Freedom 307 hardtop support repair

[B-Shell]

After a trip to the Abacos last summer I noticed some cracks in the rear upper support tubes and at their bases. We had a pretty nasty tight 3-4ft head sea with an East wind for 4 hours straight. Boat has the sunshade option and I added a 7 rod holder from GW Performance bolted to the top. It was full of 25-30w trolling rods. I’m sure this extra weight didn’t help but suspect it the cracks would have appeared anyway.
After trading some emails with GW customer service I decided to take it to a good local fabricator. He repaired the crack made a nice guesset for the top. The bottom was also repaired around the base.

I used Orbit spray powder coat repair and the results looked very good. I suspect on the new boat it would match perfectly. The spray was very slightly darker than my existing color. The boat is a 2018. These pictures were taken inside a warehouse. In the actual sunlight, it is barely noticeable difference.

The fabricator did comment to me that the rear supports seem to have a lot of weight on them. If you look at the back of the cockpit, that is a very large opening without the ability to have any additional diagonal across supports, that wouldn’t interfere with your head. So, when getting bounced around in the rough seas, that whole rear area tends to flex side to side because it is pretty well supported front to back.

 

[Hookup1]

I would say that's a great save! The aluminum repair and powder coat repair look great. Does it look this good in person?

 

[JJF]

Nice work. Probably should have gussets from the factory.

Would you be kind enough to provide the details of the repair paint? (thx)

 

[B-Shell]

Nice work. Probably should have gussets from the factory.

Would you be kind enough to provide the details of the repair paint? (thx)

The paint was from Orbit industries in TX. See attached pics. Oyster White was the color I also got the small touch up vial for spot repairs around screw heads and such.

 

[B-Shell]

I would say that's a great save! The aluminum repair and powder coat repair look great. Does it look this good in person?

Yes it looks factory. I can notice the slight color difference but doubt anyone else would even see it.

 

[Hookup1]

20/20 vision. 20 feet or 20 knots it looks perfect!

 

[JJF]

The paint was from Orbit industries in TX. See attached pics. Oyster White was the color I also got the small touch up vial for spot repairs around screw heads and such.

Thanks

 

[Fishtales]

Looks great. Send to GW and tell them to make some changes. They should never crack.....

 

[B-Shell]

I sent them pics of the cracks. It was out of warranty and they offered some repair suggestions. Sounded like they buy the frames from a supplier.

But at the end of the day it was $600 to have all welded. I did the paint myself. just happy to be able head out again with the worry of it breaking more.
Now it will just be broken in the next weakest spot!

 

[JJF]

^^ I wonder if some temporary vertical supports (nicely finished wood or Teak perhaps) could be put in place for those times when you have the rod holders loaded up. I mean this sincerely and not as an attack or in any way blaming you for the issue.

 

[B-Shell]

^^ I wonder if some temporary vertical supports (nicely finished wood or Teak perhaps) could be put in place for those times when you have the rod holders loaded up. I mean this sincerely and not as an attack or in any way blaming you for the issue.

No worries. I’m fully capable of doing something stupid. I think the issue is more of the lateral side to side support. You would really need a larger side post because you can’t put up big 45* cross braces. Those rear uprights take a lot of force. The front has different geometry.

 

[JJF]

^^for lateral support, perhaps temporary straps to cleats..

 

[SkunkBoat]

I've been there on two boats. Yes ugly 3' to 5' SW for 3 hours puts a lot of sway strain on any hardtop, especially a heavy 20 year old one like mine.. Multiply by many trips and you get those splits. 5 years seems a little early though...
You got lucky and got it fixed without removing the top. $600 was a bargain.

 

[B-Shell]

I've been there on two boats. Yes ugly 3' to 5' SW for 3 hours puts a lot of sway strain on any hardtop, especially a heavy 20 year old one like mine.. Multiply by many trips and you get those splits. 5 years seems a little early though...
You got lucky and got it fixed without removing the top. $600 was a bargain.

Yes lucky there is access to see the bottom of both rear posts. This allowed me to confirm there was no wiring inside. The port side had a wire loom secured to one of the post screws. When I first saw it I thought it was coming out of the top. But wasn’t.
They took off the mid supports to allow enough space under the rear welds to put a heat shield.
I was please with the out come. If the top would have had to come off it would have thousands not hundreds.

 

[Fishtales]

I sent them pics of the cracks. It was out of warranty and they offered some repair suggestions. Sounded like they buy the frames from a supplier.

But at the end of the day it was $600 to have all welded. I did the paint myself. just happy to be able head out again with the worry of it breaking more.
Now it will just be broken in the next weakest spot!

Yea... WWW which is owned by Kris Carrol's husband. Send them to her and ask that this come up during pillow talk time.