1977 F32 DRIP EDGE

[river of dreams]

I HAVE RECENTLY PURCHASED A 1977F32 AND I HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THE EDGE OF THE BRIDGE SEPARATING AT THE DRIP EDGE WHAT IS THE FIX FOR THIS I HAVE FOUND A SOURCE OF WATER GETTING TO THE EDGE IT WAS THROUGH THE SCREWS HOLDING THE DRIP EDGE ON. HAS ANY ONE REMOVED THE DRIP EDGE AND DID AWAY WITH IT MY F30 TROJAN DIDNT HAVE THIS
ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT

[jordan]

My 77 F32 was split at the drip edge also, I re- fiberglassed it, it looked great until next spring! It was all blown out again. There is water inside and when it froze it broke everything apart again. Now I'm cutting the fly bridge floor open and letting it dry out, then replacing the rotten wood. I'm not going to use the old metal drip edge again. I'm going to use a vinyl self adhesive drip edge, it looks just like the original but no holes necessary.

Hope that helps, Jim

[Nancy]

Jim, you might want to consider omitting the drip edge entirely. A friend did this on his '76 F-32 express, and it looks great. The drip edge doesn't serve much purpose when it rains as it's so small.

[Paul]

I had the same problem with the sides of the hard top on my F-26. I repaired it 9 years ago and haven't had a problem since.

This is what I did. First, I carefully removed the the drip edge and set it aside for re-installation once the repair was completed. Then, using a cordless circular saw with a 1/8" thick blade set to cut about an 1 1/4" deep, I cut a nice clean groove between the upper and lower halves along both sides of the roof. Next, I injected the groove with West System 105 epoxy resin mixed with hardener the 406 filler to bond the halves together then clamped them snugly with C-clamps and 2 x 4 s. I tightened the clamps until I had a nice even edge across the entire length then wiped off the excess adhesive. After a 24 hr cure I removed the clamps, then using the cordless circular saw with the blade positioned vertically I trimmed an 1/8" off of the edge (face) of the roof. (I did this free hand however if you're not comfortable doing this I'd recommend using a guide) I then added a 1/8" layer of fiberglass roving to this edge (face) with West System 105 resin mixed with hardener to join the two halves and replace the face thickness that I trimmed off. After a 24 hr cure I sanded it all smooth. Now I re-installed the drip edge by positioning it and drilling new screw holes and sealing every screw with Life Seal. Lastly, using masking tape I tapped off and laid 3/16" bead of Life Seal joining the upper edge of the drip rail and the roof. This sealed things up and hid a few tool marks that would otherwise have been visible.

Tips:
1- If you are getting water into the core, seal up any screw holes that may be contributing to this and vacuum out as much moisture as you can when you open the gap between the two halves.
2- Driving small screws into the edge like the ones that hold the drip edge in place are no problem. However driving larger screws like for antennae mast standoffs etc should be avoided since this can cause cracks between the two halves. In this case you're better off drilling holes and epoxying in threaded inserts to fasten the standoffs.

Hope this helps,

[Commissionpoint]

Jim, you might want to consider omitting the drip edge entirely. A friend did this on his '76 F-32 express, and it looks great. The drip edge doesn't serve much purpose when it rains as it's so small.

Its on my list Nancy. When I figure out the solution I will be sure to tell everyone about it.