tophatyachts.com

Evening All Mark 1'ers,

I have a problem with the finishing of the deck/hull join SS cover at the stern.

I would like to see how other Mk 1's have been finished.
At the moment both sides present as a probable area for injury.

Here are a couple of Photos to show what I mean.

Yeah Phil , that looks like a typical genuine Mk 1 finish ? So what's your problem ? Egret II looks similar with teak gunwales . I filled the ends with epoxy and finished with gelcoat bog ,and that seems to work pretty well . I will take a happy shot on the weekend and post it.
You should be able to get some S/S end caps made to tidy that up ?

Cheers Bear

G'day,
Just doing my usual ebay search of "Yacht".
Thought these may help your situation.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Gunwale-Rail ... c86&_uhb=1

I think there a bit big but they may help as a pattern.
I took mine off, on my Mk 2 which had timber gunwales and there not bad at all. If your planning in re-spraying your hull, take them off and bog up the holes. That capping ins't structural, its there to hide a unfinished job hahah.

cheers,
Aaron

Thanks Aaron,

That gives me a clue to what maybe out there and it is just what I'm looking for.

Those ebay end caps look like they would do a good job if you could get them in the right size.

Is that a rivet in your gunwale s/s cover?

And is that a hole under the stanchion above the sealant? If it is a leak then I guess that is on ya 'to-do' list.

cheers

troppo

Yes Louis thats a rivit, all Mark 1's have the SS cover strip rivited on.

That cover is what I'm looking for and I'm sure there must be one out there that's half the size.
Mind you I am now thinking that I could make one up using a bit of u-tube or at the worst get one folded/welded up.

The repairs to that join on both sides of the stern is on the repair list, but as it does not leak, it's last!!

The apparent hole under the stantion is actually the shaped clear plastic packing.

Philip when i had my Mrk 1 i thought nothing of careening her . As the tide came back in i watched the water slowly come over the deck until she came up no big deal, or so i thought.
When she was floating i went down below to find all my books and charts soaked water had poured in through the deck hull connection.
What i learnt was to do what Nightingale has had done a strip of glass all the way around the inside it gives great piece of mind for strength and no more leaks. the sealent gives up and it is a useless job trying to reseal

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!