Step 4-Adjusting the Bimini Top
For years after the boat sank and I replaced the Bimini top with a used one, I felt the Bimini top was too wide and it was producing undue stress to the Bimini rail that sits on top of the gunwale. Well I finally went and decided to remedy this by cutting off 7” of the top of the main strut. I also went and cut 8” off the aft strut.
I figured I would find a piece of aluminum piping of about 1” in diameter for the ⅞” to go into. I went to two ACE hardware stores and no aluminum, well how about a piece that would go into the ⅞ and then bolt it down? Sure enough I had the pieces I cut off.
I locked them on my vise and used my grinder to cut a groove through the center, then I went and used the vise to squeeze the pieces together. It wasn’t thin enough so I hammered the lower on of the halves below the other and “rolled” it under the other half. I realized I should have made the groove cuts two blades wide.
The cut I made was way too narrow and I spend a lot of time adjusting the tube. I corrected on the next tube.
Afterward I inserted the reduced piece of tubing into the frame and went ahead and drilled a screw to each side to keep them in place.
The bimini now seems to lack a bit of tension and I think I can remedy this by shortening the supporting front struts.
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