Yesterday I did all of my Bimini legs. All legs "except" the leg that has the Bimin lights running threw it. No rubbing issues.
tip #1 use a Large Philips head screw driver a #3 head I believe.
On my boat the Philips head facing into the boat is the one you torque on. (To take off and put on) With the caps off it's easy to see. It's the philips head that has the insert. In my first pic you can see a small section on the Philips sticking up It's the Philips at facing the bottom of the picture frame.
on my boat it has 2 black rubber washers on either side of the Bimin frame. Depending on how old your boat is and if the have come un glued, you may need to use a dab of rubber cement to hold these washers in place so you can easily slide the bolts threw the frame. The rubber washers can come dislocated and make it a pain in the But to slide a bolt threw.
Benningtion uses what feels like some sticky Anti seaze on hardwear to keep them from backing out. After you take the hardwear off it's all but gone. I decided to use just a drop of blue lock tight to keep the hardwear in place. Seeing as how the hardwear is some what specialized you don't wanna have to run to your local hardwear store and try and find replacement hardware should one fall out and into the water.
One thing i Ng I thought about after the fact is if you were to cut a groove in the plastic inserts to make room for the bolt you could completely avoid having to take your Bimini apart to install these.
then all you would need is a square piece of wood to act as a extension and as a driver to hit with the hammer to drive the plastic pieces in with I think that's how I will do the next set. I will get a small piece of tape to hold the plastic to the wood driver so it holds the plastic in place and then drive it home
one last thing when you drive them into the bimini frames the fit is so tight it's normal for a few of the plastic legs on the plastic insert to break off and or hang up at the edge of the insert. I don't know if one micro size smaller exist to ease installation or do away with the need for a hammer to install them
