Hard Top Removal on a F-26

[pilgrim32]

Hello everyone. Just think ahead for my next rebuild/repower task of motor and transmission removal was wondering if anyone has ever removed the factory hardtop on a F-26 (1978) would make picking the motor and tranny up and out with a crane very easy?. Also hardtop has had water intrusion do to anchoring light leaking so there is signs of some delamanation and cracks that need repair. any thoughts out there. thanks in advance Brian

[Agitator]

Pilgrim,
I repowered my 1971 F26. My first thought was to remove the hardtop so I could easily pull the motor and tranny. On mine, the screws used to hold the hard top in place were aluminum and they stripped out too easily. I ended up borrowing a forklift and tying my chain hoist on to the forklift forks. It worked great taking th eengine out and replacing it. The forktruck raised the motor in and out and the chain hoist allowed me to raise it out of the engine compartment and lowered it back with much trouble at all. It turned out ot be so mucher easier than taking the hardtop off.

[pilgrim32]

Thanks for the forktruck info. Yup the hardtop removal could add alot of problems to the project but the more I look at the large cracks and delamination of the fiberglass along the edges, together with the center winshield support (seems) to have a broken weld at the top where both top/crossover windshield supports join the center,so the question is due I remove and fix all pieces or repair in place? Just another bunch of items to add to the rebuild/restore game plan. I remember reading previous posts on engine removal from Chucka and JAV I think the movers dolly and trolley system maybe my plan Thanks again

[chucka]

Brian,

Here is how I removed my windshield when I built my hardtop. You could adapt this approach to remove your hardtop. I started in the cabin using a knife to slit the headliner from one side of the boat to the other directly under the base of the windshield. There is a row of bronze bolts coming down from the windshield frame through the deck. I was able to remove the nuts pretty easily from below. Use a wood block and mallet from below to tap those bolts loose. (They are pretty stubborn after being bedded in place for 20 years.) It helps to get these a little loose before attacking the side windows, but don't be surprised if they don't move much until you get the side windows free. My side window frames were screwed ti the deck (with stainless screws through their aluminum frames - virtually impossible to disassemble due to corrosion). For the side windows, I started with a hacksaw from the back edge of each side window and cut through the bedding and the screws holding the side windows. As I worked my way forward, I used shims (shingles) to lift up on the back edge of the side window slightly, prying it up off the deck enough to work the hacksaw through the bedding. I was eventually able to slip a sawsall metal cutting blade in place of the hacksaw blade and power through the bedding compound and bolts under the side windows. That bedding compound is tough to cut. As I moved forward, I pried the window frames gradually off the deck. I needed leverage to pry through the bedding compound.

To lift the windshield, I had built a sturdy wood frame over the whole boat for the winter cover, from which I hung a chainfall to hoist the windshield assembly up a few inches gradually creeping it aft in successive lifts to the the stern, from which point I was able to lower it to the ground and set it on blocks. Here are some photos. When I built my hardtop, I ended up removing the side windows and framing them in with Mahogany, which I screwed down to the supporting sdeck. I was able to re-use the original bolts along the front of the windshield frame which are integral to the frames. If your side windows are like mine, you probably won't be able to disassemble them because they are aluminum, with stainless screws and 30 years of salt water exposure.

Before I decided to frame in the side windows of my hardtop with mahogany, I was thinking about reusing parts of the old frames by adding a thin layer of wood as a foundation that I could screw into the window frames from below, then screw down into the deck from above.







This photo shows the bedding compound had failed where the wiring passed from the windshield through the deck. I sealed that wire pass through with fiberglass before re-installing the windshield and made a new (accessible) wire pass through in the corner just behind the windshield to facilitate future maintenance.

[pilgrim32]

Thanks chucka for the awesome info. I'm hoping to add some photos to this posts showing the damage I'm dealing with. With all the damage I'm wondering if it's just as easy to remove the hardtop and bring it into a shop area to fix at the same time it opens up the motor hatch for easy motor/tranny removal. Either way two big jobs Problems found on and around the hardtop are centersupport for windshield has broken welds,large crack above center windshield support in fiberglass hardtop face on outside,also large crack on starboard side of Hardtop side face. With years of this vessel sitting outside and the surround/ancoring light on top knock off all those years of water filling the hardtop core is showing.( Funny) how you find these things after cleaning away the dirt or like they say everytime you go onboard you see/find something new

How's things in Priscilla Beach