You sure did a nice job on building that.I built a pontoon boat i fish out of that is state of the art comfort.On that back part that is open,you could put you a cable from one side to the other, and have a custom fit heavy canvas tarp made to fit the dimension,s.Then put clips to hold it in place like a shower curtain and slide it shut in a few second,s.to keep in warmth or stop rain from blowing in the back.My pontoon has a fourteen foot aluminum top that is open all the way around.I have a one piece cable that run,s all the way around the top.When it,s hot ,rain come,s in or whatever reason,i can hang my four made to fit canvas tarp,s in five minutes time and be protected from the weather or to keep warm in the winter time.Slide em shut and put a bungee around them or remove the bungee and close it in.I can lay in there with rod bite alarm,s on my poles and never ever miss a bite.I can,t stand to have my eye,s glued to a rod tip all night.Sleep all i want,and get woke up to a fish on my pole.Your a very talented individual.
Looks like you did a great job on the top, as well as the boat. Looking forward to more boating/fishing and fabricating videos from you. Another thumbs up to you Jeff.
Awesome build buddy!! I definitely can’t think of anything you didn’t forget about!!! You definitely thought of everything and anything that might have been a troubled issue and fixed it before you built it!!!
Awesome video Jeff. I'd love to have the skill you have to fabricate things. Kind of wish you would have shown how you have it mount it to your boat thanks for sharing
It’s mounted directly to the top rail. It has 3 bolts on each side. The top can. E removed in less than 5 minutes. I’ve taken it off and put it back on by myself. It’s only been removed once since I built it. Thanks for checking it out.
Hey buddy that's nice.. I. Enjoyed your video.. you could start a company entailing these top for extra income. Your top is better and stronger then what you see out of a factory. Once again thanks for sharing your build with all of us.
I had to come back and watch this again. I’m going to be retiring soon and my wife and I will be spending a lot of time on our boat. 2007 xpress cc 22’. I’m going to build a top for it and this is the inspiration I got 3 years ago for it. I’m in the planning stages now. If I may ask…the aluminum sheeting…how thick is it?
I got lucky when I built this top and found 4 sheets of aircraft grade 23 guage. It is more rigid than normal so it resist dents. I believe it’s 5000 series alloy.
Thank you. I was able to clamp the pieces between wood 2x4’s and bend the sheets for the mid point corners. The 90° corners I used a 1x1 square tube for the corner and seamed it on each side.
Amazing job Jeff, I love that hard top and admire your skills. I fish Mississippi out of Memphis and regularly see “crew boats” with hard tops. Some with roof top a/c like an r.v. And I day dream of the comfort that would offer if converted to cat boat. Wondering if you cut your own glass also and man hours invested in that project, and did you get it right the first time???lol I never miss a chance to catch your videos, you taught me a lot and I’m 60 years old. Old dog that loves to learn new tricks.
I had the glass cut then used them as patterns. It took around 30 hours to build and 80 hours of me just staring at my boat trying to map it out in my head before I started lol Thank you for watching and commenting
Not sure what it was. When I got it it was just a skin. Lol. The bow was pretty much where it is now. I could tell by the old wear areas. I just built it back out of diamond plate Thanks for watching and commenting I appreciate it
@bowl830 I realized by message had a typo, but since you didn't do it square on the sides, what did you use to make a gusset for those angles? Just aluminum flat stock that you bent with a brake? I am looking at possibly using 3030 aluminum extrusion for my build, still looking into it, but not sure if I want to use aluminum sheets or FRP panels and make my bracing a little beefier to support the FRP.
I used the pieces I cut out of the top to make patterns and took to a local glass company. It wasn’t that expensive. I used regular glass with a shatter proof film.
Reeling in blues , did your boat come with side Gundils, or did you build them , myself I have 17 ft Gregor Gregor Aluminium deep v boat with 50 Honda 4 stroke., single concel, would love build a cabin like yours, mind doesn't have gundels on the sides, it all welded boat.
