Ok, maybe it wasn't that easy, but it wasn't that tuff either. It was more time consuming than anything. After looking at a lot of Trojans on boats.com and Yachtworld to find what I might like, I just started drawing pictures and doing measurements on the boat, how high I wanted it so I could still fold the canvas back if I wanted to, how wide at the top, how wide at the bottom, how far apart the bows should be and at what angle they should stand to clear the back of the canvas. I had the canvas shop bend the bows the same way he would for a big boat top, measuring from the middle to get the top width, he enjoyed being part of it all, after all I bought the 1 1/4" tubing from him. The bends weren't perfect in length but the legs had to be trimmed off a little anyway later. It turned out that a twenty foot stick was the perfect length to go all the way over with it tilted back (plastic protractor) at 116% from 0 on the front bow. And then measured the top spread of the bows 12" apart and the bottom of the bows 32". The whole thing just kind of started coming together when I hung the bows on the garage door and tied them together with twine and 2x4s cut at 11" in between the bows to maintain the spread I wanted and the tilt I wanted also. Once I had the bows tied in place to the door, pickup truck, tractor and anything else I could tie to, which was the hard part gettin the bows in the same position as I wanted on the boat, I cut the rear bow to length, it has a different tilt angle and had to be cut about a foot shorter, not forgetting a 3% to 5% downward tilt to the radar mounting plate when finished. Then I started measuring and cutting the cross braces and radar and antenna mounting plates and started tack welding (after much practice on scraps). If the welds look too much like bird poop just grind them off smooth or grind them out and weld them again, using NEW grinding wheels, new wire brush and new paddle wheel sanding discs for a hand drill because any contamination from a dirty wire brush or disc will make the stainless rust. Also, stainless welding spatters so you need a clean file to knock off all the little spatter bumps. After it's finished, polish with a high speed buffer and compound, (aggressively). With these measurements and the boat top mounting hardware, I can fold the radar arch down if I need to without taking it off or disconnecting anything, just remove the forward bolts (or pins) and the side braces on the side of the flybridge (one screw on each side) and lay it down on some homemade braces in the cockpit. Stainless is so soft that it is easy to bend back to where you need to mount it in the spot you want. I used a wire come-along and nylon straps from upper corner to one leg at a time as needed to bend the legs in to get it to fit on the boat right. Tubing and fittings, $300...the smile on my face from the pride of doing it myself,,,,priceless. Oh, and thanks for showing me how to put the picture on here.
