Biminis??

IMHO you do need a bimini and having a centre cockpit is not a huge problem as long as the mainsheet is outside it eg just behind it. A few thoughts; have the frame built with ss poles at the back edge to support it, this does not remove the need for tapes at the front but greatly enhances the strength. Do not have it too big, obviously when sailing the larger it is the more it collects the wind. Have the frame built so that the poles break down into small sections for storage. Use the best ie strongest, possible deck connections, some plastic ones rot in the sun quite quickly.Have a window built into the canvas so that you can see the mast/mainsail but have a cover built in that can be put across the window to keep the sun off when not needed. I suggest getting it made in UK if you have a standard boat. The big makers probably already have the dimensions but make sure that they know if you have fitted extra winches etc.. In Spain Portugal etc you will get a bespoke service for the same price but it will take for ever and the fit may or may not be what you hope depending on whichever craftsman you use. Good luck.
 
Can anyone volunteer to post up/ftp my images I referred to above? The dumb-ass IT bod here in the marina has blocked ftp (again). Please PM me with your email address if you can oblige - ta! It would be useful to show you that you don't, as David suggested, need poles at the back edge to support it. I can hang off our bimini and I weight !$*kgs (lots).

IMO I really would recommend getting the bimini custom made by people who know what they are doing and have the right tools. That off-the-shelf quote mentioned above (Bavaria was it?) was very expensive compared to what you can get made up here in Turkey (not that that comment helps you, mind!).
 
Here's your bimini. demonboy.. (is that what you meant?)

bim1.jpg


bim2.jpg
 
Thank you, Carol! As you can see it is only fixed in one place by ss - the rest is done by webbing (ignore excess webbing to be trimmed).

Being centre cockpit with a low boom and mainsheet just behind the head it does mean compromises had to be made, but there was no way we could get a bimini to cover that part of the cockpit anyway - that's a physical impossibility. Yours, however Johnny, could go further back than ours so you should be laughing.

Hope this helps (and thank you Carol).
 
It's a Southerly 135 and is quite different to the one on BiminiTop. If you ever get to look at a Southerly brochure, you will see it feature a few times. I'm sure a call to Northshore would get you the manufacturer.
 
I do wonder whether you should try and arrange a different mainsheet arrangement.
Then you could have something covering the helmsman, even if it was just some cloth attached to the mizzen and it's shrouds.
 
Is there any reason you couldn't use the grab bar on the spray hood for on of the bars?

If you zipped it around the bar at that end then had a bar with a bar coming off it to support the the middle.
Then tension it with a webbing strap?
that way if you needed to get it all down in a hurry you could just unzip it at the spray hood and it would all fold down?

I'm probably not explaining this very well.

Rob
 
Demonboy's looks good, although does not cover the helm because it would foul with the mainsheet. On the Countess you have more space, and it would not need to go forward of the sprayhood. It needs to be higher than the sprayhood to get headroom, so not possible to use that for part of the framework.

As to price, yes the Bavaria is at the top end, but it is physically much larger. However, size is not the only determinant as the number of fittings and amount of labour is similar. I had ballpark quotes in Greece for about 1200 Euros for a Bavaria 37 and about 1000 Euros for a full width sprayhood. This is about 20% cheaper than in the UK, as was the re-upholstery of the saloon.
 
Yep, the mainsheet issue was the problem/compromise.

I would suggest that the bimini SHOULD go beyond the sprayhood, if possible. We only ever sail with the sprayhood up if we really need to, otherwise it's down all the time so the only UV protection comes from the bimini. If the sun is forward of the boat then this extra bit forward of the cockpit is useful.
 
There was a comment earlier about having a light coloured Bimini.

SWMBO seems to love dark blue as a colour. I have tried to explain to her the physics of heat absorption of dark coulours, but sence does not seem to overcome looks.......

Is the heat below a dark bimini actually very much greater? Do you get more glare from a light one?

Any thoughts as we are about to have one made, before setting off for warmer climes....
 
I've had more than two seasons in the caribbean and several months at a time in the Med, no bimini but a good broad brimmed hat and loose shirt, no problem.

We did rig a substantial shade the length of the boom and width of the boat, with drop down bits on the side to shade the cockpit, decks and your back when the sun got low. Whilst sailing I never felt a bimini was really needed, but then we also never had a spray hood in the UK in November!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Is the heat below a dark bimini actually very much greater?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, yes and yes!

A lighter bimini means it gets dirtier easier but believe me, if you go for dark blue and end up somewhere like here in Turkey, you'll regret it!
 
Just a comment on not needing a bimini:

As I stated before, we have spent the last three years, on and off, sailing without a bimini. What it meant was slapping on the factor 30, donning a wide-brimed hat and loose cotton shirt. We do this anyway, shade or no shade, but there are times when that relentless heat becomes too much. OK if you are doing coastal hopping but if you are spending days at a time in 35-40+ degrees heat you will really wish you had some protection.

Here in Turkey it got so hot that we stopped sailing with the mainsail so that we could put up our canopy (it rests over the top of the main boom). We were sailing on mizzen only because of this. Not ideal.
 
Interesting this one. Dark blue is almost universal in Corfu where I keep my boat (and elsewhere in Greece from what I have seen). In theory it does absorb the heat more than light colours, but i have no experience of anything other than blue. All I know is that it is a vast improvement on nothing!

As to overhang on the sprayhood, one problem is access to the deck, but the gap can be a nuisance if the sun is low from ahead. Equally sun behind is also a problem and we have an extra screen across the stern. Same can be done to close the gap to the sprayhood.
 
We also have no bimini and have never found it to be a problem. On long passages we generally get enough shade from the sprayhood or sitting in the shade of a sail (remember you won't be steering). On short passages we prefer to sail at night because it's even cooler than shaded daytime and there is little traffic around.
 
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On short passages we prefer to sail at night because it's even cooler than shaded daytime and there is little traffic around.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amen to that... Night sailing down here is much nicer - Especially on a full moon! (As I was lucky enough to have!)
 
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