Constructing a Carbon Fiber Hardtop on the BlackWatch 26

When Jamestown Distributor’s customer, Danny Thwaites, submitted these images of his boat and custom carbon fiber hard top rebuild after watching our How-To video on the process, we were thrilled to see that it looks like he was able to follow along and use our video series to construct his own hard top bimini. Which – of course – was our intention.

But since everyone who can click “PLAY” on the YouTube video can’t necessarily do many of the tasks in the video, it’s great to learn about the boaters who dig in and go for it (with skill and some confidence).

Danny Thwaites writes to us about the process here and sent us a bunch of great photos about his project. Watch the video series then check out Danny’s photos.

Danny Thwaites: Photos below are from my project of building a carbon fiber hardtop for my 1972 Hiliner 222 Gypsy.

I used carbon fiber over divinycell with G10 inserts for attachments, just as was done in the video.  I used the TotalBoat 5:1 Traditional Epoxy Resin, cloth and TotalFair Epoxy Fairing Compound and finished the top with Interlux Perfection Matterhorn White and Clear. I vacuum bagged with TotalBoat breather cloth, peel ply and vacuum film and even built a mold table with formica skin as shown in the first video.

Leave a comment