Check out sialrite or west marine for pictures
Sailrite sellls pre made frames for biminis and I'd guess that west marine has pictures in their catalogs of how the frames are set up. Personally I eliminated the fabric straps because they are in the way when trying to go forward, require additional anchor points (more holes in the boat) and as noted are noisy. They sell a clamshell that wraps around your pulpit rail, kind of expensive but worth it. Then just a couple short pieces of stright tubing connects the stern pulpit to the rear bow (you need two atachment points for the rear bow also). Set screws hold the tubes in place. Then just run a straight piece of tubing between the two bows to apply tension and also to hold the front bow in position. Picture a completely rigid system so that if you remove the two tubes to the stern rail it will just rotate around the anchor point for the bows. No straps and the way forward is completely clear with nothing to trip over. The horizontal tubes provide a handhold but not a strong one, good to hang towels to dry or many other uses.
I don't have a picture handy but hope you get the mental picture. The end fittings are expensive and get stainless, the zinc ones are terrible and rot quickly in salt water. The set screws seize up in them and are too small to work well (sound like experience talking?). So for your project you need eight end fittings for the tube sections, 6 attachments for the bows and two clamshells for the stern pulpit. So 16 fittings at about 10 bucks each. trust me its worth it.
As for thread, polyester is the standard and lasts 3 to 5 years. Restitching is normal for all canvas and sail suncovers. Also check your sails periodically for need to restich the seams and batten pockets. Goretex thread claims it lasts forever but it costs 80 bucks for 4 ounces of thread, quite outrageous a price and I can resew seams a lot for that much money. If you can afford it get an industrial grade sewing machine, it will pay for itself in one project, I have made biminis, dodgers, storm sails, headsails, spinnaker, mainsail covers, added suncovers to jibs for rolling furling, restitched seams, etc. Get the handcrank for the flywheel and you don't need power to use it. WELL WORTH THE INVESTMENT.
If you have existing canvass that is old it is easy to rip apart the seams, use the pieces as a pattern to make new pieces and then sew a new one together. A dodger will cost you thousands new, making a new one will cost a few hundred using the old one as a pattern.
Maybe the pros will have perfect seams and stitches but I can live with a few crooked threads for the functionality and the savings. I'd guess I've saved around $7,000 minimum for all the projects I've done over the years. Tools and sewing machine cost maybe 1,000.
