Parker 17 / 18 CC wheel house

[Russell Hunt]

Hello everyone,
I wanted to show the forum the wheel house we did on my dad's boat. We were looking for some sun / weather / wind protection on my dad's 17CC. He did not like the factory T-top design, as they tend to interfere with spin casting and the piping to the floor are major obstructions on a 17 footer. So we designed our own, created molds, and produced the parts. We used factory Parker gelcoat, and built the components fairly light but strong (non-woven glass, cored roof). We really liked how we were able to use the factory handrail, which is something we didn't want to lose, nor make up a custom one.

We've been very pleased with the look and performance, and have noticed know ill affects on handling. If anyone is interested in duplicating this, or just wants more info on how we did it, please feel free to give me a call.

Russell Hunt, 508-759-4111
Pocasset, MA

 

[Keith FDNY]

Very very nice and forsure 1 of a kind!!!Awesome job keep up the great work!!

 

[DaleH]

Nice dog house! (seriously, that's what they call it!)

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery ... I betcha that'll be copied by some here! You ought to send dimensions, specs, and pictures to Parker too !

 

[pelagic2530]

oh that is COOL. reminds me of a Maritime Skiff design, but with a much better hull design underneath!

 

[Sully]

That is mint!!
I love the roofline
And the whole look
So cool you guys have the ability to do it together
And so professional looking
GREAT JOB

 

[Russell Hunt]

Thanks Guy's,
It was a fun project to do with my dad, and he really enjoyed the way it fishes. Certainly keeps him warmer during the fall bass run in Buzzards Bay.

 

[mstelmac]

Holy cow that is cool! Nice Job......No Awesome Job!

 

[Foggylink]

That is great ! I've been wanting to do this for a while on my 23se.

 

[CaptainJim]

holy cow that looks like a factory job (and I mean that in the utmost of compliments!) ...very innovative!

If i could only get a dog house like that done on a 25' DVCC, and have it look like that, I'd be in business!

 

[Megabyte]

Awesome job!
Your fab skills are excellent!! 8)

 

[Longislandfish]

Digging up this old thread, I have been dreaming of such a project for years and have even made sketches to emulate this exact idea.

Been reading up on making a quick and easy mold out of melamine with clay radius internal corners. Layer gelcoat and laminate with 1708 and 1.5oz CSM in alternating layers to achieve approx 1/4 inch thick solid glass structure.

The roof I was thinking of using a sheeting of 1/2 pvc as the molding table, and introducing a small camber/crown to it.

Only thing I’m curious of is how to get the rolled edges. Maybe ripping 1
Inch battens of flex pvc and screwing it to the perimeter of the roof mold? Use clay radius again and gelcoat the waxed mold and laminate and core with 1/4 ply with 1708 ans csm again.


Looks killer what this guy did. I like that it wouldn’t ruin the console, add some cover and bolt right up to the console.

Only thing is finding gasket and glass to make the 3 windows.

Any ideas ?

 

[tomc585]

The Boat Dump in Deer Park. If he doesn't have what sizes you want he could get them in the future. He typically doesn't save them when he strips down a hull but if you request them with gaskets he will. Also ask him to note what they came out of so you can find replacements and gaskets in the future. He has a day job but is usually at the yard on weekends.
Boat Dump Long Island
Dennis (631) 544-8000

 

[tomc585]

Also
https://longislandmarine.us/boat-parts

 

[SamR]

On the larger inside radius corners, I’m planning on waxing up PVC pipe and laying down a bead of minimally expanding foam in the corner under it, with painters tape in place to catch the foam that overflows. Since I’m assuming that this is going to be a one off mold for you, durability isn’t an issue.

 

[CobbFisherman]

Russell, that pilothouse looks great!

Do you know how much it weighs? Have you had any issues with the original console flexing or cracking because of the house?

I'm wondering because I've been advised not to use a console mounted T-top on the older two piece consoles, as people claim that the console isn't strong enough to support it. I don't know if that's true or not, but its kept me from installing a console mounted T-top. any insight you have would be appreciated.

 

[tomc585]

Russell hasn't been around the forum since 2010.

 

[Longislandfish]

Russell, that pilothouse looks great!

Do you know how much it weighs? Have you had any issues with the original console flexing or cracking because of the house?

I'm wondering because I've been advised not to use a console mounted T-top on the older two piece consoles, as people claim that the console isn't strong enough to support it. I don't know if that's true or not, but its kept me from installing a console mounted T-top. any insight you have would be appreciated.

I don’t think that member is active any longer, I discovered the thread and decided to revive it, for lack of any pictures on my end I figured it cite his thread and ask some questions.

Let me try and answer some of your questions.

From my research if the wheelhouse is constructed with thought and planning you can create a very rigid and strong structure with it being relatively light.

My plan is to make a melamine mold just slightly bigger that the finished laminated structure, lay in some gelcoat, not sure I’ll be able to afford Cecil marine stuff bc it’s 250 a quart and assume I’ll need at least that.

Lay down 1.5oz csm than 6-8 layers of 1708 and finally a 1.5oz layer of csm.

This would theoretically give me roughly 1/4 to 3/8 overall thickness which is plenty on the upright sides. I will include some batten strips glassed into the structure on the edges to stiffen them up.

The roof will be molded as well, I will build a 1 one mold of Formica laminate glued to gussets that are radius to the camber I want. For the rolled edges am planning on ripping and gluing 1 inch Formica strips all around the outter edge and filleting in molding clay for the radius corners. Same laminate scheudle plus 1/4 ply core hot coated for rigidity and mounting purposes.

There’s many ways to build this however I like the idea of solid glass and a gelcoat finished side.

The windows will be extruded rubber h gaskets and 1/8 thick tempered glass.

I don’t think the original console would be an issue, if you mount the top using through bolts and backing plates it should be ample.

This Pilothouse design that this Individual fabricated is absolutely beautiful and thoughtful in the dimensions ans proportions.

If you are keen you can see he used a slight rake for the rear and a small roofline.

I am planning on doing this soon.

Will be a game changer for the north east and have been dreaming of this type of build for awhile

 

[Longislandfish]

On the larger inside radius corners, I’m planning on waxing up PVC pipe and laying down a bead of minimally expanding foam in the corner under it, with painters tape in place to catch the foam that overflows. Since I’m assuming that this is going to be a one off mold for you, durability isn’t an issue.

Can you elaborate what you mean?

Are you using the pvc to form the foam corner bead inside the mold? I thought clay was an easy way to achieve this ?

It will be a one off, I have no desire to complete a finished mold too much work

 

[SamR]

Can you elaborate what you mean?

Are you using the pvc to form the foam corner bead inside the mold? I thought clay was an easy way to achieve this ?

It will be a one off, I have no desire to complete a finished mold too much work

Yup, that is what I was suggesting. Clay works too but depending on the radius there would be quite a bit of it. Spray foam would be quick and the waxed PVC would make uniformity easy enough that even I couldn’t screw it up

 

[Longislandfish]

After doing some fiberglass math and gathering a material list, the cost would be roughly 1500-2k in materials to build the structure out of glass with no windows.

30 plus yards of 1708 plus 19 yards of 1.5 oz

6-8gal of resin

Mold materials

Tools

Plus windows.

Considering going with a ply core and glassing both sides with 1708

Would drop the 1708 requirements to 12 yards
And 2-4 gallon or resin

Fair and paint with top quality finish like Alex seal or awlgrip

Prob 500-1k

I guess that’s why the glass man wants 4-8k for something like that materials are crazy