Fairline Squadron 78 refit/fit - Hard Top

[vas]

Yup, that is my thinking too. Definitely not going to do it initially; easy to do later because Grapefruit just fly to wherever the boat is and do it

JFM,

looks really nice, v.glad you decided to start using colour on M2

I hope and wish that in M3 (if she's a keeper) you'll be able (as in not restricted by resale value) to express your extraordinary design and detailing skills violently on the exterior as well as interior
I love the design sleeper approach (or is it sleeper design approach), but would really like to see the full works!

BTW, I'd vote for the Cortina view that rafiki mentions. I'd probably go all the way to wrap it black, effectively making the salon opening longer reaching the aft deck creating some continuity in the side elevation lines.

cheers

V.

 

[Lozzer]

Interesting project, having lived with a hardtop for the last 4 years I would be happy to go back to a bimini I have to say.

Maintenance is a pain in the neck, takes so much time and effort to clean and polish. Don't know how many times I've nearly fallen off whilst balancing on top in fact I had one day woker fall luckily only onto the sun pad (just under a 2m drop).

I am sure you will do a fantastic job, it will be a differentiator for you.

On the Princess 85 we have supports taking the load of the hard top what will you bolt onto? Had FL made provision on original build.

I watched Grapefruit wrap a boat in Ispwich last year, nice and easy job and for the price you can change your colour every couple of years.

Will watch thread with interest.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Looks great jfm. But the really big question is ... what colour is the new exterior upholstery fabric going to be?

 

[BartW]

interesting and great stuff Jfm,

BartW, for your info in case this would work on BA, the HT moulding itself is about 5.4m long and 3.4m wide iirc. I'll get you better measurements soon. If it happened to fit BA, my guess is Fairline would sell you one if you wanted! You'd need to find a way to supporting 600kg of course

as you know I'm considering a similar HT, but this is now delayed due to engine trouble and too much work in the office.
I was going to asc if the FL system is available as a part for BA, but looking now at the pics I have a slightly different shape and size in mind
and as you know if I decide to do this I rather do it as perfect as possible.
Also considering the budget you mentioned; the budget in my mind is a lot lower, (17k for the gliding roof and 25k for a self made GRP structure, and a few grand for the installation ...)
but still many questions about the design regarding structural stability and "dark" collor GRP/allum. expansion problems, ....
to be discussed in another BA thread not gone spoil yours.

by the way, I do like the Cortina look; in this case, it makes the HT more integrated and "part" of the total boat design imho

I also like the dark paint on the domes, and radar arch layout, going to play with drawings on that myself.
I would not do the lower part of the domes in a different collor (silver) than the upper part (black) as in your drawing or do you think its better like that ?

the luff track on the border of the HT is a nice feature and a must imo.
the "winter" curtains look uggly but offer many practical advantages, especially in a older (painted wood) boat like mine, so yes good going !

Match II already was the best specced SQ78 on the planet,
this HT will make her even more outstanding from all other SQ78's
and most of all,
it will be a very nice and practical feature to use, I'm totally convinced !

 

[jfm]

Looks great jfm. But the really big question is ... what colour is the new exterior upholstery fabric going to be?

Teehee! I don't have time/bandwidth so late in the year to truck everything to UK and then back 2 weeks later, so movida cobre (orange) is out for this year. Still love that colour though, but I'd prefer to find the identical colour in a cloth so that I can have cloth on some seats but movida on the tender and foredeck. Exactly as I can do with sunbrella cadet grey and movida plata -they match perfectly as you know

So I'm going to stick with cadet grey and plata this year. Might invest in some more lipstick cerise cushions or something. You can never have enough of those. Or indeed orange cushions

 

[jfm]

interesting and great stuff Jfm,



as you know I'm considering a similar HT, but this is now delayed due to engine trouble and too much work in the office.
I was going to asc if the FL system is available as a part for BA, but looking now at the pics I have a slightly different shape and size in mind
and as you know if I decide to do this I rather do it as perfect as possible.
Also considering the budget you mentioned; the budget in my mind is a lot lower, (17k for the gliding roof and 25k for a self made GRP structure, and a few grand for the installation ...)
but still many questions about the design regarding structural stability and "dark" collor GRP/allum. expansion problems, ....
to be discussed in another BA thread not gone spoil yours.

by the way, I do like the Cortina look; in this case, it makes the HT more integrated and "part" of the total boat design imho

I also like the dark paint on the domes, and radar arch layout, going to play with drawings on that myself.
I would not do the lower part of the domes in a different collor (silver) than the upper part (black) as in your drawing or do you think its better like that ?

the luff track on the border of the HT is a nice feature and a must imo.
the "winter" curtains look uggly but offer many practical advantages, especially in a older (painted wood) boat like mine, so yes good going !

Match II already was the best specced SQ78 on the planet,
this HT will make her even more outstanding from all other SQ78's
and most of all,
it will be a very nice and practical feature to use, I'm totally convinced !

