I am planning the transport of a 1971 58' Hatteras Yachtfish from SE Georgia Coast (Savannah area) to Lake Lanier. The bridge must be removed to make the trip. I have two transport companies I trust to haul and launch the vessel, but I'm hesitant on their removing and reinstalling the flybridge. Any help on the flybridge removal would be appreciated .. Moe!
well.. on those early hatts, the flybridge is secured by dozens of screw and are notorious for leaking... so chances are you will have to pull the screws sooner or later and reseal! now if someone glassed the bridge in or used 5200... it might be a challenge! the rest is just disconnecting the controls, steering and electrical. marking every wire will be time consuming... check the hatt owners forum, many have done this before
Bridge removal Thanks Pascal for info! Do you still own Avatar? If so, what can you tell me to expect on an older Hatt. It's looking like it will cost me a small fortune to move it to Atlanta. Still, I find it's the best value per foot when compared to the newer (more pricier) vessels that have similar accomodations.
there is no doubt that these old hatts gives you best bang for the buck. They are very well built which helps maintenance wise. that said, it's probably an overkill on a sheltered body of water like Lake Lanier where a "lighter" boat will do jsut fine... one thing to consider is water level... a friend of mine has a Hatt convertible on the lake and even though the level has come back up a couple of feet, there are still many issues. one being that most travel lifts are high and dry and launching your boat is going to be very difficult. Are you sure the yard will be able to reach into deep enough water to launch?
Launching Hatteras Marine Max at Cumming location launches their bigger vessels on a travel lift thats capable (many 52' Sea Ray Sedan Bridge's on the lake) .. the water level is coming up slowly but surely. Word is there will be enough water to launch soon. My wife likes the yacht quality and roominess of the Hatt versus a houseboat, and we know that her willingness to allow me to do something so ridiculous is a miracle anyway. Plus one day, maybe, I'll be getting the boat back to Florida where it belongs. The one I plan on buying has a bit of fixing up to do but it's mostly cosmetic which is no problem for me (and it gives me an excuse to visit the lake in the winter time). I'm not a big fan of colder weather, being raised in Miami and PR and never being more than a few miles from blue water. Anyway, I need to find out if the bridge is glassed on or glued on, I don't want any surprises. I been told I could get a Navigator Yacht here without the bridge removal but am not thrilled with the manufacturer. Any ideas would be appreciated.
well, double check with them... that friend from Lanier told me that MM has to use two cranes to get the larger boats in... travel lift can't. i don't know how much the 52 SRs weight but i woudln't be surprised if the 58YF weighs considerably more!
None of the 58' Hatteras' had the flybridge glassed on from the factory. The bridge and the boat are glassed in two totally seperate buildings at the factory. They are completely finished, even gelcoated, then the bridge is put on and screwed down with 5200 from the factory. The entire boats were and are completely sanded and then painted with awlgrip over the gelcoat. Getting the 5200 is fairly easy, take all of the screws out, tape the deck with heavy duty tape (the white shrink wrap tape works excellent) start cutting it with sharp razor knives and wedge things in between to give it upward lift as you go. Debond is also a great product that helps break down 5200 and softens it up quite a bit. On the 58's, they are at an age where the 5200 will usually peel off in long pieces.
