Penthouse Ceiling Retrofit - Page 2

86Scotty · 01-07-2015, 05:37 PM

Nice write up Greg! Thanks for sharing.

johnnycrash · 05-11-2015, 12:46 PM

I am experiencing a very leaky roof. I cannot tell where it leaks from. The top of the roof has a lot of hairline cracks. Are they the source? The roof also is a bit saggy, sagging an inch when closed. Maybe water pools up there and then seeps into a small hairline crack? Was your top saggy?

Anyway, I have given up on the leaks and I am going to implement your idea. I noticed your plans mount the arms 3/4 inch further from the roof. Did you have roof sealing issues? This might be a good thing for me, as I suspect the sag might be from pulling the top down too hard when it's closed.

Also, I am considering drilling 1-2 inch dia holes in the plywood to lighten it where doing so wont lose much of the stiffness. Do you think saving any weight would be beneficial?

I think it would stiffen up a lot more if I screwed the masonite to the plywood everywhere, not just on the edges, but that might look real bad.

- John

Scalf77 · 05-11-2015, 05:37 PM

John,
I expect that your leaks are coming via the bolt holes, especially if your top is dipping. Do you have a electric top. I always found that my top was pulled down about a inch to far be the electric top. The top still fits perfectly and while i know I lost 7/8 of a inch I have not noticed it. Plus I have more room for insulation. I could have use a little less plywood, and drilling some holes would lighten it up. I glued and screwed the plywood to the top so, it made everything much stronger.

greg

johnnycrash · 05-16-2015, 12:10 PM

Thanks!

I think the dip is probably close to 7/8 of an inch. So this sounds great.

I was thinking of drilling holes in the first layer of plywood, although that is the thin layer in your version. I'm wondering what would happen if I layed the thick layer down first, with 1-2 inch holes in areas not near bolts and then followed up with the thin layer without holes glued to the first layer. The outer layer is doing all the stiffening.

I have not found kelly fasteners. Where did you order the hardware?

Scalf77 · 05-16-2015, 10:27 PM

The Tee Nuts were from Kelly, Forum member Gooseberry. http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/vie...781&hilit=nuts

The 6 mm was put down first to make a space for the fender washer. You could probably just use the 6 mm where it attaches to the existing ridged top, that would eliminate material, I could have reduced the width of the slats somewhat also, the marine ply was actually pretty light considering. I expect there are plenty of places that you reduce some weight.

greg

Tkkujawa · 10-04-2015, 01:23 PM

When you started taking everything down what did you start with first? Also when taking the bolts out of the roof support bar panels was the roof supported? Are those bars connected to the ceiling another way or just held in by that support panel? I didn't know if your supposed to brace the roof and relieve the tension spring when doing this. Thanks

boywonder · 10-05-2015, 08:55 AM

The two lifting blocks that hold the crossbars are first, or you can remove the screws around the perimeter of the headliner. The roof will stay up without the blocks/panels but it will be free to move fore and aft and side to side.

The biggest PITA when removing the headliner is that it holds up the canvas. I reworked this by making thin plywood strips around the perimeter to hold up the canvas separate from the headliner. An added benefit of this is no exposed screw heads around the perimeter as well.

The roof just rests on the crossbars.....one crossbar pivots and the other slides along the roof.....it'll be obvious if you pull it apart.

...again......the canvas falling down is a giant PITA......The OP here also fabbed furring strips for the perimeter to hold the canvas up separately from the headliner.

One other thing the Scalf77 did with this rework is get the seam between the headliner panels over one of the lifting blocks.....that ends up with a very short seam section that needs to be trimmed. Brilliant!

Tkkujawa · 10-05-2015, 12:06 PM

Thanks that helps. So when you decide to re-attach the headliner with new material, did you just cut the material to fit within the plywood strips on the edges? That way for the future you could detach the roof lifting blocks and headliner without the canvas sides falling down correct?

boywonder · 10-05-2015, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tkkujawa

Thanks that helps. So when you decide to re-attach the headliner with new material, did you just cut the material to fit within the plywood strips on the edges? That way for the future you could detach the roof lifting blocks and headliner without the canvas sides falling down correct?

The headliner goes all the way to the edge of the roof.....so the strips are sandwiched between the roof and headliner. Yes, this way you can detach the lifting blocks and headliner without having the canvas fall around your ankles.

Tkkujawa · 10-06-2015, 11:24 AM

Perfect I am planning on doing this. Is the purpose of the second bolt/washer/butyl on the inside just for double leak protection? Also how do you attach new strips to the fiberglass top? Just glue or screws as well and what size?