Just bought my 1994 26s. last year and never used the bimini. While prepping for this season, with the boat in my driveway, I raised the mast and erected the bimini and from what I can see, it will not be possible to sail with the bimini raised. Am I correct?
sailing with bimini up.
- Thread starter gbrian
- Start date
Depends. Since none of them came with a bimini from the factory, it's fair to say that this is a custom installation. Some were designed/modified/built to be used while under sail, most probably were not. (ours was, but you couldn't erect it while the main was out without seriously lifting the boom)
Put up a few pics and lets see.
Put up a few pics and lets see.
The bimini has to be made to slide under the boom and behind the traveler or mainsheet mechanism. In certain instances the boom can be lifted. If the bimini is too large then it cannot be used.
You may even need to put the sail up in your yard. The way I designed mine, the boom end is under the Bimini by a few inches. The sail is about 8 inches from the end of the boom, so it misses. I have to use a boom vang to keep the boom from raising up and hitting the frame. It misses the side frame by about a half inch. You don't know for sure till you try it. Better to find out in your yard on a no wind day, then out on the water. You might find that with a few small adjustments, you can make it work.
The smaller the boat the more issues you have with using a bimini under sail. If you find a way to get it working I'd suggest that you consider putting a window over the helm station so you can see the mainsail. Let all the pilots stand there as short folks have a completely different view of things from us taller ones.
We put a cringle in the sail to raise the boom when we used the bimini on our 26S. It's hard to watch the mainsail. I would sit back on the laz to see the windvane.
You should be able to modify the bimini one way or another...
... to sail with it in the up position....
... and still have plenty of headroom.
The following link is what I did when I installed the bimini on our 26S......
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor/outside-10.html
Sumner
==============================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
... to sail with it in the up position....
... and still have plenty of headroom.
The following link is what I did when I installed the bimini on our 26S......
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor/outside-10.html
Sumner
==============================================================
1300 miles to The Bahamas and Back in the Mac...
Endeavour 37 Mods...
MacGregor 26-S Mods...http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/endeavour-main/endeavour-index.html
Mac Trips to Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, Bahamas
Having the foot of the sail installed in the boom track adds very little to the sail's efficiency so my solution to make clearance form my bimini is to use the sail loose footed. This allows me to raise the sail 8"-12" higher thus raising the clew above the bimini.