Arima sea ranger 19 hardtop repair/ install

[Jonny Drillbit]

Hey guys, I’m looking for a shop to either repair or install a hardtop on my Arima Sea Ranger 19’,
I’m in Maple Ridge, my boat is on the Sunshine Coast. Any leads of a reputable shop would be much appreciated.

 

[habberdasher]

Nice Boat you must like to go fast in the waves it’s hard not to in an Arima
Do you follow Arimaowners.com?

 

[Jonny Drillbit]

Nice Boat you must like to go fast in the waves it’s hard not to in an Arima
Do you follow Arimaowners.com?

I signed up a couple days ago. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[ab1752]

Did you touch base with quantum marine in sechelt?

 

[Jonny Drillbit]

Did you touch base with quantum marine in sechelt?

Yes I did. They are a great bunch out there. But no luck.

 

[habberdasher]

I have been boating for sixty years and my Arima is the best one yet

 

[ab1752]

Ah ok, that's aluminum, correct? May want to look on the island too, blackline or Jenkins marine

 

[the butcher]

perhaps you may wish to have the person who does the work to investigate the stability of the areas where your hardtop frame are attached. perhaps excessive movement and/or sway is causing extra stress on the hardtop frame. Otherwise the same thing can happen to a new hardtop you get made which would be a painful experience to go through twice. How thick is that existing frame that has cracked in the corners? Perhaps poor welding job from whoever made it? Perhaps the aluminum is too thin?

do you ever stack pots or anything on top of your hardtop?

 

[Jonny Drillbit]

perhaps you may wish to have the person who does the work to investigate the stability of the areas where your hardtop frame are attached. perhaps excessive movement and/or sway is causing extra stress on the hardtop frame. Otherwise the same thing can happen to a new hardtop you get made which would be a painful experience to go through twice. How thick is that existing frame that has cracked in the corners? Perhaps poor welding job from whoever made it? Perhaps the aluminum is too thin?

do you ever stack pots or anything on top of your hardtop?

All good points. Thanks for taking the time for your inputs. I appreciate it.

 

[chris73]

All good points. Thanks for taking the time for your inputs. I appreciate it.

That's not a factory setup but custom made. I assume it was not designed and/or built properly for the application. Sorry, but there is a reason why engineers go 5 years to school.

 

[Pineapple Express]

I don't have a shop recommendation, however, I will share some thoughts on the problem and potential solutions.

First, the existing frame seems to be welded aluminum...probably fairly thin wall. The welds were ground flush which reduces the strength considerably. If it was thicker wall and you had good full-penetration welding you can usually get away with it, but on thin wall like this it's not good.

Second, the top is basically a parallelogram that is trying to collapse. Each joint is basically a hinge that needs to be held rigidly. If you're trying to keep the glass and the overall shape you will need to add some bracing in each corner. This could be as simple as small triangular plates (like 4" x 4") welded to the existing members.

A good fabricator should be able to see what's going on here and have some suggestions for how to address the current shortcomings.

 

[the butcher]

I don't have a shop recommendation, however, I will share some thoughts on the problem and potential solutions.

First, the existing frame seems to be welded aluminum...probably fairly thin wall. The welds were ground flush which reduces the strength considerably. If it was thicker wall and you had good full-penetration welding you can usually get away with it, but on thin wall like this it's not good.

Second, the top is basically a parallelogram that is trying to collapse. Each joint is basically a hinge that needs to be held rigidly. If you're trying to keep the glass and the overall shape you will need to add some bracing in each corner. This could be as simple as small triangular plates (like 4" x 4") welded to the existing members.

A good fabricator should be able to see what's going on here and have some suggestions for how to address the current shortcomings.

all valid points from recent post by pineapple express. I would like to also add your custom hardtop is much higher(taller) than the stock OEM hardtop..albeit the oem hardtop was made from fiberglass... A taller hardtop like your custom one would create more shear forces around the base and weld point which in turn puts significantly mkre stress and is likely a reason for the failure in addition to the other points mentioned by other members. If you looked at a stock arima sea ranger hardtop you will notice they have a rather low height for their hardtop.