Bimini for Hunter 26.5

[Dionysis]

My wife and I have a Hunter 26.5 and we LOVE the boat especially when the wind is favorable; however in these summer months we have very little wind and tend to do alot of motoring. When we are motoring the sun is fiercely beating down on us. We would love to add a bimini to it but we have not found a bimini online that says it specifically fits a Hunter 26.5 Does anyone know of a company that has a pre-made bimini kit for this boat and if not who makes the best custom biminis?

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

call the forum store to see if Ameiseam has one modeled for your boat. The forum store was set up by hunter and one of the fellows is a former employee of hunter. You can rely on the fourm store for help. They do know your boat

 

[Bill19233]

On my 26.5, we bought a stock aluminum tube bimini from Overton's and took it to the local auto trim shop and had them sew zippers in for the split back stay. I raised the boom about a foot and got 6' of headroom, but I had seen where some boats had just raised the aft end of the boom to clear the bimini. It was several years ago, but I had less than $300 in it and it worked great.

 

[Dionysis]

Bill, I saw a photo of one on here that the owner said they did the same thing, but I'm not exactly sure on how to raise the boom and if I did how would that affect the sail. I too am 6' tall so I would like as much clearance as possible in the cockpit and that $300 pricetag sounds alot better than the $1000+ a custom bimini would cost. Can you please provide some picks of how you mounted to the deck and explain how you raised the boom and what you did about the excess sail area. Sorry if I'm asking for too much but I want to ensure I know what I 'm doing before I ruin anything by noting knowing enough on the forefront. Thanks.

 

[Bill19233]

I drilled out the rivets holding the gooseneck to the mast and moved it up a foot and drilled and tapped new holes for screws. My plan was to move the boom back down for races. I had a sailmaker add a reef point to the sail one foot up with new grommets for the tack and clew. So, when the Bimini was up and the boom was a foot higher, you sailed with a reef in the main, but the sail head was all the way to the top of the mast. The foot of slack in the sail hanging over the boom was a little sloppy but not that noticeable. You lose 8 to 10 square feet of sail area. The bimini poles were attached to the deck with a normal bimini deck hinge. The white vinyl was not that hard to keep clean and kept the big bimini from making the boat look top heavy and clunky like dark biminis can do to a smaller boat. I'll post more photos if I can find them.

 

[Dionysis]

Bill that looks very good. Do you by chance remember the dimensions of the bimini how tall was it thats the biggest part I need to ensure I get right. I think I can measure the width pretty accurately when I go back to the boat this weekend. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Bill19233]

I'm pretty sure it's 72" wide. I still have the Bimini in the barn. This weekend I'll get the other measurements for you.

 

[Dionysis]

I'm pretty sure it's 72" wide. I still have the Bimini in the barn. This weekend I'll get the other measurements for you.

Bill, did you have to make any alterations in the bimini top to accommodate the back stays? I talked this over with my other sailing buddy and we think your way was a good idea and would work on my boat as well. This will be something we do this fall for sure. Thanks for all your assistance. Let me know if you think of anything else I may need to know.

 

[Justin_NSA]

One of the nice features our PO installed in our bimini was a Stratoglas window with removable cover on the aft end. It's not really necessary to see the Windex since we have instrumentation, but it is helpful to keep an eye on sail shape. Our bimini is huge!
On our Mac, went had gone the premade bimini route and I had to sit on the coaming to see the Windex and mainsail. Yarn on the shrouds works partially. Just know that you will sacrifice observation advantage for shade. If you are just using the bimini when motoring, this advice is worthless.

 

[Bill19233]

Bill, did you have to make any alterations in the bimini top to accommodate the back stays? I talked this over with my other sailing buddy and we think your way was a good idea and would work on my boat as well. This will be something we do this fall for sure. Thanks for all your assistance. Let me know if you think of anything else I may need to know.

I had a local auto trim shop cut the bimini and sew in some zippers to fit it around the backstays. You can just barely make them out in the photo. He was way cheaper than a marine canvas outfit.
I'll try and find it tomorrow and get take some more photos and measurements, leaving in a few minutes to be in Rum Race 4 on the bay.

 

[Bill19233]

Found it! I knew I had stashed it away to use as a pattern for a new one. It's 88" wide, probably listed as 7' wide with the overhangs. And 66" long, probably listed as 5' with the bow pockets. zippers were installed 21" from the aft end and were 24" long.

 

[Dionysis]

You don't know how happy I am that you found those measurements. I will use them when I ask the taylor to make the new one.

 

[Dionysis]

We are taking our boat up to a maintenance facility next week to have the main halyard replaced, I am going to have them go ahead and move the goose neck up a foot as you had done. A local sail maker said he could cut the excess sail from the sail and resew it together for a nominal fee. I think we will be much happier in the dead of the summer with a bimini top.

 

[Dionysis]

Bill, I went with your advice and while I had the boat out for maintenance last month I had them raise the boom 1 foot and had the sailmaker cut a foot out of the bottom of the sail. Since we don't use it for racing I wasn't too concerned about the loss of the sail area. I hope that this extra foot of clearance in the cockpit will allow for a taller bimini and more comfortable cockpit area where I am not having to crouch down when moving around in the cockpit. We will be adding the bimini next year since this years upgrade budget is now shot due to the work we had done. But at least we are prepared for the install now having the boom lifted that extra foot.

 

[Bill19233]

Good luck with it, it's a great boat that you can have a lot fun with. One thing I did with the bimini on my current boat was make it two color. I had it made in cadet grey sunbrella to make it brighter in the cockpit and keep the boat from looking too top heavy. Then had a navy blue strip added to tie it in to the navy blue mainsail cover. It also gives the boat a different look than other sailboat on the bay.

 

[Dionysis]

Bill are you still using this Bimini or it out of commission? Would you mind if I were to use it as a pattern for my bimini maker? I would pay shipping cost to get it to us and back to you.

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Found it! I knew I had stashed it away to use as a pattern for a new one. It's 88" wide, probably listed as 7' wide with the overhangs. And 66" long, probably listed as 5' with the bow pockets. zippers were installed 21" from the aft end and were 24" long.