My catamaran, and well as the most of the others sold by PDQ, have a hardtop.
Its strong enough to walk on, and provides a platform for three solar panels and
the traveler. I love it, and was one of the reasons we got a new boat, rather
than the earlier versions with a "soft top." We keep most of the canvas up on
it, but arranged for hooks that allows folding the "windshield" under the top
(see pic below). We do this most of the time, as it increases ventilation,
visibility, and communication with the bow. For nasty weather, we have full
surround so we can seal up the helm area. The Sun will warm it up - very handy
when you're getting an early start on a fall morning. The entire enclosure has
8 panels, so we have a lot of options on how much we want to use.

The factory had some issues designing this. They wanted it to be very light,
yet strong enough to be walked on and support the traveler. They ended up with
eight very strong supports, and carbon fiber reinforcement. The cost to
retrofit earlier boats was something like 4 to 5 thou, and I'm not sure that
included the traveler support.

One compromise approach I've seem used is a solid framework of stainless tubing,
covered with canvas. This can include a "walkway," and solar panel mounting
area. I've seen a very nice one with screens, windows, and shade panels.

Here's my builders site - you'll have to surf to find pics:
http://www.pdqyachts.com/ver2/yachts...lFrameSet.html

Here's ours, with our 8 year old "at the helm" - we were 20 miles offshore at
the time:
http://www.sv-loki.com/img_1415.jpg


"Rick & Linda Bernard" wrote in message
...
Any comments or suggestions on replacing a bimini-dodger with a fiberglass
hardtop? I am in the initial planning stages and looking for input.

Thanks