That would require moving the boom a bit higher, moving the mainsheet forward and building the stern arch to relocate the back stay.That's a lot of work and investment.
One intermediate step was then to build a boom tent for the 2015 season, but is has shown to be difficult to deploy and provided a big shade for the solar panel we have under the boom.
So I've decided I will order some cheap bimini and test it how it work without the ability to sail with the main sail, but still have the fast deployment especially when it's gonna rain.
I wasn't able to find some in the gray color locally so went to the internet and found this chinese 3 bow bimini top.
Its dimensions are 6' long (183cm) x 46" high (117 cm) x 79-84" wide (200 - 214 cm), made from 25mm aluminum tubings, nylon fittings and 8.1oz polyester (600D) canvas with PU coating and UV protection.
The UV resistance is quite debatable, because after one summer season, the bimini top cover/boot has changed a bit. But hey, it's cheap and easily replaceable.
One big advantage is that the tubing is foldable and assembly takes only a minute.
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| photo from the seller before shipment |
Installation was pretty easy, but required to raise the mast to check all the clearances between the boom and folded bimini frame and so on. To ease the further bimini deployment, I've used the stainless fittings with the quick-pins for the main frame and the support struts.
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| dry test |
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| finding fitting location |
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| deck hinge |
The deck hinge is the 80 degrees fork fitting, but due to the slope of the coaming I had to fabricate the additional 10 degree pad from HDPE plastic. If I were doing it again, I would use the pivoting fork.
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| installed but folded bimini |
As you can see above, the boom clearance is just ok.
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| aft support strut |
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| fully retracted |
Forward support straps are attached to the stanchion base, so there is no need for any additional boat drilling.
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| fully deployed (sorry for the towel :-) |
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| sailing under shade |
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| still able to sail with the Genoa... |
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| ...or Gennaker |
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| Verka can stand under it, but not me with my 187cm |
This is a very great upgrade and proved to be very effective and very simple to deploy.
Thank you for this blog!!! I have a similar boat (TES 678bt), and now after two seasons in it I start to explore areas of improvement. My idéa is to have a bimini with solar panels on it, but I´m not sure what to do with the backstay. How did you solve this? Let it run through the bimini sheet (or behind it?)
ReplyDeleteYeah, the backstay is evil on such small boats :-) When you put the solar panels on it, you would need to have the bimini frame deployed all the time. Then the only possibility is to run the backstay through the canvas like on this picture of the TES678 with bimini top.
DeletePutting it behind the backstay creates only a small shade. I've tried it during the prototyping phase (see my article mentioned on the top), but it's probably useless during the rain or hot days. The best solution for your problem is to build a custom solid arch and relocate the backstay to it. Then you can use it for the bimini and solar panels, see the picture of our previous boat TES forum/gallery.
There are plenty of ideas for your boat.
link to our previous boat Catalina 25
DeleteSorry...here the link to the great TES forum/gallery
Delete