Starting the bimini

The one thing we found when we did the two day sail was the problem of being under the sun all day. Back in the spring we had bought a bimini and dodger kit from Sailrite and so this weekend (a long weekend including Friday which is a public holiday) we decided to start it. My expectation was that we could get the metalwork done on Friday morning, the templates done on Friday afternoon and get the sewing done on Saturday/Sunday. How wrong I would be!

On Friday we started the metal work... well... we worked out what we wanted to do, which was to modify the original plan from Sailrite to try to make a significantly bigger bimini. The original plan was for a 2 bow bimini and a very large 2 bow dodger and to join the two together. However, the 2 day sail had shown that sailing in the Mediterranean you really want all the wind you can get to cool you down except for rare occasions when you need some protection.

So we modified the plan to become a very large double 2 bow bimini with a much smaller dodger. This was possible because we had the old bow from the old dodger to be part of the new kit.

Having done the planning we then worked out the metalwork, cut and fixed in place. That was a whole days work and we ended up Friday evening with the metalwork in place but nothing more. Tim remarked that his uncle used to say projects take twice and long and cost twice as much as you expect.

Saturday the whole day was taken up with making the templates... and making a work space in Tim's sunroom for sewing and other boat related work over the winter.

Sunday we started the sewing. By the evening we had got the first of three panels completed. Hopefully it will go quicker as we become more competent with the sewing machine and cutting out the material etc. Our final job for the weekend was to take the completed panel down and check it on the boat.

Yes, looks good... now just to complete it.