It's worth doing
Jacob: Jake wrote a very nice reply to your question. I agree with everything he said. You certainly do want to have a bimini to escape being baked by the sun. It does take a little of the fun out of sailing for me. I can't see the main very well with the bimini up, but when the question comes up whether or not to use the bimini, if it's hot and sunny, we use it. As Jake also wrote, there are wind conditions that can make it too windy to use. Also, during docking we usually fold it up. I also made my bimini, as you are proposing doing. I made it 20 years ago, just to see if it was a good idea. It was. It would be worth buying one if you didn't have the materials and know-how to make one. I have to remake the fabric for mine this summer. This will be the 3rd cover. I just used "fabric store variety" nylon the for the first two. This time I think I'll try heavier nylon.I made cars that go onto the jib tracks that I can adjust forward and backward, so that the rear of the bimini doesn't interfere with the main sheet. As I said, I just made this to see if it was a good idea, so I didn't want to drill a lot of holes into the boat, figuring where to mount the bimini.Aldo