C28 bimini deployment?

[mferguson]

OK, I'm likely not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I thought I could handle this, really. I'm baffled about how to quickly deploy the bimini on my 2018.

The other day I thought I'd pop it out for the first time to battle the forecasted heavy rain. I uncovered it and found it all neatly wrapped around and attached to all of the frame crossmembers. The puzzle is - how do you get the leading edge bead fed into the channel without taking the whole cover off the frame? The only way I see is to feed the leading edge bead from one side to the other continuously, but there's not enough slack in the top when attached to the frames to do that. Surely this is not the intent.

Up until now when I looked closely I had assumed that there would be a gap in the center of the channel to allow feeding each end outward from the middle but my channel has no gap, just continuous channel from one side to the other.

So what I thought was a 10 minute job turned into frustration, so I just rolled it back up until the factory or someone can enlighten me. I have the feeling that this will turn into one of those "DUH" moments...I hope.

Mike
Apres Ski

 

[ixlr8]

On my RT-27OB the bimini needs to be removed from the frame in order to slide the front edge into place. I don't see any way around doing that. But once done, you don't need to undo it unless you need to remove the bimini for some reason.

 

[SLyle01]

Only remove on i.e. an R27 O/B if prefer to stow the bimini for winter layup, to save exposure to the elements. Otherwise, putting it up/down does look like a bit of a job.

 

[ixlr8]

Only remove on i.e. an R27 O/B if prefer to stow the bimini for winter layup, to save exposure to the elements. Otherwise, putting it up/down does look like a bit of a job.

I have removed/replaced the bimini on my 27OB 3 times. There was a bit of head scratching the first time, now it is like a 2 minute job to install or remove.

 

[Kevin Lamont]

OK, I'm likely not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I thought I could handle this, really. I'm baffled about how to quickly deploy the bimini on my 2018.

The other day I thought I'd pop it out for the first time to battle the forecasted heavy rain. I uncovered it and found it all neatly wrapped around and attached to all of the frame crossmembers. The puzzle is - how do you get the leading edge bead fed into the channel without taking the whole cover off the frame? The only way I see is to feed the leading edge bead from one side to the other continuously, but there's not enough slack in the top when attached to the frames to do that. Surely this is not the intent.

Up until now when I looked closely I had assumed that there would be a gap in the center of the channel to allow feeding each end outward from the middle but my channel has no gap, just continuous channel from one side to the other.

So what I thought was a 10 minute job turned into frustration, so I just rolled it back up until the factory or someone can enlighten me. I have the feeling that this will turn into one of those "DUH" moments...I hope.


Mike
Apres Ski

Hi Mike,

Yes you do need to remove the canvas and install on the track first. Typically customers leave this up unless it is stored for winter or want to remove the Bimini completely. Did your selling dealer not show you how to set this up? When we deliver boats locally we always go through everything including how to setup and store the Bimini. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Kevin Lamont

 

[mikey]

I'm still confused with removing or bunching up the bimini for fishing on my 2014 c28.

 

[mferguson]

Thanks for the reply Kevin.

No, the dealer didn't go over it with me. They are no longer a CW dealer either.

I must say I'm a bit surprised at the answer though. I prefer running in the great lakes area with the bimini stored unless it's very hot or rainy. But when you need it you want to be able to get it deployed quickly. On other boats I've seen an opening cut in the center of the channel so you could feed each end, one at a time, from the center outward. That might have been a better approach, even if you ended up needing outhaul cleats. Something to consider.

Thanks

Mike Ferguson

 

[it4llc]

I'm not sure that this helps in this case, but our bimini (on a 2020 C-28) has velcro and a zipper where it attaches to the boat. It's relatively easy to stow/deploy that way. I think ours was done by a local canvas guy though that our dealer uses.