by Phillip » Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:32 pm
Bill,
My Top Hat is a Baker factory built Mk 1 and if you look from the inside at the joint between hull and deck it is all glassed in, no sealants!
In fact you can see that extra cloth has been applied along the joint, all the way round. No way water can get in.
Maybe yours was one of the Formit's Mk 1s and I think you all will know by now that one of the major areas requiring inspection on purchase is
.....the hull and deck joint....... of any Formit built Top Hat.
Why is this so..... It has been admitted by Formit sales staff that one of the big mistakes they made was
allowing hulls and decks to leave the factory that HAD NOT been glassed together.
Meaning the first owner put them together and they did have problems.
How many hulls and what years? We have no idea and nobody has ever hinted at how many were involved and when.
To refix the hull to the deck is a huge job, as Woody has found out recently on a Mk2.
It took him some months to complete the job and a heap of fiberglass resin.
The only good thing about this is that Top Hats are so strong, that, to my knowledge,
there has never been a hull to deck failure causing the lost of a Top Hat.
But leak at the hull deck joint, yep been a few of them!
Phillip.
SEAKA
A 1969 Mark 1
Home port is at Dunbogan on the Camden Haven Inlet, Laurieton NSW