'89 Sportfisher dual console panel

[dbetterred]

Your new panel looks very nice. Better than factory. The wellcraft engravings make the piece. Very Nice! Too bad about the tower. Were you on top when the weld cracked?

[tsubaki]

Ditto what db said!!!
Leave the tower off and treat it as a hardtop!!
Add rodholders, curtains, etc.

[bcmarinamanager]

Love the panel too! How was the stability with that tower on there? I know the V's can be pretty rocky with such a deep v and farely narrow waterline beam. I like the concept though. As far as making it detachable, maybe have the ends of the top and the bottom of the tower rounded, and have one side or the other slotted to fit together with pins to hold them together? That way you just pull the pins and presto! the tower comes off. The controls would be another issue altogether though. Maybe hinge it to just fold forward. I'm looking at the possiblity of fabbing up a suedo-keel fin to mount just forward of mid-ships for better tracking, and also fabbing an extension to be mounted and bonded onto the chines for more lift and a drier ride.

[bcmarinamanager]

Oh I almost forgot. The reason your welds broke is probably from lack of angular support. The top should have some 45's welded in there to counter back and forth and side to side movement. With just the straight legs it doesn't stand a chance. CROSS SUPPORT!!

[stuarbc]

As for the tower....it was on when I bought the boat used a few months ago. The issue was the weight. There was a box that housed all of the steering and throttle components and it weighed a good 30-50 pounds with all of the equipment. Then, for some reason, there was a backboard made of solid wood that weighed about 30 pounds or so itself....I meant to take it off as it made no sense to have it on there.

Anyway....all that weight....along with no cross support......and crappy welds......the tower didnt stand a chance. I wanted to take it off anyway....it made trailering a pain in the butt!!

I wouldn't say that it made the boat more unstable....unless someone was up there....but it really wasn't that bad......but the boat feels tons lighter without it and actually got about 5 mph more out of her this weekend.

When the tower goes back up it will be detachable and will not have controls.....just a sighting tower!!

[stuarbc]

Any ideas for a material for the hard top?

Currently there is an ugly piece of some sort of plywood up there that is rotting away...of course (again...not my work....I am fixing all the previous owners short comings)

I know the obvious answer would be starboard....but that is awfully pricy.....was looking for other ideas....and thought about that compressed board stuff that they sell at lowe's for outdoor decks....that stuff is super strong, somewhat bendable, and weather resistant......was think that they may sell it in sheets that I could cut to fit the top....what do you think? other ideas?