Surf Bimini top for Alpha Z

[Ewok]

I told him I'd be away for work so I'm not expecting it before April. He's fixing a few other little things two but his quoted price for the job was about 150-200.

[Duncan]

Glad your shops were more reasonable. I think the local guy just did not want to do it so quoted a stupid price.

Glad you are going with solid fabric. I would worry about netting allowing the wind to catch underneath the board creating significant upwards force.

[houstonshark]

Any updates?

[IDBoating]

Mine is at the shop right this minute. I have been working closely with them on the design. We used the factory approach as a starting point, but everyone is getting creative and we're coming up with new ideas. I should have more to share in a week or so.

[IDBoating]

Custom Surf Bimini completed!

As promised, here are the results - so far - of my surf bimini experiments.

We went with the cargo netting as mentioned earlier. The upholsterer agreed that a second layer of Sunbrella would likely encourage mold and be more likely to flap and flutter. He said while Sunbrella itself is mold resistant, dirt and dust and other airborne things get in the fabric and THOSE are prone to mold. The cargo netting will let everything breathe and dry out.

The next question was retention. I'm not a fan of the factory strap system or the flaps and velcro used to stow them. I found some unfaced neoprene with a textured finish that has incredible grip on surfboard fiberglass and on the footpad surface too. Once the boards are in contact with this material they don't want to move.

Then, instead of the regular edging, we used industrial elastic edging on the open end of the netting. This does two things: It closes the netting around the (usually narrowing at that point) profile of the board to help hold it in, and it holds it down against the unfaced neoprene to encourage friction. Inserting and removing the boards is straightforward; if you "lift" the board's back end a bit it breaks contact with the neoprene and slides right out.

Here's the result, on my living room floor because the boat is still in storage:



You can see the elastic edging pulling on the fabric at the openings. Once the bimini is installed on the boat, everything will go flat and the elastic will apply its pressure downward upon the neoprene (and thus a board).

Here's what it looks like with boards:



Now you can see the elastic gathering around the boards. If you look back one photo, you'll notice that the neoprene extends back far enough to reach just past the front of the tower's crossbar. This insures that the neoprene will be the high point at that end, which means the boards will touch it, which will encourage friction. The elastic will add to that by holding the boards down against the "tower bump" - right where the neoprene will be.

Here's a closeup of the neoprene and netting:



The upholsterer sewed normal edging around the three closed sides of the netting, then sewed the elastic edging around the open edge. The neoprene got its own edging, and then that assembly was stitched to the Sunbrella. This closeup also shows the textured surface on the neoprene, which really increased its "grippiness" on the boards.

Our original design goals were simplicity, reliability, prevention of maintenance problems like mold, secure board storage, and economy. The upholsterer and I put our heads together and this is the result. I left him a surfboard so he could experiment in real time with fabric sizing and arrangement on the bimini. So far I'm really happy with the outcome.

Total cost: $170 materials and labor.

I'll report back again when it's on the water and we have some real-world experience with it.

[Ewok]

Nice job, I'll have to call my guys and check on my progress, where did you get that done? I left my surfboard with my upholstery guys too.

[IDBoating]

Jacob's Upholstery on East Sprague, just east of Sullivan. Actually not far from your house. Very interactive, great at brainstorming solutions. While I was there, I also had them install the new seat skin that Tige shipped to replace the original whose stitching was pulling apart. They installed the new one, AND repaired the old one so I'd have a backup for the future, for $65.

[Ewok]

Good to know, thanks.

[Duncan]

Looks awesome. But I am slightly worried about uplift at higher speeds and the lack of a strap behind the fins. Of course, a strap would probably be easy to add if need be.

Excellent experimentation Be sure to let us know how it works.

Edit: I should add that, if it works safely, the mesh is a really good idea. The stock pockets collect water inside the pocket when it rains.

[IDBoating]

Looks awesome. But I am slightly worried about uplift at higher speeds and the lack of a strap behind the fins. Of course, a strap would probably be easy to add if need be.

Yep, the upholsterer already has plans for that if it's necessary. But neither of us thinks it will be. We also have plans for additional neoprene in two little spots if greater retention is required. The tough part, of course, will be the hours and hours of on-water test time that will be required to really profile how well this works!

[rmason256]

Man that looks awesome! I think we are going to try this to ours. My girlfriend is a seamstress and this shouldn't be a big deal. Just have to get the materials!

Thanks for sharing!
Robert

I'd like to see it on the boat if you could post a picture sometime.

[IDBoating]

I'd like to see it on the boat if you could post a picture sometime.

Happy to, but it will be a while. The boat won't come out of storage until probably May.

Thanks!

[rmason256]

Happy to, but it will be a while. The boat won't come out of storage until probably May.

Thanks!

Roger that.

Thanks!

[NICKYPOO]

Looks pretty cool WAB. It'll be super cool if you end up not needing the straps. Looks like you've done just about everything you need to avoid them. Good luck. We'll be looking forward to your update.

[LakeSurfer]

The Alpha Z tower is somewhat like the Gladiator tower. The Gladiator tower is a 7ft tower, so I created these (racks are the same Duffy bought). If you have the taller Alpha Z tower you may be able to do the same.