BIMINI ADVICE

[Bosunsmate]

Hi guys,

I have a 3 bow bimini cover that is giving a bit of grief with the nylon joiner ferules constantly slipping out of place when ever I put the cover up.... >:( (I figure this problem is fairly easy to overcome by simply drilling the joins screwing the ally tube to the nylon ferule.)

The 3 bows are made up of 2 with the same length side tubes and one that has shorter tiubes and hinged off one of the other bow uprights. Does it make any difference weather the shorter bow is the middle or the rear most ?

When the shorter bow is in the middle it does not allow the assembly to collapse flat for road travel/storage. So I have reconfigured the bows with the shortest at the rear which allows the whole asembly to sit flat when collapsed (see photo).

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated because I am ready to toss $300 worth of shade in the shed never to be used again...

[Needmorerum]

I would drill a small hole in one side and put a rivet in it. Most bimini's I've seen have this done on all poles.

Corry

[Richard]

I'm keen to hear replies too - I'm having exactly the same problem. As it is a bit cooler at the moment I got so sick of it I have pulled it off of the boat until I get around to fixing it..


richard

[Brejen]

I'm with Corry, mine has all of them riveted.

Brett

[nonibbles]

same idea as rivet but mines got a small self tapping screw

[tengals123]

I had the same problem with my old bimini, same as yours. I did exactly that drilled and riveted.

cheers

[saphire]

Do you pronounce Bimini
bi-mini or bim-ini.
Have heard it pronounced both ways just curious.

[tengals123]

It is pronounced
BIM-IN-EE

cheers

[nonibbles]

Do you pronounce Bimini
bi-mini or bim-ini.
Have heard it pronounced both ways just curious.

I pronounce it as "shay-d" or "can-o-pee" (might refrain from that second one ;D )
"By meanie" is only for when I'm trying to sound like I know something :P

[Bosunsmate]

Thanks for your replies so far everyone,

I will be rivetting mine as soon as the drill battery charges up, just paid all of 20c each for some ally rivets, on a side note - has anyone experimented with the positioning of the ally bows....

I tried the set up in the picture above and it was'nt too successfull, have put it back ogether with the small bow in the middle again and it seems to stretch the top ok....still a problem when folded down though :-/

This is bit of a tough one.....might need to make a bracket for it to sit in when its down.

Any suggestions............. :-[

[Kirkan]

Mate, biminis & canopies are fitted to a specific shape, determined by the way the bars were set originally.
If you've been mucking around & swapping bows around & can't get it back to how it was, take it to a trimmer.
If the top is in good nick, they should only need a few minutes to get it set up right.

BTW- there's a trimming advice thread here. Post these types of questions there & you'll get a quicker response.

[Bosunsmate]

Cheers for that Kirkan,

Have actually put it back the way it was now after putting a rivet in each side of each join.

Was unsure if I could put the bows in a different order to reduce the stress on the whole assembly when in the collapsed position. Would have a gander at the trimming section.......If I could find it that is........ :-/

Again, thanks for the advice everyone.

[Kirkan]

OOPs!
Sorry, I have a trimming advice thread on another forum.
Perhaps you may want to post any questions there.

http://fishnet.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38775&start=20&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

If the admins here aren't happy about the link, perhaps they could start a thread here for me to answer questions.
I'm more than happy to do this.