Taylor Made bimini

[CharlieJ]

A good friend of mine bought a new Bimini, made by Taylor Made, sold through Wholesale Marine.

It was up in a rain, sagged terribly, to the point of damaging the bows, and appears to be permanently stretched.

When he called Taylor Made, he was told "It's YOUR fault- NOBODY leaves a bimini up in rain- they roll them up"

Have ANY of you EVER rolled a bimini up because it was raining??

Didn't think so.

Remember the name- Taylor Made

[galleywench]

Most of the people I know with biminis fold them up when they leave for the weekend, as they mainly use them for afternoon sun protection. I should say that I've never had a bimini, but when my boat was in the water the dodger would stay up all summer. I never thought of biminis as semi-permanent structures like dodgers though, they have a lot more surface area that could trap enough water to bung up the frames.

[earlylight]

You get what you pay for. A well made bimini from a reputable canvas shop would have had a stainless steel frame instead of the cheap aluminum frame that Taylor Made uses. It would also have been covered in Sunbrella acrylic fabric and cost over twice as much as the junk he purchased from Taylor Made. Live and learn!

[CharlieJ]

Agree on the Sunbrella. But not on the aluminum tubing.

My self made Bimini has stood, full time, for some 5 years, and maybe 10,000 miles of cruising. Sunbrella, and 7/8 aluminum tubing. It's up ALL the time, unless de-rigging for a storm. My solar panel rides up there full time too.

A Bimini should hold up as well as a dodger. I don't know ANYONE who rolls one up when they leave the boat.

And yeah, he found out about the stretchy material, AFTER purchase, with zero indication beforehand. We'll make him a new frame, non problem.. I have the material in shop for that. And he's already ordered a new cover.

And Taylor made makes lots of boat stuff, much good. The big gripe here was with the attitude.

[earlylight]

CharlieJ
None of the canvas shops around here will use aluminum tubing for either dodgers or bimini tops. The reason given by all of them is that if salt water gets inside the tubing it begins to decay on the inside. It will not be noticed until one day the tubing just breaks from the corrosion. When I got my present boat it had a three year old dodger on a one inch aluminum frame and on the delivery trip after I purchased the boat we were sailing in 15 knots of breeze coming down the New England coast and the dodger frame snpped in two places. There was massive amounts of corrosion on the inside of the tubing and it was tissue paper thin in many areas..

[CharlieJ]

Interesting- I'll check mine.

But I'm on the Texas coast, and that frame has been all around the Gulf of Mexico, including two partial offshore crossings, all through the Keys, the Bahamas, up the east coast to the Chesapeake, up and down the Potomoc, then up to Annapolis, and return all the way back to Texas since about 2009 and is still solid. Frame was made in 2008.

That's why I haven't posted much here, last three, four years or so- been cruising- BIG Grin.

I will say- it's NOT thin wall tubing though. I'm familiar with the other stuff. And you're correct- it's pretty flimsy. Actually, the first one I built I used 3/4 EMT. Cheap - lasted 2 years,, but got really rusty-Grin. But hey- launched the boat on Tuesday, built the bimini (including my ex sewing it) on Tuesday night and Wednesday, and left for Florida on Thursday. It served it's purpose-grin. Great way to make a pattern too.