dtmackey wrote:...[on every Boston Whaler boat] I've owned, the railings rattle themselves loose with the wave action. The pieced railings should have been welded for better strength and vibration resistance.
Yes, before c.1990 the railings were not welded, but since c.1990 the railings on Boston Whaler boats have typically been all-welded construction and firmly attached.
If talking about Boston Whaler boats prior to 1990, then NONE of them will EVER be suitable for adding a T-Top because there are no suitable points of attachment on those hulls where the base support tubes of a T-Top could be fastened to the hull with enough rigidity and strength to tolerate the enormous forces produced by the wind resistance of the T-Top and its frame.
When a Boston Whaler boat today is offered with a T-Top option, the hull has been designed to have sufficient attachment points of proper strength. Also the T-Top frame has been designed with the specific boat in mind, and, even more significant, the T-Top support strength is designed to have some flexing that matches the hull flexing. It the T-Top cannot flex and the hull does, or vice versa, the the attachment points tend to be overstressed or the hull is overstressed or the frame is overstressed, which all result in cracking of the frame or the hull. Boston Whaler uses careful analysis of hull and frame strength and flexibility to prevent cracking from one part trying to flex and the other part resisting the flex.
(ASIDE: this is demonstrated by the boat I mentioned earlier in an aside; when the frame for the towing arch was damage and repaired with a reinforced weldment, the increased stiffness in that part of the frame cause a different part of the frame to be overstressed and crack.)
So the basis for the argument that a c.1980's boat's railings won't be strong enough to use as grab-handles must be a condition that SUPPORTS an argument for installing a T-Top is not true. There is no way a T-Top could ever be installed on an older Boston Whaler boat because there won't be proper support for attaching it.