Hi BartW
Yes it would take an incredible lot of luck for a HT made for boat A to fit boat B. You will surely need to have to get a custom build in GRP - next winter! The structural design is quite a big deal - the FL engineers told me they put a lot of work into this hard top with FEA and stuff, to make it strong and stiff enough but not too heavy. When I wanted to change some engineering aspects they basically said "no". One LED customisation idea I had (strips of lights in the s/s 80mm dia tubes) couldn't be done and get the required sign offs. The world is complex place these days!

BTW, The FL guys have put luff track welded along top of the (new) side flybr windscreen sections, in mirror polished s/steel, so in that area there will be luff track top and bottom. The "tent" is ugly as you say, but intended just for winter

As regards the domes, it so happens that the standard KVH dome has a silver base, same colour as the HT wrap, so I decided to leave that and just paint the top dome lids black. I hope will look ok - maybe not! I don't have strong feelings on this either way and could have flipped a coin to decide. If it is a mistake it is easy to fix with more black paint. BTW, there are silver Tracvison and Garmin decals, perfectly matching the OEM, on the black domes and the black radar scanner. I'll post more pictures soon

 

[MapisM]

A great customization indeed J - as always, I must add.

Actually, with boats, I've always been a fan of the principle that any color is fine as long as it's either white or blue.
But of course, when it comes to colors and their combinations, we are firmly into the "each to their own" field.
Anyway, taking the grey as a given, I'd rather go for a completely different combination - see below (quickly/poorly drafted, but hopefully gives an idea of what popped to my mind).
I understand that the gunwale wrapping would be a tricky job, but imho that would match (no pun intended... ) the HT better, with more sleeky lines overall.
Oh, and I'm in the field of no black stuff up there, fwiw. But as I said, no right or wrong here - just a matter of tastes.

With regard to functionality instead, of course the HT will move the whole F/B in another league!

I'm really looking forward to see the finished job, possibly also in the flesh.
Any chance to have Match around S Sardinia this summer?
With three forum boats already there, we could almost arrange a forum meeting..!

 

[BartW]

The FL guys have put luff track welded along top of the (new) side flybr windscreen sections, in mirror polished s/steel, so in that area there will be luff track top and bottom. The "tent" is ugly as you say, but intended just for winter

that's a clean and nice solution, but will it be possible to "unzip" the curtain, horizontally on or above that luff track on the windscreen ?

We have the practical experience both on the Karnic canopy, and the BA cockpit curtains,
that it is usefull in the "inbetween season" to be able to roll the curtains upwards, and wrap them under the HT (do you get what i mean ?)

yes indeed only in winter,
but sometimes on a Sunny winter day, when going out, it would be nice if you can roll upwards the curtains, but quickly bring them down when there is a sharp cold wind or spray
or bring down just the front curtain only, ...
thats what we do all the time with the front curtain / window on the Karnic, (in summer in Belgium)

therefor I prefer "poppers" on the lower brim of the curtains

 

[henryf]

I'm not sure about hard tops. I worry they make the boat look too top heavy particularly on smaller boats, but I will say this picture looked good:

I like the floating feel with those 3 stainless supports. Very dramatic.

How about losing the mock aerial and going for an asymmetric look, more purposeful. You're not afraid to have a go are you ! Oh, and the pendant lighting - for the boat that has everything

 

[tico]

Probably a bit late now, but did you consider raking back the SS supports from the 'shark fins' rather than having them almost vertical, so as to continue the 'flow'?

 

[rubberduck]

Does this mean the currant Match is a keeper, & retirement gets a bit nearer ?

 

[RogerRat]

Great post as ever, the detail really lets us see the work that is being done and some of the thought process that went into it. The SQ78 is a very nice looking boat in the first place, my favourite being the SQ58 of the same series.

On this size of boat the hard tops look really good and not out of place, although when I first saw them I had my doubts. I would imagine that in the med, they're probably most necessary.

I also like the idea of blacking, possibly even carbon wrapping the lower 'C' column (from post #20) to make it look like the flybridge deck is suspended, while the silver under the hardtop integrates it to the rest of the boat losing any idea of it being an add-on. Forget the 'cortina' remark, this is not going to be plastic grained leatherette. :ambivalence:

Ain't it funny how when you post a report on what you're doing everyone offers their t'upenny bits? Have to ask, where are the pods?

Thanks for taking the time to post, excellent.

RR

 

[Nick_H]

Forget the 'cortina' remark, this is not going to be plastic grained leatherette. :ambivalence:

Well, it is vinyl!

Personally, I like the Cortina look, though in silver not black, and JFM did sort of invite opinions by stating that he was undecided himself.

Great project John, can't wait to see it in the flesh. I suppose one of the biggest benefits is that it allows you to do much nicer things with lighting, to make the flybridge more usable in the evenings.

 

[henryf]

Does this mean the currant Match is a keeper, & retirement gets a bit nearer ?

I could have sworn I saw JFM fumbling around for his bus pass as we left the bar after the London Boat show.....

H.

