Found A Great Bimini Option!

[eric859]

OK, so I've been looking at Bimini tops from the standard Carver/Westland/Tayler. They all come with Sunbrella Acrylic, which is great. What I didn't like is that they jump from 46" to 54" height. I really wanted something in between. I also didn't like that fact that there was no way to add customized side panels to the top. When I asked the reseller if it was possible, they said I had to go FULL customized. So the price would jump from ~$500 to ~$1,500 just for the bimini top, not the sides.

They make biminis that go from 6' to7' to 8' lengths and allow you to cut down the height from 54' all the way down to 48". They also give you the option to add zippers to all 4 sides of the bimini so that in the future you can add custom sides. Not only that, but they are slightly cheaper than the cheapest Carver/Westland/Tayler resellers I've found online.

This is what I'm getting:
Sunbrella Acrylic
Aluminum tubes w/ stainless fittings
Adjustable support poles (to keep it verticle when the umbrella is not extended)
Boot cover included

Question:
Should I go with a 6' or 7' length? Standard I've seen online is 6', but they offer 7'. What do you guys recommend? Obviously, this is a presonal preference, but I just don't have any experience with bimini's, so I'm asking if anyone who has a 6' wishes it were a little bigger or if 6' is just right.

I have an Angler 18' Dual Console. Here's a dealer pic of my boat: http://www.iboats.com/sites/Anglerbo...l_3-180dc3.jpg

Thanks!
Eric

 

[JASinIL2006]

I personally like the larger sizes for the simple reason that more of the boat is shaded. I haven't read too many threads here where people were wishing for a smaller bimini.

 

[Starcraft5834]

I just bought a 54x72 from Carver for my 20ft cuddy.. If you go w Carver you wont be disappointed. sunbrella, and the poles are double walled... if you fish.. take your measurements for enough head room

 

[airshot]

Yes....bigger is better. You can easily cut the height of any bimini top to suit your needs, I bought a 48" height and then kept trimming until I got the height that suited my boat. I have an 8' long top and many times wish it was longer.

 

[eric859]

Thanks for the replies! So after speaking with a bunch of really knowledgable people, I decided on the following:

1. 6' Sunbrella Bimini from ANP Inc.
   • Double walled Aluminum with Stainless Steel fittings.
   • Added zipper option to add zippers to all 4 sides of the sunbrella top so I can get custom walls next year.
   • Rear support rail so it can be in an upright position when closed.
   • Also bought sliding railes in order to be able to slide the top more towards the back of the boat another 2'.
   • Total price is $467 shipped. Can't beat that anywhere else besides ANP.
2. Since I found such a good price for the bimini top, I decided to get a 6 pole rocket launcher brace which is on sale for $108, shipped. I added the link to this post. The same thing from Carver was almost $300.

Total price - $575 shipped

I don't normally go for the cheapest options. I usually research and pay somewhere in between. But in this case, these components seem to be the same quality as the much more expensive names out there. I'll let you know how it turns out once installed.

 

[eric859]

duplicate.

 

[airshot]

You will be glad you bought the sliding rails if you install this yourself. Nice to be able to "fine tune" the position of the top. The added zippers on the sides sounds like a nice feature, hope to see some pics when she is on.

 

[PalmettoBotr]

Hi all,
First post since joining a few days ago. The wife and I recently purchased a '93 Chris Craft Concept 197 with 147 hours. Everything on the boat is working and in great shape. The guy that had it used it very little over the years towing his daughter once in a while and cruising with his family. He kept it covered and slipped at a lake home, so it didn't see much in the way of abuse.

We would like to add a bimini top and use Sunbrella fabric as that keeps with the original design. Checking everywhere I could including this forum, I found several options but all of them were between $500 and $800. A little more than we wanted to spend. I ran across the post from Eric859 about the ANP cover and I checked their info and pricing. Sounds great, but I can't find any reviews on their product.

Eric859, if you catch this, please post what your experience is once you receive your top from them. I want to see if their initial quality comes in as high as their advertisement and other info leads to believe.

 

[Slip Away]

$500 to $800 is a deal. You will find that many things you add to your boat are "more than we want to spend"
Welcome