heres one i made earlier

[fragged8]

heres a pram hood which is very common around here

I really don't like the use of shock chord to hold the back and sides down as
you get wrinkles in the fabric, but the customers here don't like
snap fasteners.

the alignment problem i had a week or two ago with the aft zipper on the side curtain
seems to have sorted itself out, it must have been sloppy layout as i used a square to
make the zipper start and stop marks and to transfer them to the door patterns and
all was good on this top.

[Mike8560]

Look food Rich did you ever use or see the stayput shock cords? Basicly it's a fancy bungi fastner. Searays were useing them on there aft curtians.
I dont care for white canvas unless it has a colored liner.
All white is like a green house letting light in

[Mojo]

Great job Richard. Looks real nice.

Chris

[fragged8]

does the shock chord stayput look like a large button
on the outside ?

the material was PVC , i'm gonna charge extra if I ever have to use it again
every time you touch it marks appear and you have to keep cleaning
the rulers and tools.

The only reason there is a smile in the window is it was the
very last window to cut out and i put a seam ripper right through
the window hehehe, I actually remade that door without the smile
as the customer didnt like it and called it the cat flap  :o

[JuneC]

Very nice work, Richard.  Funny how different regions like/don't like certain features and lines.  To me, the style of the boat as well as the "pram" top is unattractive at best, but I'll be the first to admit it gives you the most space in the shortest length hull.  Your workmanship is first-rate, but you'd never see that boat here in southeast Florida.   Almost everything on the water here is less than 10 years old and with sleek lines.  Lots of center console fishing boats, wake boats and jet boats. 

U can see here on Saturdays and Sundays...  This is about 5 minutes from my house.

http://lakebocacam.com/

June

[Mike8560]

Ya the style looks like a 1950 or 60s seen here although there looks like no room to vetdown the side of the funnel to the bow
they the atayputs look like this rich
http://www.stayputfasteners.com.au/data/images/scrg.jpg

[fragged8]

thanks guys, and thank you June praise means a lot coming from you.
you're right the boat must be late 60's early 70's we have loads of them here.

on the Broards ( inland waterways in our region ) it is almost exclusively
5mph speed limit except for 1 part so no need for jet boats and the like.

we do have the bigger boats like the Princess I posted for Mojo but they
are wasted around here unless they go to sea.

we do have a local boatbuilder that makes up to 50 foot sea going cruisers
called a Brooms
http://www.jamesdickensmarine.com/Brokerage/Powerboats/Broom50.htm

Anyway mostly the big boats hardly ever move from the marinas because of the
fuel costs, we have been forced to use road diesel in boats now at full price.
Before last year we could use red diesel which was tax free and half the price.

I have seen those stayputs Mike and i really like the look of them but have no idea where
to buy them over here, they would look a lot neater than the ones I use. the white balls you asked about
are the same thing.
just plastic ball on the end of the shock chord and it is passed through a grommet

[JuneC]

Why were you forced to use road diesel in boats there?  In the US, diesel on the water is the same as "road" diesel, but much less expensive because of the taxes.  Theory is, trucks wear out our roads quickly so they're taxed heavily by taxing the fuel.  Boats don't wear out the roads :D so diesel in a marina is cheaper.   

I was surprised the first time I got to repair an enclosure for a Sunseeker (British make, I believe).  Gorgeous boat, but the bottom of the panels, rather than being snaps, were keyhole punches through the canvas (lined with a heavy vinyl) that was pulled over a plastic knob on the boat that looked a LOT like the knobs used for StayPut fasteners.  No fastener at all on the canvas - just the hole.  Guess it works...  :o  Pretty unusual for these parts.

June

[fragged8]

it's all to do with the European Union June, they are nailing everything they can
to get more taxes, our red diesel was just coloured to prove it was road tax free
so used in tractors and farm vehicles etc. .get caught with red in your car tank
and you'd get a huge fine or prison because the road tax wasnt paid.

boats were allowed to use red for the same reasons as you guys, they didn't use the
roads.. .not anymore though. just another example or Rip off Britain.

Did you know we even have to have a licence for our TV's ? or risk prison.

I know the fastening you saw, i didn't know Sunseeker did it ?
it's happening more and more, i guess to save money
but it must take ages to sew on all those triangles, we call the plastic piece it pulls onto
lacing buttons, normally used for pulling shock chord onto.

anything to save money  I guess..

[Mike8560]

How doese that tv deal work Rich. You can't go into a department store and open tbe box at home and plug it in?  What do you have cable. Satalite or still antennas here it's all digital now on the antenna.  I actualy had cable like pictures on my old boat

[Peppy]

Nice work! Nice flat windows! What're they made of? They seem really clear. A big improvement on the old one. But, golly! What a silly looking top! After thinking about it though, it would be a hard boat to build another kind of top on it. A 'y' frame would totally be in the way of getting out on the side I bet. And built for comfort as you say. But not for me thanks, but the customer is always right.

Just today infact I built a cover for a generator with flaps over every air port and adjuster doie so that the guy can keep it covered while he runs it. Well by the time he rolls up every flap it's 2/3rds uncovered so why didn't he take the cover off and save himself $150? Because he's an idiot, and thank you for your business sir!

How doese that tv deal work Rich. You can't go into a department store and open tbe box at home and plug it in?  What do you have cable. Satalite or still antennas here it's all digital now on the antenna.  I actualy had cable like pictures on my old boat

I thought it was because the BBC is commercial free so they pay for it with the TV tax. Is that right?

[regalman190]

Very nice Rich. Looks great!

[fragged8]

we buy TV's a normal Mike but if we use it we have to have a
TV licence or get a heavy fine or prison. Peppy is right It's because
we have the BBC which has no adverts so is funded by the TV licence.
But we have no choice but to buy the licence if we own a TV even if we
don't watch the BBC.

  even if we don't own a TV and watch live TV on the PC we still need
a licence.

We have Digital tv through an aerial or sat dish, only a few places
have cable like larger cities.

Actually Peppy a convertible top does work well on our old type boats
but it's hard persuading the owners to go with something different,
' its been that way for 40 years why change now ?'
The windows are standard off the roll 30thou or 30mil to you guys :-)
nobody here would pay for strat.

Look here Peppy, it's a photo database of every boat in our area.
(300 miles of rivers)
its done by a guy who just likes to photo boats and has recorded just
about all of them. Mines on there ' Bird Dog'  A very handy site when i get asked
to estimate a cover.
http://www.horning.org.uk/boats.php

[Peppy]

Hey Rich, could be worse. In Canada we fund the CBC through taxes. Even if you don't own a TV you fund 'the public broadcaster'.

[Shown]

This is really amazing Rich. Your work is appreciable.