speed loss with bimini

[lakegeorge]

Has anyone ever done a speed test with the bimini top up to see if it affects your speed? I never tried and am curious as to the results.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: speed loss with bimini

That would depend on the boat. Wind resistance is not a straight line graph. A 20 MPH pontoon would likely loose one MPH or so. A 30 or 40 MPH pontoon would likely loose 5 MPH and anything faster than that would likely rip the bimini off the boat. But no -- I've never run a speed test and it is simply of no importance since pontoons generally are slugs when it comes to speed although there are some out there with huge power that are pretty quick.

 

[lakegeorge]

Re: speed loss with bimini

It's true some are slower but my new toon will run about 40mph. I think that a lot of people are buying the faster toons and the slugs are slowley dying off.

 

[cyclops2]

Re: speed loss with bimini

We have a 305 & a 350 running in the area. High speed boats.

As long as the top is flat & it is level to the water, you will not see a difference. The verticale safety fences, people & containers are doing a lot more drag area.

Keep the Bimini top level at speed, no problems at all. The 2 V8 boats run level with big area tops & no noise or flapping. I have clocked them at 40 on GPS.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: speed loss with bimini

in my sea ray, I lost about 1mph with the bimini up. 50 with it down, 49 with it up. also depended on what direction the wind was blowing.

 

[jjohnson120]

Re: speed loss with bimini

I've done it both ways, even when it's pretty windy, and my boat still does 22 mph. Now if the lake is super smooth, with little weight on it, I can get it to 24mph. I find that additional weight and the smoothness of the lake affects speed more than the top being up.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: speed loss with bimini

lol i can resist i actualy can pick up 3 mph from my bimni if the wind is going in the right direstion but then im only running a 9.9.

 

[5150abf]

Re: speed loss with bimini

I have an aluminum v hull but mine runs faster with my top up, it is the only time it has ever done 31 and I was running into the wind so it actually acted like a wing, I was watching the supports to make sure it wasn't going to become a kite, normal speed is between 26-28 gps.

There are alot of variable to this but I would say on average it isn't enough to worry about,2-3 mph isn't really that much and if you want to run fast for a distance just drop the top but with the flat rails in front you are essentially pushing a barn door through the wind so the top isn't going to make that much difference.