On this week's episode of Onboard Lifestyle we talk about our options and start preparations for our new hardtop on our custom 435 catamaran sv basik. This p...

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okay welcome back to SB basic

now that we've cut this hard top away

it's wide open we have lots of options

lots of options but we have designed our

new enclosure and we'll talk about that

a little bit but first I got a little

project I want to do because it's been

bugging me looking at this for a couple

days when we cut all this structure out

I just diced this off I want to get

these little nubs

off here I had one right here I ground

this out and they came out real clean so

I need to do the rest with our new top

we are keeping this part of the

structure so that's what I want to clean

this up get it all buffed and polished

out and make it look pretty I'm doing it

for a few reasons we must keep this

because here is our traveller for the

boom this will give us a nice platform

for all the new solar we've got quite a

bit we have six new panels going in

across here these four panels are

actually incorporated into the new top

and we'll talk about that a little while

so I'm going to get started getting this

thing cleaned up

beautiful day

let's get to work

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pretty good cop/bad I'm try to get a

little

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down look at food using a was that 30

grit 36 36 Wow so precise

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okay let's talk a little bit about our

new hardtop first let's look at our old

one our old one sat in the position

right about here it was aluminum and FRP

glass with a glass overlay weighed 550

pounds and it was a monster it did his

purpose it lasted twenty plus years but

it was time for us to upgrade so we

removed it now that I've got the little

nubs ground off this before I get

started polishing let's start talking

about our new top now we could have went

with I mean there's so many options I

mean this this is ten feet from here to

here and twelve feet from here to here

it's an amazing amount of space we could

have went with a soft top with a tubular

construction and kept it real light but

the biggest problem is our boom is up

here over ten feet from the deck up to

here even if we swing the boom over to

the side deck right here say we can

swing the boom over to here you'd still

be reaching from this upper deck over

six feet to get to the boom and there is

no way we could feel like a sail or do

maintenance on that or an emergency

maintain things properly so what we

decided to do is build

a rigid platform a catwalk it's gonna

look about like this

so we'll be built with night a car it'll

have a big box beam underneath which

will also be electrical chase which will

have LED lighting

it'll have speakers it'll be a nice wire

chase for all the solar coming back over

here and why we're doing this shape here

let's keep the weight down we could have

went with a solid 100 percent solid top

up here but this one you know if you if

you calculate it out should be about 140

to 160 pounds right in there now the

advantage to this is now we have a rigid

platform to walk along we will have a

stainless support that comes off this

deck up and arches through and isn't

integrated into it and then back down to

this deck and that'll carry the bulk of

the load but the box beam construction

spanning 10 feet is not a big issue at

all and why we only that shape is

because of this

if you look back here we have four

panels now we're gonna remove those and

we're adding six panels

that'll be these six panels here this

gives us room dad

three more panels down this side here's

the catwalk for walking on this actually

will be a solar assisted water system

and we'll have a pump that pumps water

up into here and solar will assist

heating it and then circulate it back

into our hot water system and that'll

work great during the heat of the day

this area here is a will be a raised

area over the helm and we'll build this

later with a hard little hard top and a

full enclosure

this is the plan right here it's gonna

take a while to build but the beauty is

that we can build this section first

this whole solar array back here is a

whole separate project adding these will

be a separate project and adding the

water assist will will be a separate

project the idea swen we build this to

have C channel around this so there will

be canvas that will protect us from the

elements and then options to to curtain

down to give this a full enclosed area

if we want it's a big project

we'll do it in stages and we'll get

started pretty soon may take us a while

but you know what we're not in a race

it's gonna be a fun one

okay now that

I've got all these nubs round off I

actually went through and tried to shape

some of this of the uglier welds on here

as well

reshape the everything that I could now

the next thing is try to get some of

this oxidation off look at how bad this

is

and it's all over so I'm going to start

with a sand net and dust collection

start with a 220 sand

work my way to a 320 and then to a 400

after that then I'll pull out the

polishing compounds and try to get this

thing shinier so let's just start with

the rough stuff the 220 and knock down

as much as we can

beautiful day in Seattle here I mean it

is perfect conditions 70 degrees and

sunny

let's knock this out

okay obviously there's other ways to get

this aluminum looking good than the way

that I'm doing it I mean it's just

starting out just pretty nappy just ugly

that's 20 plus years in the ocean right

there

these sand net discs are doing pretty

good you know I'm using these because

that's the tool I have if I need to try

something else I might but this is going

I'm happy with this going alone I'll

just keep going

this was looking like so here this

segment right here is about an hour of

sanding it took tour about two disks

right here it feels pretty good

this is at the 220 level here's an hour

on this side at the 220 and another hour

at the 320 and this feels just blast

smooth if you look there is some little

micro scratches still but I still have

work this whole thing over with the 400

at the end I mean this right now I'm

looking at this it's looking pretty nice

compared to what we're starting at but

it is a ton of work

so I'm not gonna bore you with

time-lapse of me just buffing this for

the two or three days that it's gonna

take so I'll just check in once in a

while I'll show you the progress can you

get back to work work well I can I got

the weather so you hear that sound it's

a little familiar now right so we're

sanding and sanding and sanding

it's another project on SP basic now

that we had taken the hard top down we

are polishing and getting all the

anodized aluminum smooth so it's been

neglected for about eight years if not

more longer and I'm going to show you

what we're using this is a sand net this

is different than a normal sandpaper or

so they say but it has lasted a lot

longer than the normal disc that we have

been using so deal's been doing the 320

grit and then he works his way up to the

400 this is by no means

all that we're gonna do after we get to

the right smooth finish then we will

polish and use a compound to actually

protect the aluminum now we don't know

if this is gonna work or not but this is

our first try at it let me show you what

tails been up to all afternoon and

morning I guess

he's getting there it's a lot of work

I'm so lucky that he's such a hard

worker he just loves this stuff

but I'm going to have to believe him

eventually

once we're done with the arch then we're

gonna work on 40 feet railing times -

that's a lot and then we have the boom

which needs a lot of work and attention

as well and then once that's done it

will work on the front trampoline

because it has the same aluminum and

strut so I'm not looking forward to it

but it's gonna be amazing this is

something that we have been putting off

for a long time but once we get the new

hardtop installed and built then I don't

know it'll be good let's go and relieve

teal this is what happens when we are

project mode so he gets to steal all my

outlets

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just excited

and I think it's time to relieve him

are you ready for a little break

yeah arms it's my turn

really yeah okay let's suit you up okay

first of all can I say I had the most

awesome wife on the planet

my arms were rubber she comes out and

takes over

anything ex-writer she is all in

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she's smart she's beautiful and she is

such a hard worker

I like to think we make a great team

look at her go

so she's doing

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there you go good

build knife

okay look at this

starting to get smoother and smoother

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this is 320

scratch coat now we'll do another one at

400 and then start the buffing compound

and try to get this a little shinier

perfect day absolute perfect day to be

doing this not too hot 70 degrees

just uh just a light little wind

life's not bad on su basic no complaints

here

[Applause]

thanks for watching this week's episode

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really happy that my parents have

finally worked on the hard top comeback

that chick to see what they do next

see you then

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