I just bought a SeaRay 1995 18-ft Laguna (fiberglass boat). It comes
with a T-top that came from the manufacturer (and probably installed by
the dealer?). Anyway, the T-top was one of the option that SeaRay
offered when the boat was new. I see some problem with the attachment
points where the T-top is anchored to the deck and the console:

- The T-top is being connected to the deck with only two front legs.
It doesn't have any rear leg. The T-top is also connected to the
vertical surface of the console (left and right side). In other words,
the console itself is being used as the rear legs of the T-top. In
term of horizontal distance between a deck connection point and a
console connection point, the distance is only 1-ft or 1-1/2-ft.

- The T-top is made with heavy duty material. This is good. But this
also means that it is quite heavy. The attachment points of the T-top
must be experiencing a lot of pressure.

- Because of the fact that the console attachment points serve as the
rear legs of the T-top, the attachment points on the console must be
experiening a lot of pressure. Unfortunately, the skin of the console
at the attachment point is quite thin; actually, the skin of the entire
console is thin. In my opinion, the console doesn't seem like a good
attachment point for the T-top. Anyway, the attachment points on the
console have quite some spider cracks on the fiberglass surface. At
this point, I don't want to fix the spider cracks because I have a
feeling that the spider cracks will come right back if I don't
strengthen the console itself. I am wondering what is the best way to
do this. I am thinking of doing one of the following to strength the
attachment point and the console: (1) Put epoxy/fiberglass inside the
console right from where the attachment point and down to the deck to
transfer the load from the attachment point to the deck. (2) Put
additional layers of epoxy/fiberglass inside the entire interior of the
console. (3) Or ask a metal fabricator to weld a pair of stainless
steel rear legs to the T-top and disconnect the T-top from the console.
Which way is the best?

- Currently, the front legs of the T-top are rest on the deck with a
rusted metal plate between the fiberglass deck and each of the front
legs. This is very odd and very ad-hoc and definitely don't look like
a part of the original package from the manufacturer. Oddly, the metal
plate is not screwed/bolted onto the deck other than the bolts that run
through the leg onto the fiberglass deck. I don't know what the
purpose that metal plate serves other than may be covering any spider
crack on the deck. I really want to get rid of the rusted metal
plates; but I am hesistate to do this without knowing what the metal
plate are for. Does anyone know anything about what their purpose may
be?

Does anyone have a similar boat that had this problem? How did you fix
the problem? What's the outcome?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jay Chan

Soooory, Jaykchan, but the number of posters here who could answer with
a credible engineering opinion is essentially Zero. They are all too
busy examining each other for possible rectal fissures to bother with
something as relevant as your question.
JR
send me a pic or drawing of the mounting and I'll opine off group.

wrote:
I just bought a SeaRay 1995 18-ft Laguna (fiberglass boat). It comes
with a T-top that came from the manufacturer (and probably installed by
the dealer?). Anyway, the T-top was one of the option that SeaRay
offered when the boat was new. I see some problem with the attachment
points where the T-top is anchored to the deck and the console:

- The T-top is being connected to the deck with only two front legs.
It doesn't have any rear leg. The T-top is also connected to the
vertical surface of the console (left and right side). In other words,
the console itself is being used as the rear legs of the T-top. In
term of horizontal distance between a deck connection point and a
console connection point, the distance is only 1-ft or 1-1/2-ft.

- The T-top is made with heavy duty material. This is good. But this
also means that it is quite heavy. The attachment points of the T-top
must be experiencing a lot of pressure.

- Because of the fact that the console attachment points serve as the
rear legs of the T-top, the attachment points on the console must be
experiening a lot of pressure. Unfortunately, the skin of the console
at the attachment point is quite thin; actually, the skin of the entire
console is thin. In my opinion, the console doesn't seem like a good
attachment point for the T-top. Anyway, the attachment points on the
console have quite some spider cracks on the fiberglass surface. At
this point, I don't want to fix the spider cracks because I have a
feeling that the spider cracks will come right back if I don't
strengthen the console itself. I am wondering what is the best way to
do this. I am thinking of doing one of the following to strength the
attachment point and the console: (1) Put epoxy/fiberglass inside the
console right from where the attachment point and down to the deck to
transfer the load from the attachment point to the deck. (2) Put
additional layers of epoxy/fiberglass inside the entire interior of the
console. (3) Or ask a metal fabricator to weld a pair of stainless
steel rear legs to the T-top and disconnect the T-top from the console.
Which way is the best?

- Currently, the front legs of the T-top are rest on the deck with a
rusted metal plate between the fiberglass deck and each of the front
legs. This is very odd and very ad-hoc and definitely don't look like
a part of the original package from the manufacturer. Oddly, the metal
plate is not screwed/bolted onto the deck other than the bolts that run
through the leg onto the fiberglass deck. I don't know what the
purpose that metal plate serves other than may be covering any spider
crack on the deck. I really want to get rid of the rusted metal
plates; but I am hesistate to do this without knowing what the metal
plate are for. Does anyone know anything about what their purpose may
be?

Does anyone have a similar boat that had this problem? How did you fix
the problem? What's the outcome?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jay Chan



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Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth

send me a pic or drawing of the mounting and I'll opine off group.

I will have to get back to you on this one on this Friday when I have a
day off to get a close look on the T-top attachment points. Thanks for
your offer.

Jay Chan