Do you put your bimini down?

[jnorten]

I raced for over a decade with a great group of folks on a slower cruising boat. He had a bimini and it lived retracted and covered aft. When rain threatened during a race, it took us maybe 30 seconds to unzip and remove the cover and another 45 seconds to deploy it and clip straps forward. This was a beast of a dodger (in my opinion) on a 37' boat.

Of course our two minute deployment drill was executed by a frenzied race crew in "emergency bimini deployment mode".

On my own Catalina 30, I have a dodger that lives deployed all summer. It was not well designed and gets in the way of everything--both cabintop winches and the traveler. But, it makes a world of difference in cool breezes and also hot sunny days. So, it stays up. However, it comes down every Thursday night and gets left at the dock for racing. It gets in the way that much. We can take it down and put it up pretty quick with a couple crew. Part of the weekly ritual.

 

[RoyS]

I was looking at a newish, maybe 45,' sailboat in a marina the other day while walking my dog. Almost burst out laughing when I saw her bimini. It was only about 4' front to rear and the rear just reached the pair of steering wheels, leaving the helmsman fully exposed to the sun or rain. This bimini was utterly useless, yet someone designed and installed it on a very expensive sailboat.

 

[jssailem]

This bimini was utterly useless

Unless...
You sail at a specific angle to the sun and you maintain a semi circular course during daylight hours.

Reminds me of a suit made by a Hong Kong tailor that fit perfectly when the wearer tucked up the extra sleeve length under his arm, pulled up his pants to above his navel, then tucked the shoulder width under his chin... Looked a bit odd trying to walk down the street, but man the suit looked great on him.

 

[ifmdalvey]

Up in the spring after launching and down in the fall before haul out, cannot think of a reason to take it down in between, plus my solar panel is on it.

 

[stickinthemud57]

Several responses mention difficulty of storage as a reason for leaving the bimini on the boat. I rigged a storage solution from 2x6 and 2x8 lumber and a section of lightweight landscaping drain pipe to hold mine. Marina management was OK with me installing at my slip as long as I did not block the path. See attached photo.

 

[bonkle]

Here are some pics. The nighttime one is my boat with the Bimini up. I’ve looked around and it looks like most boats would look like this when theirs is up unless bows are removable.

The daytime pictures are of what appears to be the same boat. It doesn’t look easy to take down, but is close to what I’m looking for. Each backstay has a zipper that goes all the way to the outside to let the backstay out. Good idea. Seems like the best solution would be having those zippers going forward and having a joint at that point in the front bow. That way the whole thing can be flipped back and meet up with the rear bow.

 

[patbratton]

Our bimini came with the boat. We are the third owners. It is a '98 Hunter 240. We have had the boat for a year and a half. We put the bimini up three times before we figured out how it was probably made to function. In order to sail with it up we had to move the mainsheet block forward to a reefing bale. The bimini does fold up and has a zip on cover. We then Velcro strap it to the rear cockpit rails. This allows the rear elevated cockpit seats to be usable. We tend to leave it up most of the year. We are on a large lake and have shore power and water. My daughter lives on the boat several days a week.

 

[TheZ3]

I despise the Bimini...feels like having a convertible and never dropping the top. There are folding pipe connectors that allow you to pull a pin to fold the Bimini tubes (Amazon). Still in the design phase, it looks like th answer. fold it back leaving the canvas attached then return to the covered position while docked.

 

[BigEasy]

I despise the Bimini.... fold it back leaving the canvas attached then return to the covered position while docked.

If you’re smart, set it up & leave it up. Melanoma is no joke. Don’t ask me how I know.