New Bimini Top Installed

riptide09

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
297
New Bimini Top installed. It is a Westland purchased here on iBoats. Picture below.
 

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MichaelP

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
1,190
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

That looks great! Nice job.
 

haley

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
134
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

Wow that is nice! Can you lower it for trailering without interfering with the tilted outboard? I have a Four Winns 150 and this is exactly the set up I want.
 

riptide09

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
297
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

Wow that is nice! Can you lower it for trailering without interfering with the tilted outboard? I have a Four Winns 150 and this is exactly the set up I want.

It can be lowered without any problems. I added the extra rear support poles so I am going to try and trailer it with the top folder up and in the boot. If I want to lower it I have to remove some thumb screw bolts that hold one end of the rear support poles and fold the whole thing down and then maybe use some bungee cords to hold everything to my rear cleats.

I did a lot of measuring everything a few times and then looked at just about every Bimnini top around trying to decide on what to get. I ended up with the Westland with Sumbrella material. The Sumbrella material matches the fabric of my boat cover and Westland had the right color to match my covers. In fact I am amazed how close the color match is.

The two biggest decisions was how long the cover should be and how high. After measuring the boat 6' in length seemed perfect.

The height was an issue. Depending on the brand I could get anywhere between 32" and 46". I ended up buying 36" which looks good however I can't stand up all the way underneath it. I think 42" would have been ideal but I could not get that height and get the correct color. I could get the 46" but that seemed like it would be to high. I thought about getting the 46" and cut it down but in the end went the 36". It does not seem like it will be bad however the jury is out until I use it a few times.
 

riptide09

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
297
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

Looks great, any fab work required?

Not really. Install it and position it and then take one measurement so you know how much to cut off the rear support poles so they are the correct length. Tools required, cordless drill, 2 drill bits 9/64 and I forghet the other size, phillips and regular screwdrivers, tape measure and hacksaw.
 

emoney

Commander
Joined
Jul 19, 2010
Messages
2,551
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

If you haven't had a bimini before, you're gonna kick yourself for not doing it sooner, lol. My wife "made" me install a bimini on our boat several years ago because for some reason, my big water head is prone to melanoma. Once I got it on, what a huge difference it makes on those 90 degree days when the sun is practically frying you. I love mine.

Great looking lines on that boat/top so good job on the install (although I've got the feeling you'll 2nd guess that height for a while).
 

stackz

Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
830
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

The height was an issue. Depending on the brand I could get anywhere between 32" and 46". I ended up buying 36" which looks good however I can't stand up all the way underneath it. I think 42" would have been ideal but I could not get that height and get the correct color. I could get the 46" but that seemed like it would be to high. I thought about getting the 46" and cut it down but in the end went the 36". It does not seem like it will be bad however the jury is out until I use it a few times.

I did the same top and went the 46" route. I have 5" of clearance above my head. I love being able to stand up completely in my boat yay!

though I wish I could have gotten a 42" and in silver color...too bad those were sold out by the time I ordered sniffle.
 

V153

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Apr 16, 2011
Messages
1,764
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

Not bad for store bought. Good installation helps. That's about the way I woulda layed it out on that kinda hull. Looks good. I believe it's important for the captain to be able to stand(lean?) upright between the fwd edge of the top & the windshield if conditions require it.

Reckon that's capt. navy sunbrella btw. Ya might wanna knock an inch or two off'n the main frame of that top but other than that it really does look good. Congrats.
 

DanMC

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Messages
134
Re: New Bimini Top Installed

Riptide09 we love your bimini and boat ,my 6 mo old pregnant wife and i installed a Carver bimini just last weekend.We went with a color that does not match our 2010 Lund WC14 (black) or the cover (blue) so we went with Sunbrella Tag Red...we also used an all stainless steel brackets and stuff, we can't wait to try it out now...good job.I tried to put a picture but would not let me...so i will post it on a separate new posting.
Dan
 
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