Flybridge roof repairs

[Briankinley2004]

The flybridge roof on my 55C was leaking in places when I bought her. Found it to be made of fiberglass panels laid athwartship the bridge on aluminum framing. The seams had no sealant and judging from the pieces or 3/8 or 1/2" fragmented pieces of plastic under the radar & KVH antennae it must have been overlain at some point. For a temporary fix I silicone caulked all the seams and screw holes that must have been for the overlay. Has anyone repaired a bridge roof? Looking for suggestions. I am thinking of leaving the thin fiberglass panels in place an doing another overlay. Thought of either using FRP panels glued perpendicular to the existing panels or adding a layer of glass & mat on top. I couldn't really find much on here about what other people have done. I have also thought of putting a PVC seamless roof such as Duro-last up there as we have successfully used it on many commercial buildings. Just not sure how it would hold up to vibrations or other boat issues.

[drburke]

I currently have an aluminum frame with canvas cover that I wanted to replace with a hardtop and gave it considerable thought.

Probably for now I will replace the canvas, but your FRP idea is what I also came up with—that gets my vote.

DAN

[SEVEN]

Use 4200. Silicon does not stick to fiberglass.

[Briankinley2004]

Use 4200. Silicon does not stick to fiberglass.

Its temporary and seems to stick so far. I wiped down with acetone first. I also used 4200 on the screw holes. Basically I used what I had open tubes of to finish off the tube until I got it all caulk. Thanks for the tip though I will remember that. I will have to remove all the caulking to install something new over it if it is adhesive based

[Briankinley2004]

I have been re-thinking this project and it is on my urgent list although my temporary caulking is still working. The roof is almost 12 ft. in each direction so would need some 12' FRP. Going to have to fight it around the tower legs that sit on the roof as well. I have decided my best move would be to use fiberglass seam tape and tape the existing seams. Then put a layer of fiberglass mat over the entire 12x12 roof, barrier seal and paint. The advantages I see to this are I can complete a little at a time; working around flybridge support would be easy and I think the glass would be stronger than glued FRP. My question is does anyone know what cloth would be best? I am thinking of triaxial cloth for extra strength and keeping the weight down on the roof. The existing fiberglass panels seem to be ok but are not really thick and flex enough to move the seams if you put any weight on them.