Lol. Thanks I appreciate it. The top is actually pretty light. I can pick it up by myself. Before the glass it was under 140lb I’d guess 160. What’s funny the boat is faster with the top than without. Thanks for watching
@@bowl830 awesome! I built a now 22' pontoon for catfishing and have been looking for a good top idea. And yours looks like the golden ticket. and I built an anchor this winter hopefully I can get the boat uncovered and back in the water this weekend to try it out. Its a variation of the west coast river anchor.
Solid rivets can be a pain. I’ve got a shipment coming in a week message me on Facebook team Reelin the blues. I hope to have kits soon that come with the tool and a variety of 3/16 solid rivet lengths Thank you for watching and commenting
![DIY HARD DODGER template. [E24] Part 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n1V6SY075bI/mqdefault.jpg)
You sure did a nice job on building that.I built a pontoon boat i fish out of that is state of the art comfort.On that back part that is open,you could put you a cable from one side to the other, and have a custom fit heavy canvas tarp made to fit the dimension,s.Then put clips to hold it in place like a shower curtain and slide it shut in a few second,s.to keep in warmth or stop rain from blowing in the back.My pontoon has a fourteen foot aluminum top that is open all the way around.I have a one piece cable that run,s all the way around the top.When it,s hot ,rain come,s in or whatever reason,i can hang my four made to fit canvas tarp,s in five minutes time and be protected from the weather or to keep warm in the winter time.Slide em shut and put a bungee around them or remove the bungee and close it in.I can lay in there with rod bite alarm,s on my poles and never ever miss a bite.I can,t stand to have my eye,s glued to a rod tip all night.Sleep all i want,and get woke up to a fish on my pole.Your a very talented individual.
Thanks brother. It’s hard to beat those ole pontoons. Especially one set up like yours. Thanks for watching. I appreciate it
Ol Jeff Morris always has the best comments 😂
If I had that on mine I would never come home! All I would need is Wifi and a place for my work laptop! Very nice work Jeff!!
Lol. It is very nice in there for sure. I appreciate you watching. I do love my top especially in the rain
Nice video I got a 18.5 Sylvain center console boat id like to build a top for. Might be my spring project
Awesome boat Good luck
Looks like you did a great job on the top, as well as the boat. Looking forward to more boating/fishing and fabricating videos from you. Another thumbs up to you Jeff.
Awesome build buddy!! I definitely can’t think of anything you didn’t forget about!!! You definitely thought of everything and anything that might have been a troubled issue and fixed it before you built it!!!
Great job 👍
Excellent video, well done, thanks for all the explanation.
Thank you,
Very nice buddy
Looks great!
Thanks! i appreciate that
Good looking top 👌
Thank you sir
Man that's a great Job on that , You nailed that one for sure , ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Five Star Rating on this DYI Project
Thanks brother
Good video!
Looks great I always thought it was a factory top
Thank you sir. I appreciate you watching and commenting
Amazing build!! Very informative. There is not a lot of info on here regarding boat cabin builds.
Thank you I appreciate it.
Awesome video Jeff. I'd love to have the skill you have to fabricate things. Kind of wish you would have shown how you have it mount it to your boat thanks for sharing
It’s mounted directly to the top rail. It has 3 bolts on each side. The top can. E removed in less than 5 minutes. I’ve taken it off and put it back on by myself. It’s only been removed once since I built it. Thanks for checking it out.
@@bowl830 I'm sure you said but how much does it weigh
140 before I done a few things. But I’d say 145-160 total.
Hey buddy that's nice.. I. Enjoyed your video.. you could start a company entailing these top for extra income. Your top is better and stronger then what you see out of a factory. Once again thanks for sharing your build with all of us.
Thank you. I appreciate that. You made my day.
thanks Jeff
I like what i seen!
Thank you. I love my top
holy fuck. im looking into building a top for a boat. thank you for the info. very helpful
I had to come back and watch this again. I’m going to be retiring soon and my wife and I will be spending a lot of time on our boat. 2007 xpress cc 22’. I’m going to build a top for it and this is the inspiration I got 3 years ago for it. I’m in the planning stages now. If I may ask…the aluminum sheeting…how thick is it?
