View single post by answerman
 Posted: 03-27-2013 08:18 pm
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answerman

 

Joined: 09-10-2012
Location: Little Chute, Wisconsin USA
Posts: 435
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 OK, one of the many things on my rapidly expanding "to do" list for Ms. Jenavieve is to figure out the soft top.  It's in very nice condition, obviously not the original unless the POs took really good care of it.  However, it doesn't seem to fit quite right which lends precedence to my thoughts that it's an aftermarket.  It's way tight in back, to the point where I can't even get it to stay secured to the horizontal Velcro strips... it just pulls off when I latch the front.

I have studied the way it is supposed to secure in the rear with the press studs (or "snaps") and Velcro.   The studs in particular seem to make no sense to me as they really don't offer much "shear strength", meaning that they come unsnapped very easily.  Plus, they are a real pain to get snapped in the first place.

I was looking over my boat a few days ago (also getting ready for spring) and noticed the spinning latch studs used to secure the cover.  After doing a bit of Googling, I found that they are apparently called "curtain fasteners" in the industry:

http://www.sailrite.com/common-sense-fastener-2-screw-stud

Now these make more sense to me, as the ring which would be crimped to the top would just slide over the stud, and then a quarter turn to keep them from popping off.

Anyone ever considered such a thing?  It seems way more secure than the snap and Velcro method.   I would replace the 5 snaps on the car with the curtain fasteners, and also maybe one or two on each of the horizontal part of the top where the Velcro currently is, assuming that they wouldn't cause clearance problems with the moving parts.

Last edited on 03-27-2013 08:19 pm by answerman