I'd suggest you look at Nida-Core as well. It's much lighter than
Starboard and costs a heck of a lot less, bends readily to a curve, and
is strong. Cover it with fiberglass and resin, and you've got yourself
an indestructible hard top. If I ever replace our bimini, I'll use
Nida-Core. It is a structural honey-comb that comes in various
thicknesses. I've used it on several smaller projects (replacing the
deck core, for one).

You can read about it here: http://nida-core.com/english/

<><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young              Manatee Cove Marina
MV Sanderling                            Patrick Air Force Base
DeFever 41 Trawler                      Melbourne, Florida
Blog: http://sanderlingcruise2010.blogspot.com/
Pics: http://tinyurl.com/yjx2vky&  http://tinyurl.com/yhxjvas

On 1/21/2011 5:25 PM, SeaLubber7@aol.com wrote:

Ed:

I went through the same exercise a few years back. I was concerned about
adding weight up top where it causes the most problem. I wound up with
two aluminum tops made from tube. You can get them to cover them with
fabric or what I did which was a thin fiberglass cover that looks better
than the fabric. The top is only 1/8" thick and is gel coated.

This is the guy that made and installed them. He did a great job.

*http://www.ccmarinetowers.com/

Frank Burrows    79 43' Viking  Piney Narrows  Chesapeake Bay
*

On 1/21/2011 5:25 PM, SeaLubber7@aol.com wrote:

As an aside, you might consider, when replacing the top,  coating the tubing
if it's pitting.  We used a CeRam-Kote base, with splendid mechanical and
aesthetic results.
Leonard Brunotte

-----Original Message-----
From:
trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces+lb=myguardian.com@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces+lb=myguardian.com@lists.samurai.
com]On Behalf Of Frank Burrows
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 5:37 PM
To: Trawlers List
Subject: Re: T&T: hard tops

Ed:

I went through the same exercise a few years back. I was concerned about
adding weight up top where it causes the most problem. I wound up with
two aluminum tops made from tube. You can get them to cover them with
fabric or what I did which was a thin fiberglass cover that looks better
than the fabric. The top is only 1/8" thick and is gel coated.

This is the guy that made and installed them. He did a great job.

*http://www.ccmarinetowers.com/

Frank Burrows    79 43' Viking  Piney Narrows  Chesapeake Bay
*

On 1/21/2011 5:25 PM, SeaLubber7@aol.com wrote:

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Ed,
Sounds like what you have in mind is to use your old bimini metal frame (I'm
hoping it is stainless), and just replace the fabric?  In that case you will
want to keep the covering material light weight.  Starboard is very easy to
work.  It saws and drills easily with woodworking tools.  It can be easily
heat-formed to curved shapes.  But it is nearly impossible to glue.  Its
weakness for your application is that it is not very stiff, so it needs
support structure placed rather close together.  You might get away with 1/4
inch Starboard., deending on your span between supports, which would be
rather heavy.

Fiberglass sheet might be a better choice, as it is much stiffer, so could
be made thinner (say, 1/8") without sagging too much between the tubes.  Use
glass cloth rather than mat and roving for a good finish and higher
stiffness and strength.

The stiffest, strongest and lightest material would be fiberglass over a
core of PVC foam or Nidacore.  I've used both for pilothouse roofs.
Nidacore has superior properties, but is harder to work with than structural
foam, and both are expensive.  For a very lightweight and inexpensive (in
materials) top, try using 1/2" or 3/4" styrofoam core (from Home Depot),
with 1 layer of 10 oz glass cloth on each side, applied with epoxy resin
(polyester resin eats styrofoam).  The foam is not strong locally, so some
harder material may be needed in way of the attachment points.

Mark Richter, "Winnie the Pooh", Ortona, FL on the Okeechbee Waterway
Mark's Mobile Marine
General boat repairs at my dock or yours
Specializing in electrical system design, installation and repair

Subject: T&T: hard tops