30 Minute T-Top Cover

Night_Sailor

Night_Sailor

Member
I want a hard top--no time for that now.

Need parts, time, an a friends help for a soft top.

Anyway, I have too many other projects on the burner at the moment.

My fast solution: Two layers of shrink wrap.

Feel free to laugh. I know it is not the greatest, but it will hold up for a year at least.

I have a couple of burn through areas. I will tape those and or add another layer.


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Kinda reminds me of an old pair of drawers w a hole or two lol

Honestly most people might never notice if they weren't looking

Ya know they DO make zippers for shrink wrap... You could do a full enclosure n be the envy of the dock... Sorta ;-)
 
A bit of tape will fix the hole.

It is drum tight. I think it will last longer than I want it too. We shall see. I have too many other projects. I'd rather wait on repainting the T-Top and building a hard top.

I've seen canvas tops artached with zip ties, role, snaps, and wonder how fast they loosen up. I remember my day constantly tightening one up.

I want a hard top. They don't flap, provide a good mounting location for a solar panel, but weigh more. Perhaps I can build one out of Nomex and carbon fiber. It is a small enough project to be affordable with expensive materials.
 
smokeonthewater said:
Kinda reminds me of an old pair of drawers w a hole or two lol

Honestly most people might never notice if they weren't looking

Ya know they DO make zippers for shrink wrap... You could do a full enclosure n be the envy of the dock... Sorta ;-)
Click to expand...

I had my big boat wrapped up for 2.5 years and the shrink wrap never failed. It is an amazing material.

I am planning on building a temporary structure out of galvanized pipe, PVC pipe and shrink wrap. I am on ledge rock. I'm drilling into it with a core drill and dropping lengths of pipe into it. Doubled up hoops of PVC stagger duct taped together will make the ribs joined by 1x3 spines. I just need to decide on the final dinensions.

A friend built one for his boat and he has been using it for several years. He used clear shrink wrap. In the winter it gets up to 40-45 deg on sunny days. In the summer he throws a tarp over the top to block out the sun. 2x3 wall make up the ends with a simple door built the same way. It works.
 
Don't laugh, but a old fiberglass tonneu pickup bed cover will work with a little trimming and paint.

Look on craigslist.
 
there used to be a guy who advertised in the CCA magazine that made vinyl siding, he had a couple offshoots of his company that reflected his fishing passion. One was his vinyl fishing hat(not sure about that thing), the other was his t-top material, it was a vinyl sheet that replaced the fabric much like you did with teh shrink wrap. My freind that does t-tops often used prefinished fiberglass sheets(available in various thickness and colors) as a hardtop material. He'd lay it over the top, pencil the cut line, cut and finish the raw edges with gel and a paint brush. I've thought about using the prefinished bathroom wall panels available in home improvement stores
 
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