Trojan Boat Forum

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.

Beautiful!! Nice work.

Feel like making another one?

Wowzer ...

Thats beautiful! I plan to do almost the exact same thing - but will attach it to the tops of the bridge fiberglass, and the downward sloping rear fiberglass on the bridge (= shorter legs, and I don't have any curtains), but the rest will be similar, using the same 1" polished Type 304 stainless we manufacture out T-Topless folding T-Tops from.

I plan to install LED Nav lights + a solar LED NAV light + 2 antennas, Radar and TV antenna on it. I can't wait to get rid of that annoying nav light in front of the bridge (what were they thinking?).

Once the light is gone, the topside (bridge, decks & cockpit) will be sanded, holes files, and repainted with AwlGrip.

Fun Spring!

Congrats again on a nice job - welding stainless is fun, huh?

Nice Job !!!!!

Nice work.

I purchased my arch from Atlantic Towers and paid a bunch for it.
http://www.atlantictowers.com

If you plan on building an arch go to the site and click on photofinder. The photos may help in planning & designing your arch. You you can see arches they built installed on your boat model.

Atlantic Towers now has arches in a box which can be adjusted to fit your boat. Neat concept...

http://atlantictowers.com/at_sub/products_s_ra.html

Stripermann2 wrote:Atlantic Towers now has arches in a box which can be adjusted to fit your boat. Neat concept...

http://atlantictowers.com/at_sub/products_s_ra.html

Nice idea, but maximum width of the arch in a box is 106". I'm not sure it will be wide enough for the F32.

Gerry, I think it's says 108" which is 9'. That would be plenty at the top I think...

I stand corrected.
I see they have 3 models of prefab arches. The widest, model ASF246, has a width between 104-124" at the base of the legs. I believe this will even fit the F-36.

Atlantic looks nice, and not expensive @ $1499, and folds down (like our T-Topless for Center Consoles).



this isn't the best picture they could have picked to show it ...


I think Wowzer's looks great, and its stainless, which will never crack from fatigue, but it took him many hours (100?) ...

Thanks guys, for the compliments. It took about 50 hrs. total, a couple hrs here and a couple hrs there for two weeks after work then on the weekends I was able to really get something done. That's not counting the many hours I spent standing on the dock staring at the boat trying to imagine what, with a blank look on my face. I haven't mounted my new radios yet but I did get the radar and two GPS's mounted. I'll mount the antennas one on each side of the arch so I can fold them down when I need to. If I could have found the stainless mounting hardware, I originally thought about mounting the arch like the one on the "Sea Breeze" but then after picking up the radar scanner I thought I might be able to get a little more strength by mounting to the top and having the side braces for more sway control for that heavy radar scanner, it felt like it weighs about 50 pounds when I put it up there by myself (tied a rope to it, crawled up on top and pulled it up, that was fun). The smaller dome scanners only weigh about ten pounds and that would be great but my wife says I always have to overdo everything and I couldn't brake suit.

nice, nice and nice!