Carver Owners Forum

Hi Everyone,

My canvas on my 01 466 is come to the end of its life. I have to make a decision this summer on whether to simply replace with new canvas or try to attempt to build a hardtop. I am not a canvas fan and would love to have the hard top to add a few solar panels.
Has anyone done this and have some advice on what to and more important what not to do? I am thinking of using aluminum and powder coating it. Cheaper and lighter.

Thanks all!

There's a member here who built his own hardtop for the aft deck. If you want to get an idea what he did, his link is here:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=27&p=100&hilit=hardtop#p100

Aluminum would be cool too, but also expensive. I had a former dock neighbor who had an aluminum hardtop on his 350 Mariner. Looked great but all he knew about it was that it was put on by the former owner and it was "very expensive".

Thank you!

There are places that sell hardtops. Don't know if they're custom for each make and model but worth a call and discuss. Here are a couple of examples but there are more out there. Atlantic is a very well known supplier...
https://www.atlantictowers.com/custom-towers-hardtops.php
https://boathardtop.com/

You can also touch base with Stainless Outfitters in Barrie Ont....
https://stainlessoutfitters.com/

I have just completed the forward half of a custom hard top for my 4207. It is made of carbon fiber with a ridged styrene foam core; total weight = 40 lbs. The winter project took me a total of 280 hrs and $ 1100.00 in materials. I would estimate the market cost of this section to be around $18,000. This section of the top is 8'9"wide x 2'6"long. The top framing was custom molded onto the radar arch then other framing members attached while in place. Lastly, the framing was covered with an 18oz carbon fiber skin and bonded in place. The side glass is 0.09" polycarbonate with custom molded carbon fiber framing set in plastic awning rails. I am in the process of building the aft section which will be about 6'0" long.[image][/image]

I had a hardtop made for my 04 466 and came out great. It was made by Atlantic Tops & Towers. Made of carbon fiber which is much lighter than fiberglass, they have pictures in the gallery on their website.

lester7410 wrote:Source of the post I have just completed the forward half of a custom hard top for my 4207. It is made of carbon fiber with a ridged styrene foam core; total weight = 40 lbs. The winter project took me a total of 280 hrs and $ 1100.00 in materials. I would estimate the market cost of this section to be around $18,000. This section of the top is 8'9"wide x 2'6"long. The top framing was custom molded onto the radar arch then other framing members attached while in place. Lastly, the framing was covered with an 18oz carbon fiber skin and bonded in place. The side glass is 0.09" polycarbonate with custom molded carbon fiber framing set in plastic awning rails. I am in the process of building the aft section which will be about 6'0" long.

That looks very cool. You need to start a thread in the "Projects" folder and post up all the info on the process you used. Looking forward to seeing the whole thing!!