FOLDING HARDTOP ON A PC CRUISER?


B

BeechBoy

New member
Greetings all,

Has anyone ever heard of a way to setup a rear folding system on a Formula PC with a "Hardtop".

I currently have a 37 PC with a regular radar arch. It is set up with a power fold system by Paradise, which has worked well.

We are considering another boat, with a hard top.

We plan to continue to trailer our boat, and we need to keep the height down. Removal would be a real pain as much of the time it is just the two of us.

Had hope to come up with a simple fold back setup.

Anyone heard or seen this before.

Happy Boating!
 
Because of the weight, I doubt that you will find anything that tilts out there. Even if you fabricated something, There is just not enough room to tilt the top forward or backwards without it interfering with something.
I stow mine where it goes on the platform.
 
its an interesting concept. on a hard top convertible car, the top generally folds in two places and i think that is how this would have to work too. the bottom section of the arch would have to fold back and the top section would have to fold down, like the top two lines of the letter "Z" with the bottom line representing the boat hull (makes sense in my mind ;)). i agree that the sheer weight of top and clearance issues would have to be overcome somehow. but probably doable. how is that hardtop gonna look with a big hinge at the bottom and top of the arch? maybe not too bad with nice polished stainless steel hinges.....
 
Formula Team,

Great response, and the idea about the Z type convertible fold would be ideal. It would eliminate the air bucket dam if it just folded rearward.

I agree with your that it will need some real heavy duty polished stainless steel hinges fabricate, with the lower actually extending down into the hardtop pockets to spread out the load.

The top fold may be easier than the bottom, especially with the front braces.

Need someone with more engineering or design ability than I have.

Thanks for the input and additional if you have some!
 
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