bimini tie downs

[get6]

hey y'all,

quick question for you. picked up the new ride recently (04 196 ltd..vapor and black stripes) and need some help anchoring the bimini tiedowns. to prevent the inevitable chafing and scratching of the gelcoat under the bimini tie down anchors on the top of the gunwale, on my old ride i inserted a 1 inch piece of motorcycle gas line hose through the anchor eye on the gunwale thru which i threaded a nylon tie down. i looped the nylon tie into about a 2 or 3 inch closed loop and hooked the hook on the end of the bimini tie down strap to the nylon tie. voila...no scratching and a clean set up and no problems for 6 years.

owing possibly to a larger bimini on the new boat (ie it catches more air) and to only having smaller nylon tiedowns in my toolbox, i tried the same setup on the new boat with bad results...the top fell down just as my friend was rounding 2 ball. she made the pass but i nearly passed out. anybody out there have a better/cleaner setup for tying bimini straps to the gunwale of your boat?

thanks.

get6

[skinautique]

Haven't tried it but what about reversing. Put a loop on the bimini frame to connect the strap to. On the gunwale, you would always have the strap on there (could make some modifications though) and then you wouldn't tear up the gelcoat so bad. Just a quick thought.

[get6]

ski,

thanks for the quick reply. two challenges i see with your thoughtful suggestion. first, the bimini tie down strap is permanently attached to the bimini frame thus i cannot take it off to "reverse" the installation. secondly, i need some kind of installation where i can trailer the boat on the freeway without whatever is tied to the anchors flopping around and dinging the gelcoat when the bimini is stowed. humm...

get6

[skinautique]

Here is another thought. Sorry my last one wasn't so well thought out. Take the strap and loop it around the mount that is screwed into the deck (you can get it undone by "unlooping" it) and on the bimini frame, you would have another hook similar to the one that is screwed into the deck so that you can clip it on and off there. Hopefully this makes sense. I have never seen it done but I think someone could easily rig this up and put it into production.

[skinautique]

One other quick thought if you don't have a bimini yet. The factory biminis only have two straps on them. The other two are "poles" from the frame. You could just leave the two straps attached and loop them in the netting on the sides when you are towing so they don't flop.

[Hollywood]

Re: bimini tie downs

hey y'all,
i tried the same setup on the new boat with bad results...the top fell down just as my friend was rounding 2 ball.
get6

He's got the new boat. There's too much "nylon" in your thread for me to really understand what's going on. I'm sure I could come up with a solution if I knew what you were talking about.

[get6]

hollywood,

you are right, but i could not figure out how to explain it more succinctly.

lemme ask you simply. how do you hook the bimini strap to the gunwale to keep from scratching the gelcoat?

thanks.

get6

[Hollywood]

Here's one idea. Make an oval gelcoat protectant out of that GatorGrip stuff, thin acrylic, or the stuff you can buy that adheres around your car door lock and place it underneath the anchor. The clip will wear on this replacable surface instead of the gel, and won't look tacky when the bimini isn't up.

[Hollywood]

I found some cheap non-skid stuff with an adhesive back. 4" x 1' would be plenty, and it's only $1.44.

http://www.go2marine.com/frameset.js...egoryId/11686/

[get6]

thanks, hollywood. i will give that stuff a try. good on you for finding it.