boat hardtop help!!!!!!!!

tbone999

Seaman
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
64
hey guys


i have a 1974 bayliner liberty hardtop..... the boats amazing with newer power and a nice deep hull perfect for the pacific northwest and i got it at a smoking deal to boot!! the problem im having is the top moves when under way. Let me tell you its not a great feeling to see you hardtop swaying back and forth when your out in the chuck. the floors are solid and the stringers seem fine. This is the only hardtop model i have ever seen or even been able to find a picture of.

After looking into it a little it seems as if this is part of the design. the control console which is also the wall into my cuddy (vberth) is what you would think would make it rigid but it seems to have a rubber sill on it like it meant to float a bit (weird) im just looking for ideas on the best way to stiff it up besides that i couldnt be happier!!! and by move i mean it sways a little easy to notice but not drastic by any means

anyone seen this before??? ideas on how to fix it...... i could just shim it i guess but im open to any and all ideas

i tried adding a couple picture but this stupid picture size limit put a stop to that...


thanks!!!
 

GA_Boater

Honorary Moderator Emeritus
Joined
May 24, 2011
Messages
49,038
Use Photobucket for the pics. It works every time.
 

ziggy

Admiral
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
Messages
7,473
i've got a 19' boat with a sliding hardtop.
it racks side to side when out in nasty waves too. i can see it move and i can hear it move (it rattles a little). i have minor cracks at the underside of both corners at the rear of the hardtop. the oem for my boat (AristoCraft) says this is the norm and that i'd be hard pressed to find any AristoCraft Nineteen w/o these stress cracks at the rear corners.
my hardtop slides fore and aft. it mates to the windshield when full fwd. when mated to the windshield it racks less, but still racks at the back. when it's disconnected from the windshield, the whole thing racks side to side while underway, worse when the waves are bigger while underway in the nastys, i try to keep the hardtop mated to the windshield when it's nasty out.
i've had my Nineteen for 7 or 8 seasons now. i use it big waves all the time. the stress cracks i describe have been the same since the day i got it.
while i don't like that the hardtop racks, it's not seemed to cause any troubles. seems to be just the way it is.
good luck in finding a way to stop it from racking. i've thought about a angle support at the rear corners, but they'd be in my way and i've never done anything about it. basically, since my oem told me it's the norm, other than mating my hardtop to the windshield when i'm in the nasty stuff, i've quite worrying about it and just use it as is.
 

shrew

Lieutenant
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
1,309
My canvas top doesn't rack in hard seas. At least it's not perceptible. If you have a hardtop racking back and forth, there is a problem. This was not by design. The fact that it's "not that bad" and "doesn't seem to be getting worse" doesn't really make it right or 'ok'.
 

ziggy

Admiral
Joined
Jun 30, 2004
Messages
7,473
imho,
mine is not a canvas top. it's a glass hardtop. it'd take a min. of two men to remove it, and mine is removable though i've never done it. but it looks quite heavy. much more so than a canvas top.




i think in my case, don't know about the op's, it is designed to rack some. these are the slides that my hardtop sits on.






the part between the rail and the hardtop is real hard rubber. it bends. there are 4 of them. 2 ft. and 2 aft.
for the design of my hardtop, i can't see that it's not going to rack to some degree.
i really did ask this question to my oem. their still available for parts and to talk with. they said it'll rack to the point of causing the stress cracks i talked about earlier. so if my oem isn't concerned, i guess i'm not gonna be either.

now the question is what has the op got and how is his put together. maybe his is allowing for some rack to occur also. we'll need his input.

it's been awhile since i had a soft top, but my last boat had one and best i can remember, it had minor lateral movement too. specially at the back of the top. that's the way i remember it though. i could be wrong though. it's been 8 + or - years since i had the soft top boat.
 

jbcurt00

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
24,829
Does your Liberty look like this 1974 Bayliner Liberty hardtop:
photo1.jpg


And you're talking about the higher hardtop moving, not the cuddy cabin's 'roof ' hardtop, correct?
 

tbone999

Seaman
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
64
iBoat1.jpg iBoat2.jpg iBoat3.jpg iBoat4.jpg
hey guys so i got the pictures going! the first one is the gap the runs around the wall the other shot of the cuddy is the sink ice box side, this area doesn't seem to be ridged at all just kinda floats half inch of the wall with a rubber trim! weird right?? ill go take a few more in depth pictures now that i have it figured out. Ziggy super cool retro boat man love the green!! And jbcurt00 clearly or bayliners are different models under the same name its only a 20ft, all the pictures online i have found [on my style] liberty don't have hardtops so i am guessing its a factory add on. It seem to me that it doesn't have the support it needs, the floors in the boat are right around the waterline and with the cuddy wall "floating" it seems a little top heavy to me.... anyway more pics to come tomorrow

thanks for your help
 

tbone999

Seaman
Joined
Jun 8, 2010
Messages
64
After doing so digging I found problems lots of them the stringers were like dust so I started taking her down after looking at what a replacement cost that could have the same problems I can't get the old floor pics to transfer for some reason but here is what if done up to now
 

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