New Mainship Member from Vancouver

[Main Attraction]

Hello all!

I am new to the Trawler Forum, and am a proud owner of a 2002 Mainship 430 Trawler. I’ve had her since 2013, and have put about 1000 hours on her.

Looking to relace the enclosed canvas top with an enclosed hard top. Wish me luck!

If you know of anyone who has done this, I’d love to chat with them about it.


Cheers,

Jeff

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. We have put a hardtop from hardtotop.com on the last 2 boats. Easy to install and lightweight. No affiliation with them, just a happy customer.

 

[porman]

Welcome. We just replaced the flybridge enclosure with a new canvas and hard poly carbonate one. For a hardtop you might check with Boater's Discount Center in La Conner. I know they make tops for Bayliners and I think they also make custom tops.

 

[danderer]

The PO installed a hardtop from Atlantic Towers (Welcome to Atlantic Towers | T-Tops and Fishing Arches - Radar Arches and Hardtops for Boats). They've got a lot of pics on their site including some 430s. Might give you some good ideas.

We like it. Absolutely watertight and gives a larger, more airy feel to the upper deck.

PO paid around $8K for it 10 years ago. We replaced the canvas and glass last year for $4.4K.

 

[TomandJeri]

Maybe a dumb question, but how do you lower it if you need or want to clear a bridge without an opening? A rag top can be unsnapped and the hoops folded of course, but how do you deal with a rigid top on what I presume are similar hoops?

 

[danderer]

how do you lower it if you need or want to clear a bridge without an opening?

On mine you don't lower it. Fixed in place. No need to lower it for the cruising we do.

 

[Comodave]

My hardtop is attached to the radar arch that does not drop anyway. So it does not add any height to the boat. We had a custon Atlantic Towers hardtop built for a previous boat. It was very nice and very expensive. The shipping alone wat $1400. The nice thing about the hartotop is that it comes in a box. For us, it was easy since they are manufactured near Detroit so we just drove down and picked them up.