3 piece sundeck mod

[scott_fx]

Originally i had planned to do a nice write up about converting a sunpad from one to 3 pieces.... but my phone (with pics) died on me so i'm left with what i could find. this will be largely a written tutorial. :\

First remove the vinyl and carpeting from the pad to expose a honeycomb aluminum panel. This makes a light panel, but not very easy to bolt a vertical hinge to. grind down about a 6" strip from the top portion of the left and right pieces to get rid of the residual glue.

While the piece is whole lay it back on the boat and mount it back onto the hinges. Next, find some 4" x 4" aluminum 'L' stock and lay it on top of the bare sundeck (cut it to length first) and trace the contour of the hull. using a table saw or jigsaw, cut the profile that you just drew.

you'll need to order the ss hinges from malibu and use those as a guide for drilling your holes. i used a #10 stainless machine screw, so i drilled and tapped 11 holes on each of the vertical faces of the aluminum 'L'.

I then took it to a machine shop and had them cut the panel into 3 pieces (19.5" inches wide on the side panels) while removing 1/2" inch strip to compensate for the added material. (1/4" on each side of the cut).

After much research I decided to mount the L bracket to the panel using a combination of tape and screws. The tape i choose was 3M Scotch 5952 VHB Tape (heavy duty mounting)

Size: 3/4 in. x 15 yds., ($36.05 per roll). This tape is used to hold aluminum panels on skyscrapers and cargo trucks. I believe the amount i used would hold ~1,200 lbs. I cleaned the surfaces with the recommended solvent (i believe it was isopropal alcohol) and put 3-4 strips of 3/4 in tape to adhere them together. as a test; before adding screws, i waved the panel up and down only holding onto it by the vertical portion of the L bracket. It didnt even flex. Just to be sure (since aluminum is somewhat porous and eventually will oxidize) I added some stainless steel screws with the nuts on the top facing portion of the panel (will be covered by the foam/upholstery)

after all of this, i sent it to the upholstery shop (which didn't do a great job... that's another thread) and they wrapped the piece covering the entire l bracket. (i left two screws in to i could easily feel where the screw holes were after it was upholstered)

that is about it... here is the final product:

(this is still a work in progress... the pic was taken before the new speakers were put in and before the wrap around seating was completed)

After i lined up the holes and mounted the hinges, i was faced with how to support the panels. I decided to mount it from the back of the transom to the aluminum support bar that runs across the rear seats. I created a hidden mount using a piece of aluminum bar that i cut to snugly fit into a 3/4" x 3" aluminum bar. i bolted this (with a backing plate) against the forward facing side of the transom. (note, that part of the boat has a slight angle to it, so measure and cut to match).

after mounting that i cut some rectangular tubing (angled at one end) so that it would span the opening and be long enough to mount to the underside of the factory support bar. This is great but doing this leave a bit of a gap. i then riveted a 1/4" aluminum bar to the rectangular tube and that bridged the gap so that the pieces would rest firmly on that.

To install, I slid the aluminum tubing over the nub and then screwed the rectangular tube from below, into the factory support bar.

cut nubs:

mounted to the boat

test fit:

machined pieces (using a miter saw, angle gridner and random orbit sander)

hope this makes sense.

Edited July 29, 2011 by scott_fx

[Malibuzer]

Looks good Scott. I can't wait until you have your entire project finished..

[Ndawg12]

Looks good Scott. I can't wait until you have your entire project finished..

That looks fantastic so far, looking forward to the rest of the project!!

[shawndoggy]

i love the vhb tape. So many uses for that stuff. It does lose its stickiness in extreme cold temps (like, say, holding a gopro camera to a snowboard), but at reasonable temps and in the application you are using it, it's like superglue.

[greenworks]

wow looks great Scott...know the only thing left to do is to drive to Canada and do mine as well. Thanks for the post!

Does it feel solid when you walk on it?

To bad you dont have a pic of the hinge install to the honeycomb core, trying to picture your explanation in my head. What year and type of hinge did you use?

[scott_fx]

wow looks great Scott...know the only thing left to do is to drive to Canada and do mine as well. Thanks for the post!

Does it feel solid when you walk on it?

To bad you dont have a pic of the hinge install to the honeycomb core, trying to picture your explanation in my head. What year and type of hinge did you use?

i think the hinges are all the same. andrew @ bakes marine hooked me up with the hinges so he may be one to ask. i looked through my emails but there wasn't anything specific about what year they were from.

as far as a better visual about the honeycomb pad. will this work (the ball is in there so you can keep track of the camera's orientation):

Edited July 29, 2011 by scott_fx

[Pistol Pete]

Stored this thread forever in my "personal stash" of good threads.

[martinarcher]

Nice work man! Looks great!

[scott_fx]

glad it will help. if i have some time this week i may model up some more of the parts for a better explanation.

[FastFreddy]

Definately on my list of TODOs. Great mod.

[FastFreddy]

Do you have any more pictures of the mod once complete. If you could post pictures of hinges, brackets, etc that would be great.