I got lucky when I built this top and found 4 sheets of aircraft grade 23 guage. It is more rigid than normal so it resist dents. I believe it’s 5000 series alloy.
yes!!!!!
Lol. I would have slept At least to 6 before watching😂
@@bowl830 nope lol
Great job! Very inspirational! How did you manage to make the bends for the corners of the top?
Thank you. I was able to clamp the pieces between wood 2x4’s and bend the sheets for the mid point corners. The 90° corners I used a 1x1 square tube for the corner and seamed it on each side.
Amazing job Jeff, I love that hard top and admire your skills. I fish Mississippi out of Memphis and regularly see “crew boats” with hard tops. Some with roof top a/c like an r.v. And I day dream of the comfort that would offer if converted to cat boat. Wondering if you cut your own glass also and man hours invested in that project, and did you get it right the first time???lol
I never miss a chance to catch your videos, you taught me a lot and I’m 60 years old. Old dog that loves to learn new tricks.
I had the glass cut then used them as patterns. It took around 30 hours to build and 80 hours of me just staring at my boat trying to map it out in my head before I started lol Thank you for watching and commenting
Great Job! Was your starcraft an open bow, just wondering because of the diamond plate up front?
Not sure what it was. When I got it it was just a skin. Lol. The bow was pretty much where it is now. I could tell by the old wear areas. I just built it back out of diamond plate
Thanks for watching and commenting I appreciate it
Wow nice job! Im just wondering how you attached the top to the boat?
It’s got 3 3/16 stainless bolts on each side. It takes less than 10 minutes to remove or put on By myself.
Hi there, looking to do the same on my boat. Where did you purchase your glass from?
Awesome. I love mine. Most your commercial glass companies can cut it for you. Thanks for watching and commenting I appreciate it
Did you vend gussets yourself for the angles
Yes everything is aluminum do it didn’t take much. I also used epoxy on all connections including corners. That makes it incredibly rigid and strong.
@bowl830 I realized by message had a typo, but since you didn't do it square on the sides, what did you use to make a gusset for those angles? Just aluminum flat stock that you bent with a brake?
I am looking at possibly using 3030 aluminum extrusion for my build, still looking into it, but not sure if I want to use aluminum sheets or FRP panels and make my bracing a little beefier to support the FRP.
Yes I used flat stock to make them.
How did you cut the glass?
I used the pieces I cut out of the top to make patterns and took to a local glass company. It wasn’t that expensive. I used regular glass with a shatter proof film.
Reeling in blues , did your boat come with side Gundils, or did you build them , myself I have 17 ft Gregor Gregor Aluminium deep v boat with 50 Honda 4 stroke., single concel, would love build a cabin like yours, mind doesn't have gundels on the sides, it all welded boat.
I had to make them as well. It Adds a lot of strength
This boat is the cats azz! How much do you think the top weighs? And how does it affect anchoring in the wind?
Lol. Thanks I appreciate it. The top is actually pretty light. I can pick it up by myself. Before the glass it was under 140lb I’d guess 160. What’s funny the boat is faster with the top than without. Thanks for watching
It actually anchors pretty good. I build grapple hook style anchors so i made sure I built one to hold in 20-30 mph winds
@@bowl830 awesome! I built a now 22' pontoon for catfishing and have been looking for a good top idea. And yours looks like the golden ticket. and I built an anchor this winter hopefully I can get the boat uncovered and back in the water this weekend to try it out. Its a variation of the west coast river anchor.
Where you purchase you Rivets please
Solid rivets can be a pain. I’ve got a shipment coming in a week message me on Facebook team Reelin the blues. I hope to have kits soon that come with the tool and a variety of 3/16 solid rivet lengths Thank you for watching and commenting
😳 rivet every 3/8"
I just threw a tall truck topper with windows done deal 😂
Been there done that 😂😂😂
You interested in helping me build one by chance?
No sir. I’m in the middle of 3 projects right now.
It's awesome if you don't mind how much was your material list looking at doing something similar