Good Fiberglass/Upholstry shop in Seattle WA?

[FreeLance]

Anybody know of a good and trustworthy fiberglass and upholstery shop in Seattle. 

My rear trunk lid and vdrive hatch have had a matching broken hinge on the port side ever since I got the boat and I would like to get it fixed.  I am actually thinking of having them completely redo the hinging system as it looks like a weak point and will probably just break again. 

I was thinking for the vdrive hatch I would mimic the MB hatch with two inward folding wings that lay on top of the middle portion of the cover, no gas struts, and then the whole thing can lift backwards wings included with 2 gas struts.  For the rear trunk just have them put in a beefier hinge system along the common fiberglass rail between the two.

What do you guys think?  I suppose it would no longer be original but I don't plan on getting rid of it so I might as well make it a little more modern since it is broken anyway.

[masonlk]

Can't recommend anyone because I've never had any work done. Because we've got a ton of good yacht repair yards around here I think you've got your homework cut out for yourself.

I'd start with a phone call to Jensen Motor Boat Corp. They are on portage bay by the UW Hospital and have been there forever. They should at least be able to give you the names of a couple of reputable people if they can't do the job. 206-632-7888

[FreeLance]

I was trolling wakeworld today and found a link to planetnautique of a guy who did this exact mod to his 1 piece hatch.  I think I am going to make this my winter project.  I have a person that can handle the upholstery and with the wings opening inward like the MB boats it should be less overall construction than what this guy had to do.

http://www.planetnautique.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=14905&highlight=conversion
http://www.planetnautique.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=14903

[FreeLance]

Short 4 years later and the busted hinges, ripped upholstery finally got to me.  Took both the trunk lid and sunpad off, will need to rebuild the whole structure and get all new upholstery put on.  Few picks of sunpad torn apart.  Not much structure to keep it from bending and the plastic board is not very thick, surprised the corner hinges did not bust a lot sooner.

[Capt Rick]

I still have sundeck complete and trunk lid maybe a better way to go. Let me know you hull number to match color

boatetrade@aol.com


Capt Rick

[FreeLance]

Thanks Capt. Rick, but unless they are really cheap I am going to stick with building my own.  I really feel like I am creating more functionality for the rear trunk and sundeck storage and bringing the boat more up to spec of modern boat layouts.

[DENNIS]

Freelance,  did your corner piece break when you took the cover off the boat, or was it already broken?  I also have a hinge that is on its last legs.  I hope my corner doesn't bust like yours did.

Dennis

[FreeLance]

It was already busted when I bought the boat in 2005.  Once one is broken, it is a cascading event with all of the extra pressure on the remaining joints.

just got done with taps plastics, going with 3/4 inch HDPE for the new 3 piece hatch design.

[FreeLance]

Having just finished up with the Seattle boat show, I noticed that most of the wakeboats out there have the 3 piece hatches with the hinges for the outside sunpad wings connected to the outside of the boat.  Tige & MB seem to be the only remaining wakeboats that have the hinges for the outside sunpad wings connected to the middle engine cover hatch.

Anyone have opinions on why you would want the hinges on the outside versus the middle of the sunpad?

[Capt Rick]

MUP001187702   Surf Sun Deck   7    19    954.53    $125.00

The original sundeck had a starboard sheet that would break. The later is a honeycomb 1 inch thick that I don't belive has broke or warped.

Keep in mind you need support to hold the persons weight and there is no support under sundeck.

Capt Rick

If you have a business address frt would be about $125.00 and if you email me I am sure you can get a new one since some maybe be scrapped.
boatetrade@aol.com get me your hull number to verify it is Surf

[breakawaydaze]

I have been contemplating splitting my deck as well.  I think for me the inside hinges would be the better choice.  Reason being that if you are pulling something out of side storage to toss in water you would not have to lift it over the cover.  Unfortunately, you would have to hinge them against / with the center section, so in theroy if you opened the center section it would open all 3, unless you installed 2 additional structural supports on either side of center deck to hinge side compartments.  I would think 2 sturdy aluminum angle pieces attached to both of the engine bulkheads would be structure enough.  Lots to consider, I think I will wait until I see what hurtles you encounter!  One of the "cool" factors on my S22 is that I have the hydraluic power lift for the sun deck.  Yes its cool, but painfully slow.  To split the deck would probably cause that to be eliminated.  I would ditch the cool for some functionality...I think...Then you need to decide where and how many assist struts you need and where to place them.
Hmmm...maybe I will just leave it the way it is....

[FreeLance]

As with any project once you pull things apart you realize there is so much to consider when putting them back together in a new way.  What I have figured out so far is having the hinges attached to the middle hatch for each of the wings will be the simplest way to do the modification.  The downside to doing it this way, as breakaway pointed out, the whole thing will have to lift up together unless extra support is added to attach the hinges.  This extra support will ultimately get in the way somehow so I don't want to do that.  The other problem I see is it could be a real knee basher if the hinges are not buried very deep between the two hatches and padding.  I asked my co-worker who has a Calabria and he has not had this issue but he also mentioned that his hinges are so deep in that the wings only open to about 85 degrees.  On the MB boats they can open way past 90 degrees but they also stick up pretty far between the two sets of cushions.

Now if I go with the outside hinge concept this would be a problem with getting stuff in and out of the lockers while at the dock, or to get stuff to swimmers on the side of the boat.  The other more technical problem is the outsides of the opening are curved with the lines of the boat, so a long piano hinge would not work.  It would have to be two small hinges or something complex like the gas strut hinges on the other epic boats.  I can only assume those are pretty expensive.

To Capt. Rick's point structure is pretty important.  The guys at Taps Plastics assure me that 3/4" HDPE over the 38" opening will not deflect if only supported by the front and back water drain channels.  His example was a 48/48" box that they made for a podium that did not deflect at all.

I am going to mock it up by cutting the existing piece of fiber board and figure out what works.  These will be the patterns for Taps to cut up the HDPE, then just need to hinge it, and get new upholstery and foam done.  I plan on aligning the seams on the engine side of the removable panels so when the hatches are open none of the aluminum engine structure will be exposed.

Opinions or ideas welcomed especially if you think of something that I am overlooking!

[FreeLance]

From big idea to finished product sometimes you have to cut features to get the job done.

After much noodling on the best design for the 3 piece hatch I ended up with the same hatch design but with new hinges to replace what is a weak point in the hatch design of our boats.  All in it was less cost than replacing the existing broken trunk hatch and sundeck and I was able to re-use all of the old parts by modifying the construction of the main sundeck to support how the new hinges are mounted.  The hinges were the most expensive part of the project and I got really lucky that the other Epic boats was willing to sell me some out of their stock.  A huge kudos to them for the great customer service and supporting someone who does not even own one of their boats.  The hinges that I bought from Epic are the same hinges that Dana Marine has on their website which is now down due to a relocation and company change to Marine Industries West.

I tried to capture pics of everything as I did it, if you have any questions please reply and I will do my best to answer them.

[cyclone]

Hey Freelance!
nice job!! I am getting ready to fix my broken trunklid, tiny hinges broke the corners made of plastic starboard. I was thinking of fabbing up a piece of 1.5" aluminum angle to run the width of the back of the trunklid with some modification and welding to create hinge mounting points. I see that you reinforced the whole fiberglass piece where the trunk and hatch mounts are attached, where did u find that aluminum channel to do that?

And can you tell us where specifically you got those hinges?

Thanks,

Pete