Scott Dufour Posted November 6, 2010 Posted November 6, 2010 I'm seriously thinking about building a PS26, and I'd like to explore the pop-top option. It seems that with the catketch rig, since there's no mast coming through the cabin, perhaps the whole cabin could pop up. But I know very little about such things. Anybody have any suggestions or comments on the feasibility of such a thing? Quote
hokeyhydro Posted November 7, 2010 Posted November 7, 2010 Of course a pop-top is feasible! That said, in my experience, boats flex. Some more than others. And many boats, especially those designed to minimize weight and maximize performance, rely on the entire structure to minimize flex. My suggestion: Sketch your design and send it to Graham to see what he thinks. You may have to add beef somewhere to keep the cabin structure from moving around to the point where the pop-top would jam. Quote
Ray Frechette Jr Posted November 7, 2010 Posted November 7, 2010 I have toyed with the idea of a pop top myself and sort of put it in the "More trouble than it is worth " bag myself. Others of course may well come to a different conclusion. On a small boat such as these, I guess I am looking of sitting headroom through out. And maybe a larger companionway hatch in able to stand up in the cabin with some measure of privacy to pull up my pants in the morning.. To that end It seems to me a nice spray dodger covering the companionway hatch to keep rain out of the cabin when I do need to stand up would be the ticket... I had a boat with standing headroom in the cabin and hated it. Not the standing headroom part mind you but rather the whole big boat in the water dependant on other people to service things I could not and keep the check book open part of it.. The whole pop top thing seems to me more hassle than it is worth in the building and deploying when wanting to use it and still not having standing headroom under way part of the equation... But for other people who place more of a premium on standing upright in a relatively small amount of square footage anyway... When I was young I really wanted to be at least 6 feet tall and was disappointed to top out at 5' 10"... Now that I am a sailor I wouldn't mind being 5' 3"... It would open a whole new world of opportunities in standing headroom boats.... Quote
Tom Lathrop Posted November 7, 2010 Posted November 7, 2010 When I was young I really wanted to be at least 6 feet tall and was disappointed to top out at 5' 10"... Now that I am a sailor I wouldn't mind being 5' 3"... It would open a whole new world of opportunities in standing headroom boats.... Ray, The older you get, the closer you will approach your dream height. Quote
Scott Dufour Posted November 7, 2010 Author Posted November 7, 2010 In a brief exchange with Graham, he had a similar opinion regarding "more trouble than their worth". Is the troublesome part the building, design, or a PITA during actual use? My wife gets a bit claustrophobic below decks (and she IS only 5' 3") so it's more about creating a less-closed-in feeling than it is about standing headroom... Quote
Scott Dunsworth Posted November 7, 2010 Posted November 7, 2010 My brother and his wife just left on a cruise on his Coronado 25. He's about 5'9 and his wife is about 5' and she can't figure out about whats all the fuss over this standing headroom. She can walk anywhere in their boat! I think the poptop is a good feature if that's the only way you can get the headroom. The Catalina 22 that I restored had one. As Tom has stated on my thread, it's nice. My buddy Don ( the fisherman from the 2009 messabout ) sails around in normal conditions with the top up,without the cover on allmost all the time. I finally told him if you want me to get any good wall hanger pictures of her under sail, your going to have to put that darn top down. Jerry that is building a Belhaven and spent 9 nights on my boat, has decided to make an extra long hatch and forget the front hatch. Scott Quote
JeffM Posted November 7, 2010 Posted November 7, 2010 One version of my pre-solid-cabin roof had a weird pop-up feature: the front of the solid-top/cloth-sides cabin raised to give full sitting headroom in nearly the whole space. I went to a fair amount of trouble to make it possible, then used it only on the shake-down cruise: pain in the neck, and mostly not needed. Now I believe the best headroom is a big, open main hatch. Much better view, too. I still toy with the idea of better headroom in bad weather, with swarming mosquitoes, etc, but will probably not mess with the cabin any further. Quote
Scott Dufour Posted November 11, 2010 Author Posted November 11, 2010 Is there a website anybody knows of that explores different pop-top designs, with their strengths and weakness, and all that juicy stuff? Quote
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