Reply With QuoteI don't know if I would trust any bimini top at speed's much above 60mph. Make sure you go with an all stainless steel frame. Don't buy an aluminum one. Those suck.
BTW.......Nice avatar. Are you a big River Dave fan?
I'd like to go for a bimini tyle top on my Baja 208 Islander but have run into a bunch of questions.
Are you able to leave your top up cruising 60 (70 in my dreams)?
Who makes the best frames ? and what material, thickness am I looking for?
What heighth is about right? I'm thinking around 42-48".
I see multicolor tops in pics but I don't see any for sale. What's up with that?
What's your experience?
I don't know if I would trust any bimini top at speed's much above 60mph. Make sure you go with an all stainless steel frame. Don't buy an aluminum one. Those suck.
BTW.......Nice avatar. Are you a big River Dave fan?
You proly want stainless if its over 74' wide and will be used at speed. Also make sure your fittings are rivetted if you dont have stainless. Height is a personal preference, but to low and your vision is impaired especially when turning. Multi color is prolly a west coast thing
My 21' Wacker has had the top up over 70mph, and it made the WHOLE boat really light. Top held up just fine though.
BJH
If you are going to plan on heading over 65mph I would recommend solid stainless steel stantions (?sp) on both the front and the back. The nylon straps with clips are ok for up to 65, but I have actually seen one buckle at about 70mph and it wasn't pretty. The front clip that holds the top up broke and when the canopy was flying back it caught the wind and ripped the mounting hardware out of the boat and hit the rear passenger. I would recommend taking down the bimini over 60mph, but definitely don't rely on straps to hold it in place if going over 65 and always go with stainless. As for the stripes, there are a few manufactureres that do custom bimini tops for west cost builders. I don't know of any place you can order them by mail.
i bent mine all to shit about 70mph.straps were fine but the teh rest were all david bowied.
I have a stainless bimini also. But the beam on my boat is 100" and the bimini is really large overall. I can only comfortably run about 45-50 with mine.
I heard that instead of the typical canvas cloth material, you can run a mesh fabric that will allow you to go a little faster.
Just be careful running any decent speed with it up
45-50 for me...
Go with the stainless and spot weld the joints...rivets come loose....more vibration, more noise, etc etc.
Maybe if you go fast enough, you'll be like Sister Batril on the Flying Nun!
Originally posted by Scream
Maybe if you go fast enough, you'll be like Sister Batril on the Flying Nun!
Hey Scream,
About time you quit lurking and started working on that post count.
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