CAT25: How do I keep the Pop top up?

[bbush]

I am a proud new owner of a 1988 Cat 25 and I'm looking for any advice on how to keep my top up.

I only open the top when I am at the dock. As soon as a good wake comes by, the top slams down. I must be missing something on how to lock it in place. Any tips here would be great.

Thanks!

[mrwuffles]

i know with the 22 there is a special bracket that slides down the mast and locks the forward edge to the mast so it doesnt slide back down, i have heard it isnt the best so many just tie it around the mast

[bbush]

I did end up tying the top to the mast one day but I was hoping there might be another way.

It is such a great option to pop the top but it is really quite dangerous to have all that weight come slamming down.

[saildork]

I wouldn't be surprised if the gizmo that holds up the pop-top of the C22 is identical to the one that holds up the top of the C25. Check the Catalina Direct ship's store.

[bbush]

so there is a gizmo! Thank you! any ideas on what that gizmo is called or what I should search for?

[mrwuffles]

here is the gizmo i was talking about, Catalina Direct: Pop Top Mast Lock Assembly

[bbush]

Thank you, very helpful!

[jjablonowski]

Two other thoughts on Catalina 25 pop-top:

Catalina Direct also sells a pneumatic strut system, like the kind that holds your car's trunk lid up. Don't know how well it works, but would appreciate comments from users.

Some have taken those swimming-pool "noodles"--the 3-ft.-long extruded foam floats--and use them as bumpers under the pop-top, giving an extra couple of inches of headroom yet keeping the top safely down.

[Kwitshadie]

If you read the description of the gizmo at the above link, it warns that it is dangerous--right from new. The trouble with tying anything around the mast is that it always needs to be undone for some reason, and then the roof suddenly comes down on your head. I've learned not to use the pop-up roof as a hand hold when moving around on the boat at anchor. My latest attempt to keep the top up on my Catalina 22 involves jamming the gizmo sideways against its groove in the mast with a bungee, which seems to work fine. But there must be a better way!