Built my own bimini and thought I'd share.
Ever since I bought my monster tower, I've had bimini issues. I modified the old one to fit around the tower legs, but I couldn't ever take it down without a huge hassle. Since it also didn't provide shade for the passengers, I decided it was time to get a new one. Since I couldn't stomach paying so much money for a bimini, I elected to build one.
I got the Sunbrella material for $70 on ebay. (It was more than enough to be able to mess up the first one completely and still have enough to try again.) I bought the clamps from Raul about a year ago.
I had planned to make a mock-up using electrical conduit and then duplicate it in 7/8” aluminum tubing. Instead, I made the rear portion from conduit and used the tubing from the old bimini on the new one. The old tubes had to be cut and bent in places (cheap conduit bender from Home Depot), but they worked for the most part. I re-joined them with a dowell and some screws.
I’ll replace the conduit section with aluminum someday - it looks sort of ghetto when up close, but it works.
I put a couple of quick-release pins on the front tube, which allows me to fold it back (would hit the tower otherwise).
Pictures Material:
Snap to keep it centered:
Fitting the leading edge:
Leading edge is marked for sewing:
Checking the fit so far:
Finished (except for front straps):
Finished and folded down:
Hybrid Mode
