Stainless steel work - price check???

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ksanders

ksanders

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Joined
Feb 24, 2011
Messages
6,417
Location
USA
Vessel Name
DOS PECES
Vessel Make
BAYLINER 4788
I am wanting to have a stainless steel structure fabricated to be the support for a hard top on my flying bridge.

The local guy here in La Paz quoted me $9800 USD all total for something similar to this but of course on the flying bridge.

Anybody had any stainless work done lately? Does this sound reasonable?
 

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Sounds pretty fait to me. In San Diego 4 years ago I had 2 stanchions and a piece of rail replaced as part of an insurance claim and I think it was at least $3k. I was hit so it came from his insurance. What you are doing looks to be a factor of 5-10x more work. Plus it requires design work.
 
I'm amazed at how expensive stainless steel has become. Is there a specification for what grade (316) is being quoted?

I found aluminum to be less maintenance (soap with a plant feeder and rinse off), but neither is maintenance free.

Ted
 
I had quite of stainless done in Ensenada but it was blended in with some other projects. $9800 doesn't sound out of line for what you're showing (appears the pictures show a double rail to stretch a canvas top over it). I will add that sourcing 316 was difficult and it came from the US and was very expensive. If you've specified 316 and the $9800 is for that, it's probably a pretty good deal.

Good luck. Should be nice.

Peter
 
Sounds about right to me if they are using quality 316 S/S.
 
Wow! Maybe I should get back in the metal fabrication business!
 
The more I think about it, in the big picture of what I want to do with the boat, it's a LOT of money, even if it's a fair price.

All I want to do is have a hard top and some side curtains to create a dry area up top.

I might enquire about alumanium, or re-think the project.

If I continue with SS I'll be into probably north of $20,000 to enclose my flybridge
 
Check with Alantic Towers. I had them make a hardtop for me. It was very well made and custom fit for my boat. They can put keder strips for the canvas enclosure whick make adding an enclosure easy. I also got an aluminum radar arch from them that was quite nice.
 
Kevin
The local guy you have there in La Paz does excellent work. He did a raised framework for Paula's dingy last fall, looks and works great.

That price is going rate IMHO. Paula's project was 2x that number.
 
If I were to redo my hard top, I'd go with aluminum framing preferably powder coated. Not sure about the top itself (mine is foam but is still a bit heavy). Two goals are shade/weather protection, and a place for solar panels. I bumped into a sail catamaran in Barre who had a very nice hardtop that had been done in Rio Dulce Guatemala (Caribbean side). He said it was very inexpensive to have done so if I'm in that area. I might have mine redone. I sure like the weather protection though.

Regardless, id be interested if your la paz fabricator quoted 304 or 316. 316 and availability of it. Finding 316 fasteners was possible but difficult in Ensenada

Peter
 
So here is my challenge...

I did not start out on this idea to create a wonderful stainless structure on my boat, regardless if it is a good price, which i think in reality it is a very fair price for quality work.

My goal is to create a rigid roof for my flying bridge area, and to enclose that area in canvass to make the area useable.

I thought the "best" way would be to build a stainless steel structure so I could put my choice of covering on it.

Now I'm thinking that idea is incorrect for my end goal.

Remember that once i have this wonderful stainless structure, then i have to turn it into the enclosure I really want.

Perhaps the "best" solution would be for a fiberglass hard top to be made in Ensenada? That would look, if done correctly much cleaner,
 
Good idea Kevin. I wouldn't be surprised if $10k went a long way in paying for a finished top plus supports - I assume Dos Veces has a forward sloped arch to attach trailing edge of the top?).

When I was pricing my hard top, the two questions that came up in estimating was if I wanted lighting embedded, and whether it needed to support the weight of a man on the top.

La Costa, the guys who finished Weebles (but not the guys who did the hardtop unfortunately) did a beautiful hardtop for a new build 40-foot custom go-fast catamaran - had some beautiful compound curves to the top. They built a mold for much of it and kept the mold as it took a couple weeks to build the mold (the Australian architect sent very complete loftings for it). Baja Naval may have something like that around too to give a head start.

Sounds like a good project. Expensive, but good.

Peter
 
I like the fiberglass hardtop idea.
Lighter, easier to modify/drill.
Likely look better too.

We had to bring 316 fittings for the tubing from up north.

Looking forward to margaritas on the covered flybridge!
 
How hard/thick hardtop?
Curious what weight a 1/8 to 1/4 fibreglass skin might be. What weight would the bimini frame accomodate, reinforced at the rounded bends.
Something I have been thinking about for a solar panel base, keeping the canvas sides.
 
I have put hardtops on several boats. I used Atlantic Towers for one. It was beautiful and well made. The top was fiberglass but not structural. The metal was anodized aluminum. On several other boats I used hardtotop.com. They were honeycomb plastic sheets that bolted to the bimini frame. The smaller one was mounted to 1” S/S frame. The large one was not stable with 1” frame so I had new bows made out of 1.25” S/S and then it was fine. But I believe hardtotop closed up during covid. Check with Atlantic Towers.
 
For a composite top, Ideally it would be Nomex honeycomb or Divinycell PVC foam, core, 1/2-3/4" thick depending on the span with a couple mm of glass on each side. Solid glass on the edges and where the supports and any holes go. As Peter mentioned, you would need a mold to do this correctly.
 
If the geometry works out, I like using the solar panels themselves to build the majority of the hard top. Less weight up there than a roof and panels together. If you build it that way the supports will be right where you need them for the panels, and you won't have to add a secondary set of structure to support them onto of the hard or soft top.
 

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I have had both, soft top that looks like a hard top and a hard top. I prefer the hard top. The tight stretched out canvas will need to be replaced at some point and is easier to damage. Epically from birds. Get a hard top quoted and see the difference.

Most of the time the aluminum is used. Its a lighter material better for up high. Less expensive also
 
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