1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

[LastCall1983]

Hi,

I have a 1977 Stamas 24' cuddy cabin with a hardtop. The hardtop mounts directly to the windshield and comes out, with an aluminum tube coming up at an angle on each side to support the back. The issue is the hardtop is only about 5'9" from the deck floor and I'm 6' tall. Everytime i turn around I'm bashing my head on the hardtop.

I've thought about just hinging the top on the windshield, and putting another rectangle aluminum tube just a hair larger over it as a sleeve, then screwing it at the bottom and top all way through to secure it to the original tubing. I'm worried then about It being too steep of an angle on the hardtop and causing the boat to dive a little (may not happen) as well as the hardtop then not being suitable to lay on. (My wife loves to sun bathe on the top).

My second option was to get strips of UHMW that are the same thickness as the windshield frame, cut at the same angle as the windshield is, then screw into that through the frame. Make pocket screw holes in the UHMW and screw into the hardtop, but I'm not sure how it will hold up. I could probably do the same with rectangle aluminum tubing.

Any suggestions on this??

Thanks

**Edit** Added a photo of one like mine, I'm at work so didn't have a photo of mine readily available

"

 

[Bondo]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Ayuh,.... Welcome Aboard,... It's no doubt, Doable,...

Closer pictures of the roof framin' will help,...

 

[bigdirty]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Hey, nice lookin boat man I had an 81 chriscraft 253, looks like a similar setup.. and I had the same issue with the height of the hard top being a bit to short for my head (im 6' 1" ) .....:frusty: it got a few other folks once in a while too.. The UHMW would work i think, but aluminum would be stronger and last longer imo. I sort of 'cheated' on my chris with a combination of two subtle changes;

For starters I took down the factory/PO 'repaired' headliner (3/8" plywood.. ugly and shoddy) and replaced with some very thin corrugated plastic (the stuff they make signs out of) and trimmed it with thin teak strips, which gave me 1/2" or so.

Secondly, I carefully loosened all the screws securing the hard top to the windshield frame, and added some thicker blocks of teak (with a slight angle on them) to the top of the rear support bars, tilted them forward slightly, and then tightened up all the screws and re-sealed the top to the windshield. Essentially it didn't change the forward head room, but ended up raising the rear about 2" and made it tolerable to walk under. AND, It was still useable for attractive women to sunbath on top as well..

Found a few pics..

 

[LastCall1983]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Mine is a solid fiberglass hardtop. I'll post some photos when i get the boat back. I dropped it off to have some work done. I should have it back Tuesday or so and i'll get some photos. bigdirty that's a nice looking top you've got. Mine's not setup quite the same but kind of the same concept as what i was thinking to raise it. i just mainly need the back so i don't knock myself unconscious and fall overboard haha.

 

[bigdirty]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Thanks sadly, its not my boat anymore.. but the current owner now just happens to be my next door neighbor :laugh: so I still got to go out for a few trips on her this past summer. I found with mine that little bit of height at the back was really all it needed, made a huge difference though... and i hear ya, i got beaned something terrible one time, good thing a buddy was on board and grabbed me, I would have gone over the side.. and it was on blocks in my driveway at the time..:embarassed: would have been a hard landing..

 

[LastCall1983]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Ok photos are attached. The front where the hardtop connects to the windshield, has aluminum caps that cover wiring. Those come off, and the screws go in up through the windshield frame and into the hardtop.

 

[bigdirty]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Ah.. I see... Well, that actually looks easier (in some ways) to raise than my old chris was.. guess it just depends how much and what kind of fabrication u want to do, or are capable of doing. For the rear where the support bars join to the hardtop I would probly make up some pieces of aluminum with stainless angle on top to fit into the top of the support bar, and add the height you want there.. ('X' dimension on my drawing) now that may be enough, but you could still raise the front off the windshield with UHMW or blocks if you wanted.. and heres a quick crude drawing to try and explain my idea..:laugh:

 

[jc55]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Nice picture big dirty, that's a great idea.
I would,
A) Use your first idea adding a custom fabbed stainless, sheet metal(painted), or aluminum filler piece between the windshield and the hardtop. Aesthetics dictates how high you can go. With flip up magnetic vents in the filler panel like the new Polaris Ranger hardtops have.

B) Raise the entire windshield...with a filler piece at the bottom all the way around.

C) Raise the angle of the windshield to a steeper one and cutting new side windows to utilize the same trailing edge framing(much more work)

Good luck! Sounds like a fun challenge.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: 1977 Stamas with Hardtop. Best way to raise the hardtop

Raising the top by adding a filler above the windshield would be my only choice. It would necessitate remaking the side curtains & relocating some snaps. But I think you'd have to do both of those no matter what path you choose. It would push the hardtop rearward, covering slightly more of the cockpit/helm area, doesn't impede the forward view from the helm.

Raising the windshield w/ a filler below it, reduces the aesthetics of the swept coming below the main windshield (without significant modification/re-contouring) & creates an odd looking termination point at the back end of the side windows (again, without significant modification/re-contouring). Raising the windshield from below may also hamper the captains forward view from the helm.

Raising the angle of the windshield pulls the hardtop forward, exposing more of the cockpit/helm's currently covered area. As mentioned, would require new side glass & channel to hold it. Depending on how the main windshield glass is attached to the frame & how the frame is attached to the boat, may not even be possible, or at least not easily.

How high is the top of the hardtop now?

How much do you want to actually raise it?

Is there a height restriction for 'normal' towing where ever you tow it?

Good luck w/ your project.