vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
<< Would I get better value by waiting until I get to the Med and having it done there? Ditto for solar panels? >>
Our experience was just the opposite. We paid through the nose for a bimini in Spain and would have had a better job, custom made, in UK. You can shop around for the steel work and have it made at a non-boaty fabricator where it will be considerably cheaper. Then have the canvas done by the most competitive supplier. That gives you the option of making one frame do two or more jobs. Something like this, although he doesn't have the panels.
You can make your own awning. Depends upon your boat and position of boom, etc. This is ours
The canvas is intended for artists' use, for oil paintings. We bought it quite cheaply at a bulk cloth suppliers. It needs to be reasonably heavy to avoid flapping. The 'official' yachty stuff costs an arm and a leg. The supports need to be about the beam of the boat, fibreglass tent poles are probably best but ours are plastic conduit. We sewed pockets across the cloth with velcro flaps to retain the poles. Not rocket science, we see many local boats, especially in the Balearics, who use bamboo poles and very cheap cloth just tied on.
I would be surprised if solar panels were cheaper in the Med - my experience has been that Holland and Germany were a very good source.
Our experience was just the opposite. We paid through the nose for a bimini in Spain and would have had a better job, custom made, in UK. You can shop around for the steel work and have it made at a non-boaty fabricator where it will be considerably cheaper. Then have the canvas done by the most competitive supplier. That gives you the option of making one frame do two or more jobs. Something like this, although he doesn't have the panels.
You can make your own awning. Depends upon your boat and position of boom, etc. This is ours
The canvas is intended for artists' use, for oil paintings. We bought it quite cheaply at a bulk cloth suppliers. It needs to be reasonably heavy to avoid flapping. The 'official' yachty stuff costs an arm and a leg. The supports need to be about the beam of the boat, fibreglass tent poles are probably best but ours are plastic conduit. We sewed pockets across the cloth with velcro flaps to retain the poles. Not rocket science, we see many local boats, especially in the Balearics, who use bamboo poles and very cheap cloth just tied on.
I would be surprised if solar panels were cheaper in the Med - my experience has been that Holland and Germany were a very good source.
