t top or no t top!!
 

does anyone have any opinions on whether or not to put a t top on a 20' sf???? size recomendations? anyone with past experience that had problems?

On the 20 there is a group of hardcore spin casting fishermen that prefer No T top.
 

When my son sold his very customized but topless mosely last summer that was one of the reasons for his boat being so desired. Yes He actually made a little money after using the boat for almost 2 years.
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allways want a t - top,it provides shade - you can atach a 3 side enclosure to it - the top provides rod storage,a place to mount antennas,and deck lights...word to the wise - get a top with a "skin",try and avoid the canvas top...also,have a t - top made for the boat - stay away from those cheap "t top's in a box",get a real top...

Ditto! I have a canvas/sunbrella top on mine, wish I had the money when it was built to go with a hard top! One of the other advantages is as Pelican says you can get your "stuff" up in the air and off the gunnels. Makes it easy to walk around when fighting fish.

on a 18/20 I would not put on a tee top unless you live in a southern state and fish/boat in the hot sun. It'll get in your way when you are fishing.

t top
 

Love the t-top. It's great in the summer with the sun and anytime with rain. I added the 3-sided phone booth enclosure which is excellent- keeps spray off you no matter what the conditions. And yes, having the 4 rod holders up top helps alot too.

4x6' on a 20' works well.

What they said shade in the summer Place for a enclosure and a great handjold.
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The other day when I was off island and had to go to PG I was heading down edgewater, was that your boat I saw?

Coming from an 18SF with bimini top........................I really like the open air without the top at times.........If I didn't have a low bridge to go under and family that benefits from the larger bimini for shade, I would have a t-top. I really like the look of the t-top. The bimini folded, covered, and out of the way while cruising is cool too.

I have a T-top on my 23, I love it. I have a rocket launcher up there, along with my riggers, some lights, and assortment of antennas. I can fish 360 degrees with nothing in the way of the action. Prior to the 23, I ran a 19' maycraft and I put a Bimini T top on it. This was a low cost way to get a little shade and still leave it removable so I could get under the bridges or cruise without the top. The top was pretty nice when running. I had a pair of small outriggers that were attached to it (an option on the top) along with a couple of rod holders that I would only put light spinning tackle in. For the small boat and my desire to go under a couple of low bridges in the flats it was the perfect solution.

The only issue I had with it was that you MUST roll up the canvas before trailering. The extra wind load from the tow vehicle would have torn it apart (I never tried it but I was told this up front). Never had any issues while running the boat though.

Here is a web site you can look at with some more information.

http://www.bimiteetop.com/

yeah i was looking at the atlantic towers t tops...i would def like to have the rocket launchers and antennas and stuff up top and also have the phone booth enclosure for when it gets snotty out...has anyone had problems with the t top being like a sail when running in windy conditions or trying to drift when bottom fishing when its windy??

do want to side track here...but...

that atlantic t - top is junk ! that thing is a waste of money...make the smart play - take the boat to a guy who builds tops and towers,have a top made for the boat - get a fiberglass "skin",avoid the canvas top...a quality top,it will have antenna plates,to mount both the vhf and the gps antennas - and areas to mount spreader lites - and plates to mount top mounted riggers and a radar antenna...

get a quality enclosure made - from a quality company - stay away from the bargain basement - thy're usually made from clear that's like saran wrap...you want strataglass for the clear...a good canvas shop - they will have experience in making an enclosure

will the top act as a sail ? NO WAY !

here's another tip - stay away from the electronics box - unless you enjoy a stiff neck,from looking up at the nav equipment - you want your nav equip in your "line of site"...

running wires up and down the tubes is simple - piece of string and a big shop vac - that's how it's done...

sorry for the side track - but - i hate to see owners make a bad mistake with their boat...

Amen Jim!!! I totally agree. However the electronics box is quite usable for me. It has my main DSC VHF radio, CD player/radio, an old Garmin GPS as backup and a backup VHF (without DSC). These are things I don't need to look at very often. The primary Raymarine GPS/recorder is on the console and easy to see.

thanks pelican and donV i really appreciate the honesty!! however as for an electronics box all of my electronics are already flush mounted into my console so if i was to purchase the box it would basically just be used as storage but i believe the t-bags are a better bargain for that anyways. So you guys dont think that i will have any weight issues or the boat ride different because of the top? and do you guys know any good places to go to get this done? i live in delaware. any price ideas for a good top for my boat??

I would have a bag made and not buy a tbag. The one I purchased was flimsy, the zipper broke and I finally removed it and had one made that fit snuggly between the rails. I use my electronics box for storage and it works great for that purpose.

Has anyone ever seen someone take one of the old wide consoles and beef it up to take a light console mounted top? It seems like if you could attach the console to the floor in a certain way, and beef the console it could be done. The tubes going all the way to the floor can be a pain on a narrow boat with the wide console, even on a narrow console it would be nice to have as much space as possible.

Bly, how well do you think that carbon fiber tubing would do if you wanted to make your own top, with a canopy maybe 4" wider on each side of an old wide console?

I'm kinda surprised about what some say about sailing in a 20' SC, while the ones I've been on don't blow like a leaf from it, it definitely can change a drift and how it performs underway on some days. There's definitely some wind resistance. That wouldn't make my decision anyway. I have to agree it's tough to have a boat way south without a top if you put a lot if time in, up here it's preference for most people ihmo. No matter where you live or your tolerance of the sun, a t-top has some great advantages, definitely more pros than cons when they are thought out well.

This is something I would deff be interested in having done on my 20. I currently have a bimini top but love the look of a T-Top honestly for me personally its not about how it works just simply like the style of a CC with T-Top. Would a Hard Top T-Top be too much weight for a 20 ?

A lot of boats have k-tops (what some people call them) but the console and boat have to be able to take the leverage against it. I've never seen one on the wide console on a SC. If and when I go t-top I will do whatever I need to do to avoid putting the legs to the floor unless I run the tubing through the console.

This would be a kool idea, you would have to work closely with a good pipe maker to have good bends for it to go inside the console smoothly

No bends for what I'm thinking, just follow the vertical lines of the console. It would be a ton more work then having the legs just make a 90 turn to the outside of the console at the different mounting points, then you also wouldn't lose any storage room inside the console. The console and how it's attached has to be much stronger than the factory wide console to pull it off.

the probelm with having a console mounted top,is the console.the console would require a substantial modification to hold the stress load of a t - top . the flange,where it mounts,is just a small part of the modifications required.
the obstruction of a deck mounted t - top is minimal - the pipe work,along with the mount pads are usually,just outside the console - the standard mount pad - 4 bolt,these are no bigger than 3"x5" - 3" being the width - the pipe work is in the middle of that,again,obstruction is minimal...
with a console mounted top - the console would need to be "cored",on all sides - the "flange",where the console mounts to the deck - this would require coring as well,including adding width to it...the amount of work required,is pretty substantial...

Agreed, may be worth it though for me. It would be a nice touch but a lot of work for sure.

So you guys dont think that i will have any weight issues or the boat ride different because of the top? and do you guys know any good places to go to get this done? i live in delaware. any price ideas for a good top for my boat??

that t-top,it's gonna weigh about 40lbs - clearly,there's not problem with weight...ride different ?

not aware of any shops in delaware ...

I bought a SeaCraft20 w a Ttop and don't want to be without it. I made my own enclosure by attaching plexiglass to the Ttop