Double bimini and trailered

[firsttoon]

I know I have talked about this before but there are a lot more members now. Who has the double bimini option and trailers their boat? I have had nothing but problems with wind kicking front bimini around. Torn boot, torn bimini, and damaged support brackets. Have gone to dealer for help. Wrote e-mail to Bennington. Come on Bennington!!!, I know you have engineers smarter than this. Lets figure this out.

 

[Friar]

I have a double bimini and trailer my boat. I did not like the way it traveled either. Will add some pictures tomorrow, but I reversed the feet on one of the strut legs so it would attach to another strut; I was then able to lay the bimini all the way down in a forward position. I use some small velcro straps to hold two struts together in the down position; I use some longer black straps to wrap around the bimini boot to reduce the wind flap and then I use two ropes (which are attached to U-bolts in the deck on each side) that wrap around the whole structure to the middle and then are tied off on the top step of my trailer front ladder. This keeps the whole structure down when traveling. It worked fine today on a 45 mile each way trip on the Interstate doing between 60-70 mph. The two ropes on each side are used for docking when on the water. Realize it is not an ideal engineered solution, but it works for me.

 

[ericscher]

Wouldn't a couple of those light-duty ratchet straps you can buy at any hardware store do the trick?

Examples of different products from Amazon: Tie Downs

 

[Friar]

I have included three pictures in my gallery showing what I have done to secure the front bimini. They show the tie-down/docking ropes, the velco strips (red) holding two struts together, the black straps wrapped around the boot, and the whole thing in the down position.

"ericscher" is probably right - some ratcheting straps could replace the rope and if they were real long, they could replace the black strap.

The situation was that I used what I had on hand as the various issues arose.

When I picked it up from the dealer, they had one tie-down rope installed and recommended I use it when trailering - I just added another rope and now both also serve as docking ropes when needed.

The black strap wrapped around the boot is only attached to the bimini - the structure can be raised or lowered without removing it. The problem was that this boot was the same size as the rear bimini boot, however the rear boot is taunt when installed because it is covering more material. The front boot covers less material and is much looser fitting and therefore flapped a lot when trailering.

The red velcro straps just secure the two long struts together; before, when trailering, the middle strut was only secured at one end and the other end also "flapped" around when trailering.

(would have inserted pics in this post if I wasn't maxed out from previous posts - need to go back a delete or minimize some earlier pics I guess)

 

[firsttoon]

Thanks for the suggestions..........but, the green that was laid out for Bennington quality comes with an expectation to not have to come with our own engineering fixes for a problem. How 'bout it Bennington? Do you have a fix?

 

[ericscher]

...the green that was laid out for Bennington quality comes with an expectation to not have to come with our own engineering fixes for a problem.

The problem doesn't occur until you take it out of the water, right?

 

[TimBrady]

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I sure was thinking about getting both tops, think i wait till i see what happens with yours.

 

[Boomers dad]

I have heard this is a common problem with pontoons with a double bimini. Not just Bennington. When I purchased my boat the dealer warned me that the double biminis did not trailer well, that's one of the reasons I went with the 12' instead. You might want to check on some of the other forums such as iboat to see what others have done.

 

[ImaPoser]

Same experience here. First time towing, front boot came off, and zipper on bimini broke off from being beaten around before I could stop.

My solution was to put four bungee straps on it, and a ratchet strap in the center to keep it from bouncing so much.

If I had wrap around seating up front, I would lay it down completely and find a way to secure it, but since I have double captains chairs on one side, it won't work. This works OK, but I sure wish there was a better solution. Between this and the cover starting to rip after only a half years worth of trailering, I decided to go ahead and slip it for the season instead of towing it the 200 miles to the lake each weekend. I guess the story of pontoons and their trailers being designed for a life of only being towed to the lake once in the spring, and once home in the fall is more truth than fiction.

 

[BobZ]

I know I have talked about this before but there are a lot more members now. Who has the double bimini option and trailers their boat? I have had nothing but problems with wind kicking front bimini around. Torn boot, torn bimini, and damaged support brackets. Have gone to dealer for help. Wrote e-mail to Bennington. Come on Bennington!!!, I know you have engineers smarter than this. Lets figure this out.

I have a double top on my 2008 2275RL. When trailering, I lay the tops down in the travel position with the boots on and light line spiral wrapped around the boots from side to side. The first time I trailered, the tops were up with the boots on (no extra wrapping) and the wind pretty much destroyed the boots. Bennington did replace them.