created a 3/8" thick fiberglass flange - 3 layers of 1708 outside, 3 layers 1708 inside which goes 12" up the sides of the console. The other part not shown will be the metal work I will eventually get next year to support the back of the roof and tie it into the leaning post.

here's a crude drawing of how it will end up, that I drew quite a while back. The back of the riggers will line up with the back edge of the doghouse. The metal work out back will have a series of rod holders, one of which will be set to use a regular rod as the center rigger - that one will be fun to get down when and if it gets hit.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZaXwmHZm7TKqzQw67

lunch time fun, sanded the top and doghouse to glass and cut VHF panel and scribed it to fit - the cheesy 2x3 and clamps will need to be better thought out and supported before glassing it in but will get you an idea of how this will look. I think I will have to glass this in 1st getting the top on, then 2nd adding the vhf panel.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YKbSZujoAwhSVhTe7

Cam,

In consideration of your viewpoint I glassed 2 layers on both sides as well as added 2 larger sections of 1708 inside and outside under where the outrigger bases will go. The 4 layers is glass all together on 1 side of the wall should be about 1/4" thick. The thought to those extra pieces of glass is that I could bolt the outrigger base through the roof and into the L shaped glass, then I could also bolt through the wall and connect both pieces of glass mechanically on top of the adhesive nature of the resin. The concept I have to do dual duty on the wall bolts by mounting a grab handle either inside or outside the doghouse.

here's a quick paint drawing of what I was thinking
https://photos.app.goo.gl/aRS4Dw7s18iWQU7w8

I went out after my 8am meeting and the glass is curing up nicely, the areas inside under the plastic with 500 watt halogen I put on last night was rock hard but the outside still has a little tacky.

Feeling that the top had cured enough I tried hanging from the back of the roof and found that it would support my #210 weight for a few seconds before the balance of the whole unit tilted back because it was just resting on the ground.