I am about to replace the windshield and soft top on my '77 model with a hard top/enclosure. I am 6'3" and wanted to stand without hitting my head in the '74 model in this thread, but the height of the top messes up the esthetics of a beautiful hull. Since I mostly drive sitting down on the river, which is where the '77 model lives, I really don't need the headroom.
Below is the '77 model with its soft top on the Neuse River in New Bern, NC:
Below is a recent picture of the '74 model on Bogue Sound in Morehead City, NC. Man, do I love that boat! The great feeling I get every time I step aboard make all the time, money, and effort that went into it worthwhile.
I plan to lower the hard top on the '77 hull about 8-10" and remove the side and front overhang. Removing the overhang will allow fabrication from a one piece mould, greatly reducing time and materials. The eventual goal is to make a prefab hard top available as a bolt-on retrofit for others, at reasonable cost. To get an idea of what it would look like, here is an edited image of the proposed design on the '74 hull.
This little voice keeps saying "A bridge would look so cool!", but it would be much too top heavy to be practical.
Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.
(What's with having two of these boats? Well, I needed a good trailer, which basically came with a free Sceptre, and it's a shame to have learned so much on one refurb project and not use that knowledge again, and one thing led to another. Now I've got two great boats for less than most (non-Seacraft) people have in one. Judging from this forum, my story is far from unique!)