Replacing bimini that fits the metcraft tower w/ standard one?

[walkers2rad]

I have a 02 21v with the metcraft tower and have found the origional bimini that fits around it to be very complicated to put up, somewhat ugly and nearly useless. You cannot trailer with it up and I doubt that it will even stay up on the water! I have to replace it with something as the Arizona sun will cook everyone in the boat. Has anyone replaced it with a standard one that will fit under the tower and what is the biggest that I can get away with? It would also be helpfull if anyone has suggestions as to good mounting points, place to get the best price etc. Maybe some pictures of what you have done.
Thanks, Ray

[billspin]

I have a Tower Biminis top on ours. Here is their site. http://www.towerbiminis.com And a picture of our boat. I bought this because they have a black frame which worked well with the look and the black tower. There are no straps involved. I have not trailered with this up so I do not know what it will do. It does fit under the tower and just recently put a couple of Evid 6.2's on the tower and with a little diferent approach to folding and opening I am able to use it. If you have any additional questions feel free to contact me.

[billspin]

here is the picture.

[scootc]

Hi Ray,
I see you're in Tucson too!
I have the original bimini ('01 23V), but have worked out way to assemble the thing so it doesn't take too long. I also had a local shop build a matching bimini that zips onto the back of the original. With this set up the entire cockpit is pretty much covered. Let me know if you're interested in keeping what you have and I'll send some photos with more explanation.
Scott

[RZMike]

Hey Scott,

I would be interested in seeing what you've done. I have a 01 23V as well. Like Ray, I hate the factory metcraft bimini. I've been trying to figure out a way to make it more simple to put up, but haven't come up with anything practical.


Ray,

What do you mean by "You cannot trailer with it up "? As bad as it is, I still trailer with mine in the storage position and haven't had any problems.

I also haven't had any problems with it up and open on the water. I purposely ran the boat wide open early one morning just to see if the thing would come apart.

[smendez]

Ray:

We have a Metcraft tower, but the bimini we have does not quite look like the one BillSpin is showing above.

Additionally, I have none of the troubles you mention with yours.

I'm not sure where our dealer went to get ours, but could find out if you'd like.

Saulo

[walkers2rad]

Bimini

Hey guys,
Thanks for the input so far, some good ideas out there! After looking at some of the pictures maybe I was putting mine up not quite right, does anybody have a picture of what one of these look like from the front? Mine had like a 45 degree spoiler looking front to it that was really blocking the air. To clairify what I meant that you cant trailer with it up I meant deployed, at least the way I had it up. It is a hundred miles or more to a lake of any size.
Interesting idea on the extension, pictures would be great or maybe we should get together! Show me how to put this thing up right before I condem it!
What I was initially thinking was to get a four bow that would fit under the tower speakers and when in the boot I could tie it to the pylon or the tower for travel. I saw a 02 21v in boat trader with a picture of one laid down by the pylon.
Keep the ideas coming!
Ray

[smendez]

Ray:

If you have bimini top like the one I have shown in the previous picture, and your tower also has speakers and / or lights, you will likely need to drill & tap a couple of holes in the tower, about 4-6" lower than the pre-drilled holes used to attach the bimini to the tower. This will allow the bimini to easily slide under the speakers and lights as you put it up and down. Our dealer did this for us in about 20 minutes.

The pro's - Our bimini goes up and down without a hitch. Using the original holes, we would have to unhook it from the tower, extend it, and then attach it back on. The same thing to put it down.

The con's - The bimini sits lower, giving you less headroom.

I have a couple of pictures in the members gallery that may be on interest to you. Try this link.

Again, it seems to me that the bimini that Billspin has is not the same as the one I have, and we both have metcraft towers, so please don't go taking my advise until you find out what it is that you have.

And one more thing - I would never tow my boat 100 miles with the bimini extended. I don't think it was designed to take a 70mph headwind, in addition to the turbulence created by the towing vehicle. Heck - I'm lucky to get my boat to 45mph in the water.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Saulo

[billspin]

There are a couple of additional pictures at my gallery pictures
Mine is an after market bimini that tower biminis company custom makes. I also do not travel with my bimini deployed. I have run down the lake with it deployed and it does very well. We trailer to every lake and what we do is roll it up and it ties just under the tower. I have a little more than 6 feet head room under the bimini when opened. I did not use existing Metcraft mounting locations. The bimini comes with it's own clamp mounts and are very solid. If there any other specific information about this bimini please let me know.

[walkers2rad]

This is the kind of bimini I have

Hey,
If I attached this right this pic shows the style of my bimini, (this is not my boat). As you might see it actually wraps around the tower legs which is part of what makes it so hard to deloy and put up, and the big angled flat front is kind of unsightly in my opinion.
The wrap around the legs is velcro and my top must have shrunk because the back part does not have enough velcro area to stay up.
I like the ones that dont have any straps but I wonder how big you could go with something like that?
Ray

[Matt Garcia]

walkers2rad, that image is small. If you are having a problem resizing or posting it, send it my way and I will attach it for you.

[walkers2rad]

A little bigger pictrue

Sorry for the tiny picture,
I think this is as big as it gets, found it online, www.boattrader.com[/url] search 02 Tige.
Ray

[walkers2rad]

Where I got the idea

This is where I got the idea about a standard one that lays across the back when traveling. My thinking is that it would be less drag when towing laying like this unstead of tied up on the tower. Although it would be handy to tie it up in the tower out of the way on the rare days where it would not be needed.
Ray

[walkers2rad]

You would think that I would learn, here is a bigger picture.
Ray

[smendez]

Ray:

That bimini is sure not anything like mine. The two are completely different. However, I know I had seen one like that somewhere, so I searched, and I found the following thread. See if you can email those folks. They may be able to help you!