Bimini window….

[NYSail]

Hello all,
Had new canvas made a year ago…. Full enclosure. One thing the canvas guy did was to put the bimini window shade/cover on the outside controlled by lines. Great concept but does not work well…… line holes leak and cover flaps in the wind. Old boat had it on the inside and I would roll it up and had a Velcro strap to secure.
Having it fixed the off-season. Would love to see other examples of the bimini glass covers.
Thanks!
Greg

 

[kbgunn]

You have the right approach. Keep it simple. A roll up flap with snap or velcro closures is perfect. I would prefer the cover on the outside to protect the clear vinyl from sun, elements, bird poop, etc. This is a Catalina 30, but it would scale up to the Bene 423 bimini.

 

[jssailem]

Greg, I can understand how having the cover on the underside of the Bimini would make using it easier. On the other hand, the cover on the top side acts to limit the UV damage to the (Essen glass/clear vinyl) window. It extends to life of the window.

It is the old boat compromise… Ease of use vs functional performance.

 

[Davidasailor26]

We have a roll up flap on the inside, secured by snaps. Very easy to use. John’s right of course that it leaves the plastic exposed to UV, but visibility through that window isn’t as critical as looking forward through a dodger. Ours is 10 years old and still perfectly usable. The only big downside is that we have lots of spiders in our town and they like to crawl inside the rolled up canvas. Leave it rolled overnight and you’re bound to have one (or more) drop down on your head the next time you unroll it.

 

[Knotallthere]

Ours is attached with a zipper on either side, you can keep it on the outside to protect the window which I do when the boats not being used or we can zip the cover on from the inside. Our canvas maker also included an area behind the window where you zip/store the cover when it’s not in use (inside). Sorry this is the only photo I had that somewhat shows what I’m talking about.

 

[Knotallthere]

 

[Scott T-Bird]

My flap is on the inside and the exposed vinyl is so badly oxidized and dirty that it is barely useful. The flap is secured with velcro in the closed position, but when I open it, I rarely roll it and tie it. I generally just let it hang. It's pretty high overhead and behind my head when I'm at the helm so it doesn't bother me. I'm thinking about replacing the vinyl this winter since it is so bad. I think I might leave the underside flap in place and perhaps zipper the new vinyl completely around so it is removable. In that case, I would also put an outside cover on that is removable from the top and bottom with double-sided zipper. That way, by partially unzipping the vinyl, I could reach up from the underside and remove the outside cover from underneath. Then just zipper the vinyl closed again, or remove it for ventilation ... my choice.

I like the idea above about a storage pocket on the underside ... I think I'll add that and remove the strings!

 

[NYSail]

View attachment 221334

Sounds interesting….. so you have three areas with zippers: storage aft, cover up n and cover out.
thanks!

 

[NYSail]

Greg, I can understand how having the cover on the underside of the Bimini would make using it easier. On the other hand, the cover on the top side acts to limit the UV damage to the (Essen glass/clear vinyl) window. It extends to life of the window.

It is the old boat compromise… Ease of use vs functional performance.

without a doubt the outside cover is appealing and that’s why I agreed. Problem is how it’s attached in my case. Never thought about the zippers…… meeting the canvas guy in the am to go over this…..