Hanging Bimini

YVRguy

.
Jan 10, 2013
479
Hunter 34 Vancouver, BC
I have a Hunter 34 and have long wished for a Bimini to give me some shade from the sun in the summer. A few of you have kindly shared your ideas but I haven't seen a conventional one that is high enough for me to stand up straight at the wheel (I'm 6'3") without looking awkward. The other day I saw a boat with a cockpit shade that didn't have a metal frame screwed to the boat but instead was a free-floating frame that was suspended with lines running from the back-stay(s) above. It was then secured with more lines pulling downward and secured to the hull. I have never seen anything like this before and it looked perfect for my boat. Has anyone seen this? Any ideas on where I could source one or take a closer look? Thanks in advance...
 
Dec 28, 2015
1,837
Laser, Hunter H30 Cherubini Tacoma
I have a fabric cockpit cover that snaps to my hard dodger and is suspended at the stern from a fiberglass tent pole within a sleeve in the cover and straps going to my split back stays. It jade side flaps that can be either rolled up or tied down. It works well on anchor but being my travel is in the cockpit, I can’t have it up while sailing.
 

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
There are two ways to get bimini height: create it under the boom, or get the bimini behind the topping lift.

Boats with a double stern rail can mount a bimini on the rail, where it's behind the topping lift and out of the way of winches and egress. I think that's a better (although maybe costlier) solution that floating a frame. To me, that sounds complicated and possibly delicate. But then, maybe I just have no imagination!
 

dmax

.
Jul 29, 2018
969
O'Day 35 Buzzards Bay
I had an O'Day 302 with a setup like this, it worked quite well. The dodger had a zipper along the aft edge. The "shade" had a zipper on its forward edge that zipped onto the dodger. The aft edge of the shade had an aluminum tube sewn in (athwart-ships) for rigidity. The aft edge of the shade had two clips that attached to each side of the split backstay, positioned to hold the shade at the right height (the clips were on "lanyards" that could be adjusted for length). I had a tall dodger so the headroom was decent, the shade went up as it went aft so there was full headroom in most of the cockpit. It was a nice, simple solution that shaded the whole cockpit and was very stable. The only downside was you had to look through the dodger when sailing as it blocked the view over it.
 
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Nov 26, 2012
1,653
Hunter 34 Berkeley
You're in Vancouver. You don't need a Bimini. Either way you still have to make it high enough to stand but not interfere with the boom. I assume you want it up while sailing? You gotta raise the boom (and get a shorter main) or have a small Bimini behind the boom.
 

Phil Herring

Alien
Mar 25, 1997
4,918
- - Bainbridge Island
The dodger had a zipper along the aft edge. The "shade" had a zipper on its forward edge that zipped onto the dodger. The aft edge of the shade had an aluminum tube sewn in (athwart-ships) for rigidity. The aft edge of the shade had two clips that attached to each side of the split backstay, positioned to hold the shade at the right height (the clips were on "lanyards" that could be adjusted for length).
Ahhh... I get it now. Yeah, I can see how that would work but you'd need a rig with good headroom.
 
Feb 2, 2006
464
Hunter Legend 35 Kingston
My boat is a Legend 35. I designed my bimini to give me comfortable headroom (I'm 6'2"), but it is a rather short (fore/aft) bimini and the boom is about 1.5" in front of (and below when close hauled) the leading edge of the bimini. The result is that the bimini is quite a bit taller than the dodger, and I can only use the awning when not sailing (because of boom interference). I could not bear to have to crouch or sit when at the wheel. The bimini probably gives me 4-6" of head clearance.

Edit: images attached20190815_081028.jpgDECR - 2019 - Day 5-Kahawake_2019-05-24_0007 (1).JPG
 
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Nov 6, 2006
9,884
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Short(front to back) bimini here as well. As above, immediately aft of the boom; I have no dodger or awning forward of the Bimini.. I had one that extended forward to the companionway, but because it had to be short to clear the boom, it was very claustrophobic to me and I found myself sailing almost always with the forward half rolled back. I much prefer the Bimini being not as long, and also tall enough to stand up under.
 
Jul 28, 2013
53
Hunter 34 Lake Norman
I have A Hunter 34 and found this one to work and is quite high. You do have to do a little sewing to either add velco or zippers to allow the top to get by the back stays

1595269793402.png


a pic of it on the boat.
IMG_0428 (1).JPG
 
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RoyS

.
Jun 3, 2012
1,739
Hunter 33 Steamboat Wharf, Hull, MA
Regarding a hanging bimini; Laura Dekker, the fourteen year old who sailed around the world, had one. Saw it in the movie, "Maiden Trip."
1628776619250.png
 

Artey1

.
Jul 18, 2019
165
Hunter 34 Oklahoma
I have A Hunter 34 and found this one to work and is quite high. You do have to do a little sewing to either add velco or zippers to allow the top to get by the back stays
Sailor832, how did you attach yours to the rail? The pic you showed of the online ad says it is only 103" wide. My measurements to from rail to rail like it shows attached in your second pic is about 110". Did you just stretch the metal until it reached each side?
 

Artey1

.
Jul 18, 2019
165
Hunter 34 Oklahoma
Regarding a hanging bimini; Laura Dekker, the fourteen year old who sailed around the world, had one. Saw it in the movie, "Maiden Trip.
It would definitely be cool to do this on a Hunter 34, but Laura's boat had the advantage of having a mizzen mast and rigging to pull this off. We have good backstays but without a dodger setup how would you rig the forward end to suspend correctly?