Fly bridge support.

[oscarvan]

There are a lot of things I like, but a few serious things I don't like about my back deck enclosure. It's aluminum framing with sliders on the side, fixed plexiglass corners and back panels, with a center door to get to the swim ladder.

1 Aluminum framing is blistering. It was painted not long ago and keeping that issue at bay is very tough.
2 I can open up about 1/4 of the enclosure. (2 side slides, and the back door)
3 This makes line handling difficult and cleaning the outside impossible.

I am planning on replacing it all with a product called "cool2sea". http://www.4u2sea.com/
I am friends with the inventor, have seen several installations and there's a licensed installer at the end of my dock. (A boat next to me has a 20 year old fly bridge enclosure that looks brand new. OK, he's under roof, and takes care of it, but still)

Here's the issue. The aluminum framing provides the support for the upper deck. I will have to put something else in. 2 ss poles is one solution I'm aware of, or several ss tubes that run at an angle down and then bend vertical to go down to the deck.

Could a few of you with open back decks (with or without canvas) please post some pictures of the support system they have? Thank you.

 

[Pascal]

The type of support had changed over the years. I ve seen 53s (mid to late 70s) with 3 SS tunes, maybe 1” diameter, from the edge of the FB to the rail along the stern.

Mine has two alum poles, 2 or 2 1/2” on each side. They’re close to the side edge of the FB and about 9” for the rear edge. I like it better has it leaves the rear complexly unobstructed

Indeed windows and panels can make stern like handling difficult. Some boats also have a very small opening at the corner making it hard to pass lines thru. Mine has larger opening which make it real easy

 

[Scarlett]

I mounted my stern cleats, that I got from Sam’s, on the rail aft instead of on the aft deck. That rail is crazy strong and thick. I through bolted them. Then we take the stern line up to the aft midship cleat and tie it off while underway, that way I don’t have to deal with the aft deck sliding windows. John

 

[Oldlaxer1]

Best pictures I've got.

 

[Photolomy]

Mine is just like oldaxer. 4 x ss poles from the aft floor to the aft ceiling. That is pretty much the standard design for this vintage. You see it in the brochures as well.

https://www.hatterasowners.com/Brochures/53MY/53MYB-0286.pdf

The older 53's only had 2 ...

https://www.hatterasowners.com/Brochures/53MY/53MYB-0069.pdf

 

[Pascal]

I wonder if my side two pole setup was a custom job... what do others have on early boats?

 

[oscarvan]

Very interesting. Thank you all for your input. It appears that Hatteras never intended a cocktail party with 8 people on the upper deck in these brochures. That said, my weather boards/rail go all the way back up there and it appears original.

Pascal follow the second link in Photolomy's post above. It shows two poles on an older boat. Note how they are angled to match the side walls......

 

[Photolomy]

There is actually seating for 8 on the upper deck. 4 up front, 2 helm seats, and 2 on the bench behind those. Then there is the dinghy and a couple people back there handling it. Thus, it handles 10 people plus a dinghy well. Note that most of that is no more than a couple of feet past the salon, so it doesn't put a lot of force on the 4 SS poles. Even with the dinghy and 2 handlers, only half of that (maybe a little more) is on the SS poles. Within those numbers, I have never felt that we were stressing the upper deck.

 

[Photolomy]

Also, don't underestimate those SS poles. They are pretty strong and mounted well. I have bumped into them before, while handling lines or putting up the eisenglass. They hurt. Naturally, I don't bump into them anymore.

 

[Pascal]

Here are mines. I moved them a couple of inches when added a layer of Coosa and glass to reinforce the spongy aft deck

 

[edward]

Would it be very expensive to have larger supports made ?

 

[SEVEN]

I have seen these factory supports on 1979 and 1980 motor yachts. I’ve not seen them prior to 79 or after 1980. I believe they were installed to support a much heavier dinghy.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I have seen these factory supports on 1979 and 1980 motor yachts. I’ve not seen them prior to 79 or after 1980. I believe they were installed to support a much heavier dinghy.

Are you sure that's a factory install? I doubt it. With the radius on those pipes, they wouldn't support much without bending further. It sure doesn't look like any type of engineer was involved in making those.

 

[Pascal]

Would it be very expensive to have larger supports made ?

Mines are just a 2” alum tube with a flange at each end. Can’t be expensive. I like how the whole stern is open

 

[Photolomy]

Sky said what I was thinking. That isn’t quite the way i would make them if I was trying to add support.

 

[SEVEN]

I have numerous friends in Northern and Southern California with Hatteras’s is that have exactly the same pipes the same ends the same connections as mine. I don’t know how that would happen since the boats are in completely different areas and have come from the East Coast to West Coast. If you doubt that this is true contact Hatteras and find out. All I know is I have and numerous others have great extra support for my dinghy on the top.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I have numerous friends in Northern and Southern California with Hatteras’s is that have exactly the same pipes the same ends the same connections as mine. I don’t know how that would happen since the boats are in completely different areas and have come from the East Coast to West Coast. If you doubt that this is true contact Hatteras and find out. All I know is I have and numerous others have great extra support for my dinghy on the top.

I've never seen that but I don't care enough to call. Just an observation. How much weight do you think a curved tube can hold?

 

[SEVEN]

I was told Hatteras added those when they put a 13 foot Boston Wailer up there. It was meant to support that extra weight. I’m only going off what I was told from Hatteras and the fact I’ve seen these 3” poles on numerous 53’s. Who knows?

 

[tom5518]

I wonder if my side two pole setup was a custom job... what do others have on early boats?

Yours are from the factory. They changed to the four poles when they updated the hardtop around 71-72.

 

[tom5518]

I was told Hatteras added those when they put a 13 foot Boston Wailer up there. It was meant to support that extra weight. I’m only going off what I was told from Hatteras and the fact I’ve seen these 3” poles on numerous 53’s. Who knows?

I believe this is correct. I think anytime a 13’ Whaler was put up there, either by the factory or aftermarket, they had to add them. I don’t think they had to add them when an 11' was used.