 

[KevB]

It makes a great looking boat even better but that's an eye watering amount of money to achieve it. I'm in the camp of the silver cortina aft of the salon/saloon windows

 

[jfm]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm fine with people having their 0.02 worth - this is one of those 1st world problems. IMHO all the permutations look good: black, white or silver "Cortina" panels are all good. The whole HT looks very good in white imho, and in silver, and might be fine in gold too. The radar and sat domes will look good in black, but would also look good left white as in MM's picture above, or painted silver. So I've just opted for what I've opted for, but I could have flipped a coin to make some of the decisions.

MapisM, I like the look of your silver hull above the s/s fender strip but there is no way I can actually do that engineeringwise for a whole load of reasons. I'd have to remove all the stanchion bases for starters. Also, the grp is a continuous single moulded component going up from the s/s strip, over the "capping rail" zone, down inside the bulwarks, a cross the side decks, then up the saloon sides with a flanged joint at flybridge deck level approx. I've always liked this, and the complexity of this mould tool, because it creates a leak free boat. However it gives me no "edge" at which to stop the silver wrap

RD, Match2 is a keeper. For now. I really do like her very much and I'm very happy with performance, spec and build quality. As you know, going >24m is a step change in regulation that I'm not sure I want, though of course you can get to 90+ feet and still be under 24mLLL. Therefore I have headroom for a modest size upgrade. I like the outstanding factory and dealer support I get from a wide team of very nice and very competent guys. They are approaching this whole HT project with lots of enthusiasm and they like a challenge. They have never sucked their teeth and said they can't do something

KevB yes the £££ is chunky but I see the cost as the depreciation I'll suffer, rather than the cash outlay. Things like stabilisers @£100k deliver most of your money back to you on resale, and this HT will be the same. There are only 10 or so Sq78 with HT and they will command a £100k premium at resale. And meantime you get to enjoy the benefits. Might be manlogic of course

I was at the factory early this morning so will upload some more pics later

 

[jfm]

A great customization indeed J - as always, I must add.

Actually, with boats, I've always been a fan of the principle that any color is fine as long as it's either white or blue.
But of course, when it comes to colors and their combinations, we are firmly into the "each to their own" field.
Anyway, taking the grey as a given, I'd rather go for a completely different combination - see below (quickly/poorly drafted, but hopefully gives an idea of what popped to my mind).
I understand that the gunwale wrapping would be a tricky job, but imho that would match (no pun intended... ) the HT better, with more sleeky lines overall.
Oh, and I'm in the field of no black stuff up there, fwiw. But as I said, no right or wrong here - just a matter of tastes.

With regard to functionality instead, of course the HT will move the whole F/B in another league!

I'm really looking forward to see the finished job, possibly also in the flesh.
Any chance to have Match around S Sardinia this summer?
With three forum boats already there, we could almost arrange a forum meeting..!

MM, thanks for those thoughts and the artwork! I like your combo very much. I like the domes and mast left white, or pehaps the domes white and the mast painted silver. This is/was a very difficult call but a classic 1st world problem as noted above!

Functionally, I'm expecting the love the thing. Night time lighting should be fantastic and Bose 131 speakers x 4 (2 pushing down from the deckhead aka ceiling ) should be nice

I'd love to get down to S Sardinia but don't think I'll make it this year - at least not as early as the Deleted User/Hurricane trip down there (late June, iirc). I'm planning possibly to shoot across to Balearics to meet my brother there, if timing works out. He is planning to bring his trawler on its own bottom rather than ship it, so he might call in on Balearics for family holiday

(He is useless at updating his thread on silver Dee refit! The John Deeres are in, roof of boat all sealed up, but lots of furniture and joinery finishing still to do. Lots of Garmin gear is going in right now. My old hydraulic bimini is up in Scotland being cut n shut to make it smaller and it will be fitted. I think he will be on his way in May, approx.)

 

[Trundlebug]

Great post as always JFM.

I take it from the above that you've shelved any plans to fit solar panels on your H/T?
Last year you said you were considering them, as a way of reducing generator run time / not hammering the batteries so hard.
Or was it not really feasible? Doesn't appear to be much surface area left outside the folding sunroof, guess the hassle / benefit ratio didn't stack up?

 

[benjenbav]

He is useless at updating his thread on silver Dee refit!

Blimmin' lawyers! Always keeping information to themselves.

 

[BartW]

I take it from the above that you've shelved any plans to fit solar panels on your H/T?
Last year you said you were considering them, as a way of reducing generator run time / not hammering the batteries so hard.
Or was it not really feasible? Doesn't appear to be much surface area left outside the folding sunroof, guess the hassle / benefit ratio didn't stack up?

was about to make separate thread about this, (might still do that)
many people asc me if I plan to place SP's on BA, and I alway's firmly answer no, because the added power is so little on such a big powerfull machine,
BUT
after visiting Mets and Boot, I saw these flat SP's, and thought that would be perfect for fitting on top of the lower helm roof top, and maybe a few on the HT aswell ?
all this together would give roughly 1000W power,
and that would be usefull for less generator running time at anchor, (this would be enough for fridges and stabs during day time)
and for me, all winter when there is nobody onboard, no need for shore power connection / keep the battery's topped up; for fridges and alarm systems ...