Moving & removing the top

[Grafunkus]

We have a 3607 that we will be moving to a new location. For those of you who have moved your boats, did you take the tops off yourselves or have them professionally done? If you did it yourself, how challenging is it? Can someone explain the process please!! Thanks for any information.

[Cooler]

If you are talking truck transport, you will be required to remove the tops to comply with height restrictions. A qualified mover will have some experience with that part. They will need the assist of a travel lift. Good luck. It can get a little pricey. er

[km1125]

On a 3607, I think you'd want to hire it out unless you have a lot of "lift" capabilities available. I did not have a hardtop nor an arch, but I've explored taking off the bridge surround to do some maintenance. Probably could handle that with 3 or 4 folks but everything would be basically at waist height so it would be easy. I was just planning on moving it to the bow on a homebuilt stand, but getting if completely off the boat would have been a much bigger challenge without a lift.

Once the bridge surround is off, I don't think it would be that big of a deal to get the actual helm assembly off or the bridge rear seat/storage.

Between the weight of a hardtop and the heights involved, I can't imagine trying to do those without a good lift.

A lot of the cost and complexities would come from prepping stuff too... taking all the connections loose from the helm. THAT stuff I'd be more inclined to do myself because then I'd know what had to be "undone" at the other end, and could pick and choose what I wanted to cut and resplice rather than leave that up to someone else.

[Grafunkus]

KM1125 thanks for the information. I guess I asked the question wrong and appreciate the info about the prepping stuff. That was more of what I was asking about. Another question... is the helm station/front seat, and the "dog" house attached to the bridge surround or is it in three pieces?

[g36]

Better eat your Wheaties

[km1125]

Qr Bbpost KM1125 thanks for the information. I guess I asked the question wrong and appreciate the info about the prepping stuff. That was more of what I was asking about. Another question... is the helm station/front seat, and the "dog" house attached to the bridge surround or is it in three pieces?

There are three completely separate pieces. The surround, the helm/front seat and the port seat/storage. Not sure which part you're referring to as the "dog" house.

Once you take the footrest at the helm off, you can see most of the wiring connections. There are a couple large factory connections that will come apart to disconnect most of the stuff, but anything added by a P.O. will probably not have connectors. Those wires run forward along the starboard side in the "tunnel" where the starboard side cupholders are to the starboard of the front seat. There is (or was on mine) a round access panel there where the wires turn and go down to the lower station. I think the splice for the horns was in there too.

You don't need to remove the stainless railing from the whole surround, but there is a "splice" in it near the aft on both sides because you will have to remove the sections of it that attaches to the bridge sole by the steps and where it goes down to the aft deck.

[Grafunkus]

Thanks for all the info. Very helpful. The previous owners called the port seat storage area the dog house. We didn't know any better and have kept calling it that.

[Viper]

Whether you do this yourself or pay someone to take things apart and put them back together, the biggest piece of advice I can give is to ensure whom every takes things apart that they label everything. There's nothing more frustrating then trying to put everything back together when nothing is labeled and all fasteners are a jumbled mess in one bag. This will cost you money and time at reassembly.

If you have to cut wires, label both ends. All fasteners should be placed in clear zip-lock bags and labeled for the assembly they belong to. There should be a bag of fasteners for each assembly, don't mix more than one assembly per bag. If you have again tag a radar arch and you have to cut wires to remove the arch, again, tag the wires. It's not ideal to cut coax cable and resplice but there are connectors for that. You just may loose some signal strength. It's also not recommended cutting radar cables.

If you have to disconnect a hydraulic steering system, make sure it's not a pressurized system before you undo any hoses. If it is pressurized, there should be a reservoir typically close to the rudders but can be anywhere. Release the pressure before disconnecting the lines at the helm. Label each line with the corresponding letter on the back of the helm. If there is no port identification on the helm, label the helm pump too. The biggest cause of hydraulic failure is contamination, so cap off each hose as soon as you remove it and the port on the helm pump. Be prepared with rags to wipe up spills.

Unless the dismantle crew takes pride in the work when dismantling, the reassembly crew will take much longer to do the job which will end up costing you money. Usually they give you a quote to dismantle, and to speed things up they get messy in an attempt to come under their allotted time.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[km1125]

There is a thread on here somewhere of someone else who moved a 3607. They were able to just remove the helm pump from the helm and leave the hydraulic hoses connected. They did the same with the throttle and shift assemblies. Those three were laying on the bridge sole with all the disconnected wiring and everything else was removed. I remember seeing their pictures but can't seem to find them now.

[georgetaescamilla]

You can remove the top yourself. I think three people will be enough for you. Just remove the upper tarpaulin of the yacht or something like that that covers it so that you can transport it by cargo transport or ship. The height of the yacht must comply with the standards of transportation. We were transporting our yacht to Switzerland when we moved. All the documents that needed to be collected and the entire relocation plan were drawn up for us on https://loparemovals.com/european-removals-switzerland. There are also points about the transportation of your land or water transport if you have one. Everything is quite simple, so you won't need to call specialists to remove the top of your yacht.