Thinking of replacing my soft bimini with a fiberglas hard top bimini. Concerned about having too much weight that high in the air. Does anyone have experience with a hard top bimini for a sail boat?
hard top bimini
- Thread starter southernheat
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I've seriously considered a hard top bimini both at the time I commissioned the boat in '01, and 4 years ago, when I replaced the first bimini/enclosure.
Each time the significant additional cost caused me to stay with stamoid (fabric). A nice hard top would be preferable to fabric, and, I don't think the extra weight is too much of a factor... for me it was the extra $$.
Whatever floats your boat & your wallet.
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Here's mine. This was done by a PO. Only change I've made is I removed the fixed front window and replaced it with a canvas one so I could get air in the cockpit while at anchor. I'm guessing it weighs about 75 lbs, sides are ~3/4" and the top is ~ 1/8". There's a very thick stiffener at the back end (1" thick by 2" high ) to keep the top sturdy. Last two pics were taken just before Irene last year thus all the lines.....
if you are considering doing a bimini instead along with a hard dodger I would look at www.hardtotop.com web site. When my sunbrella bimini in my 45cc goes I am going to replace it with one of these and mount my solar panels directly to the structure. I am going to extend the bimini far enough forward so I can attach clear removable panels to the top and deck to use as a dodger. Similar to what I have now in my cc
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