Hold off on hardtop till I find out what they will do with this.

[Liveto99]

With 50 hours on it my hardtop is developing cracks I don’t know what it was just one bad weld or whether there’s gonna be an issue with all of these. I got it from and had it installed by Cycle Springs, it is the same top that Jet Boat Pilot sells also.

 

[zipper]

Welds should not break. Did this just appear? Is it possible Water got inside or alot of condensation formed inside the tubing and it froze back in NY after one of your Florida stays. I can see tubing being stressed around the welds and cracking. This joint has a lot of weld in it and most of the cracking is at the perimeter of the welds. It does not look like it was caused by a freeze but stressing of the tubing at the joint, during the welding process. An article talking about HAZ (heat affected zone) https://insights.globalspec.com/article/12374/better-welding-of-aluminum-strength-and-thermal-stress

Edit: I would change that locking nut to S.S. like the bolt.

 

[Liveto99]

I brought it back two weeks ago it’s been averaging 90° it did not freeze.?
Where the heck can I go pick some blueberries? I heard you know of a great place.
looking at it compared to the other welds I think it’s a bad one.

 

[Dixemon]

Maybe to hot of a weld in that area causing tempering of the surrounding material causing brittleness.

 

[Dixie Highway]

That’s disappointing, especially considering the price paid for that thing. I wonder if the tubing used was thinner wall than normal (to keep weight down) which is no bueno when you add weight to the top. They may have caused a problem by trying to avoid a different one altogether. Just looking at it, the tower moving side to side will cause that cracking, see the tiny one starting at the flat plate that bolts on the existing tower. Once this is repaired, some gusseting added in that region should help precent this is the future.

 

[Dixie Highway]

How heavy is that t-top box? Just trying to rule out any other factors...

 

[2kwik4u]

Looks like fatigue cracking to me in a less than ideal weld. The large longitudinal crack appears to originate at the toe of the weld. A decent grind and stress relief in this area might have helped. Also, I would suspect some level of static misalignment between the tower and the mounting plate. This gives a "base" stress, that the range stress from vibration then builds upon.

I don't know the loading or the materials so weld design in general is hard to speculate from here. I suspect not enough weld in general for a vibratory environment, and possibly not enough base metal there as well.

Good luck with getting it fixed, hope it's as easy and simple as possible.

 

[brian86992]

Just to clarify (haven't seen a hard top in person) the pictured weld is part of the aftermarket hard top and not a component from the factory T top, correct?

I agree with the others about improper welding procedures causing brittleness. Especially if the joint was cooled off by dousing water on it, for example, right after it was welded.

 

[Dixie Highway]

Don't forget too this is aluminum guys, so even more sensitive to all those things mentioned.

 

[Liveto99]

How heavy is that t-top box? Just trying to rule out any other factors...

It came with that T-top box. So I don’t know how heavy it is. I didn’t notice last time but it was shaking which I never noticed before. Hopefully after they re-weld it so I don’t mess with the warranty I will put a crossbrace in to prevent fatigue cracking in the future.

 

[Liveto99]

Just to clarify (haven't seen a hard top in person) the pictured weld is part of the aftermarket hard top and not a component from the factory T top, correct?

I agree with the others about improper welding procedures causing brittleness. Especially if the joint was cooled off by dousing water on it, for example, right after it was welded.

Yes aftermarket T-top. They made the whole piece so that it just drops on with bolts to the existing riser on each side.

 

[John_D]

Just want to be clear, was your hard top added to the existing factor tower or was it a complete replacement.

 

[Dixie Highway]

This is the Cycle Springs/JBP hardtop, it replaces just the top portion of the T top. The plate with nuts and bolt in the pic bolts to the existing tower.

 

[Tailwaters]

Wow that's not good. Those are pretty pricey tops to have that happen. Let us know what the response is from the manufacturer.

 

[Liveto99]

Because I have a 2018 my original hardtop was gray so you can see what came with the new hardtop it was painted white to match the new 2020s

 

[Floridaman79]

I have the same top. I'm thinking of adding diagonal bracing wires like flying wires. I don't think the cracks were caused by a manufacturing flaw as much of a design flaw. The cross section of the tower has a low area moment of inertia athwartship, meaning it doesn't have a lot of stiffness side to side. Side to side movement would definitely cause stress in the location of the cracks.. I've considered a few options to stiffen it up but think the cables attached with turnbuckle would be cheap and effective.

 

[Floridaman79]

Here's a rough sketch, the red lines is where the wires would go.

 

[Floridaman79]

I was rifling thru boat pictures and it looks like mine has a different structure.

 

[Tailwaters]

For what that thing cost there's no reason why anyone should have to install any kind of support.

 

[John_D]

I was rifling thru boat pictures and it looks like mine has a different structure.
View attachment 127606

What year was your tower refitted? Your top is for sure structurally different. Not round stock like the one that is showing the stress cracks but a square stock design.