Mounting hard-top

[Smackhawk]

I have just received my 25Walk here in Far north Queensland - all the way from Georgia, now time to get her ready for "sea-trials".

The hard-top was removed for the transport, which has posed me a few problems.

1. The transport company cut ALL the wires, for the VHF radio, Raytheon radar, GPS antenna, lights, everything.
Not sure if half of those are capable of being spliced back together... anyone think it's possible... should I just give it a go? Where the wires enter the cabin at the stbd side behind the driver seat, most cables have retracted in. Are they accessible?

2. I found backing plates for the hard-top in the wells behind the cockpit seats, are there backing plates for all mounting points? Should I put any sealant or rubber between the hardtop and the mounting points?

I'll post pics in a few days, heading overseas for a week. Work - how dare it get in the way of fishing!

Cheers

[231CALIFORNIA]

Opinion, splice everything -except the antenna coax lead, that you might be best to get a cable  "Union" type adapter ,  and connect it in place of a splice.
dont know for sure about any data wires if any ,but pure electrical --like power, negative commons, spot /flood/spreader lights, speakers,wipers,horns, instruments etc should be no problem. if the wires ends are in the helm pod or cabin sidewing you should be able to access them through access plates.
I have heard that there may be issues with splicing sounder/finder transducer cables but im not aware of specifics.
make good clean tight  reliable and sealed connections .
A couple of the guys here sound like engeneers and electricians  if you have any specific questions.

if there was no rubber before you dont likely need it on the tower feet/mountings but you will want some sealant anywhere there is a hole at least.
I presonnly like plastic or rubber to Pad any stress points but you may not need it.

[brad1951]

There should be backing plates for all of the mounting "feet". If any are missing they can be fabricated from 1/4 alum plate. At the factory we use a non hardening putty tape to seal the bolts, no rubber or sealant between the feet and fiberglass. Some of the wiring that was cut can be a challenge to resplice but if you can obtain some butt conectors used in phone/data type installations you may salvage some of the wireing. The vhf and radar may be a bit of a challange but it is doable

[Smackhawk]

Thanks for the responses guys, it's the cable for the radar and the RL70C display that I am most concerned about. There is a Raymarine expert in my small town who a friend has told me is a guru, so will take it in to him to see what can be done about the Raymarine network cables.

At the factory we use a non hardening putty tape to seal the bolts, no rubber or sealant between the feet and fiberglass.

I have all the backing plates and bolts etc - one of the plates inside the cabin has had the paint peel off so will repaint that one, It was left on the floor and must have stayed damp, others look perfect. Is that non-hardening putty tape like plumbing tape? I noticed my hardtop mounting points had silicone sealant around them. Are you saying not to worry about doing that again?

[Smackhawk]

Here a few pics.

Nearly ready to mount the top on. I have 4 screws left over, 2 long and 2 short. Are these for the securing the hardtop to the sides of the cockpit? I couldn't find a backing plate for these side mounts, just the bracket on the hardtop itself that lines up pwith these holes. Are they just screwed into the fibreglass (with some putty tape)?

Cheers

Dion

[Smackhawk]

Got the top up! Still working on the wiring... one of the cables is an HSB cable for the Raymarine networking... but as I've been deployed... again... getting this boat back to 100% as was before she was shipped is taking awhile!

[n2striper]

Nice boat !! I have a 22 walk with hard top and strataglass curtains. I am VERY HAPPY with my boat. Enjoy yours!

[Smackhawk]

Got my wires routed and spliced!
Was up til 2am prior to heading overseas... I was on a roll, couldn't stop! It was very rewarding to get the radar up, and see the waypoints popping up as I created them on the plotter/sounder!

Learned a few of things.

1. Practise splices for difficult things like coax & data with offcuts prior to attempting main wires!
2. You can splice HSB and data cables, just takes more forethought of how long to leave various wires. eg, stagger your joins!
3. Double check you've put all your various heat shrinks over all your wires before you start joining, especially the big final one - which must go on first. (I forgot once and had to cut and re-do 3 splices I had already completed!)

Cheers!

• apenny
• Intrepid