We made a bimini

A satisfying moment

When Keith first laid eyes on SV Bisous, a Helia owned by Tad and Robyn Foley, it was love at first sight. No it wasn’t Tad’s charming smile, or Robyn's warm welcome, but the hard-top cover over their bimini that got Keith going. You see Tad had built his own hard-top bimini, using the factory frame, and it is a thing of beauty. Tad had done a fantastic job using Coosa board and fibreglass, installed a solar panel and opening Perspex hatch. Seriously, what is not to like, particularly when your factory Sunbrella has worn so thin it leaks like a sieve every time it rains!

Keith took lots of photos and set about planning and measuring and dreaming of how we might one day replicate this work of art. From Panama it was a long journey back to Australia, and even when we got back “home” we realised we still had no home base, no marina, no workshop, nowhere near enough tools etc to get the job done. Nevertheless the planning continued. We even got an eye-watering quote to have one custom made in Tasmania - a fabric replacement would have to do.

​Then one day, fortune shined on us and the dream could become a reality. We had made our way down to Port Huon, looking for options for a winter berth for ITIKI, when our good friend, Bruce Finlay, who lived locally dropped in to say hi and asked us if we would mind doing house & dog sitting for 3 weeks while they went on holidays! Oh and by the way, you can use the “shed”, aka fully equipped and heated workshop, to build your bimini! YES!

Grand Designs

One of many design sketches

​Although we had Bisous’ hard top design as a starting point, we still had to nut out the details. Keith had spent hours honing the design, measuring, checking, scratching his head, drawing, cogitating, planning and thinking through every layer, every step, every stage, every detail and anticipating every potential problem he could imagine.
 
In a nutshell, we would be using the existing factory-fitted bimini frame. Gurit Corecell sheets would form the main component of the hard top flat surfaces, with wooden trims inserted around the horizontal edges so that the vertical edges and the track for the clears had something solid to be screwed in to place. Then of course there would be fibreglass mat and resin over the whole arrangement to give it strength and shape. This would be followed by 2 part- filler and finally 2-part paint. We are using the existing frame and decided on some stainless steel brackets to fix the hard top to the frame. These would be screwed to wooden bases fitted to the underside of the bimini. The final solid component would be the perspex skylight which we had cut to size and would seal in once the bimini was in place. The concept was simple enough, now we just need to make it happen.

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Bruce's current project

​Sourcing the materials

The materials are assembled

​By now Keith had carefully calculated the required materials and thanks to our friend Bruce, who has built, rebuilt and refitted a quite a few boats in his time, we were able to readily source everything we needed in and around Hobart town. Keith and Bruce went off on a “boys own” shopping adventure, loaded up the ute (hammered the credit card), and we were ready to go. Materials, and a wealth of advice, were gathered from various specialty stores in Hobart (a big shout out to the lads at The Fibreglass Shop), with a few odds and ends from Bunnings and Mitre10. Cost of materials including things like rollers, brushes, masks, gloves  came in at around A$3000.

Don't try this at home...

Let the fun begin

​So with ITIKI anchored in Surges Bay, about half a nm from Bruce’s place we carefully manoeuvred the bimini frame into the dinghy and took it around to the small floating dock in front of his property. It was tricky carrying it up the steep embankment, through the gate and up to “the shed” but we took it slowly and managed without mishap. We masked up the frame and placed it on chocks so that the top part of the frame is roughly level. 

​Work begins with placing the first layer of Gurit Corecell board on top of the frame, drilling it and fitting it to the frame with cable ties. The first layer is trimmed to size, including the skylight and access hatch for the cocktail deck. Then the second layer goes on, being fitted in similar fashion, with a layer of 2-part adhesive holding them together. Once the glue has cured, the cable ties can be removed as we had now locked in the shape. The rest of the work could be done with the hard top resting on a moveable workshop bench, rather than still on the wobbly bimini frame.

Next the wooden trim is fitted around the cocktail deck access hatch before flipping the frame over, and adding the wooden edge trims to the underside of the hard top. The wooden edge trim is set in so that we have something solid to attach the vertical edge to. The other important component to go on at this stage are the wooden inserts which will hold stainless steel brackets for attaching the hard top to the bimini frame. Positioning these correctly is really critical, and it’s a case of “measure twice, cut once” when it comes to fitting these.

Wooden bracket holders

stainless brackets

wood trim around the edges

Bella giving advice

Checking the positions

Glassed into place

Now the fun really begins as the first layer of resin and fibreglass goes onto the underside. Once this cures we can fit the vertical edges that will keep the rain out and protect the track that will hold the bimini clears. These edges need to be glassed in as well, and then we can flip the frame right side up again and glass the top side.

Vertical edge and wooden trim

Vertical edge

Checking positioning

​Filling and fairing

Once the fibreglass is in place the hard top has its shape and form and is now quite rigid. We can now start filling and fairing. Its challenging work, firstly making sure the mix is the right consistency – not enough powder and it’s really hard to fair (sand), too much and it is really difficult to mix and apply – need to find that “baby bear” sweet spot of “just right”, which takes a few goes. We enlist the help of a local tradie Jack, who loves sanding (yeah I know, right?!) and is very good at it. It’s a great learning experience watching someone professional going at it. Once the underside is done to our satisfaction (it doesn’t need to be super perfect) we can flip it over and start on the top side. Doing the underside first was a calculated move, as its ok to make a few mistakes given it is less likely to come under close scrutiny. It’s a slow process though as each coat needs to dry and cure overnight, before it can be sanded and ready for the next coat, so there is only so much you can do in a day.

With each layer our work of art gets smoother finer and soon it is starting to look like a bought one - It is finally time to paint. Again it’s a very exacting 2-part mix which is difficult to get right. We learned a little late in the piece that our mixing bucket has lines on it to show the amounts to put in for different ratios for varying volumes – D’oh!

The final hurdle

​With a combination of rollers and brushes, and starting with the underside again, the paint layers start to go on, with a light sand between coats. Initially we were hoping that one coat would be enough for the underside at least (it wasn’t) and by this stage we are happy to admit we are completely over it. Our hosts have returned and we have moved back on to ITIKI so we come in by dinghy each day, do a coat and head back to the boat, leaving the paint to dry and cure. When we come to the final coat, it looks like the levels of hardener are on the low side and sadly we run out of paint mid-way! We decide to declare victory anyway – it actually looks pretty damned impressive – and we can always finish the final coat when we return after the winter break.

The moment of truth

As ITIKI was anchored in the next bay from our workshop venue we had to transport both the bimini frame and hard top back to ITIKI in the dinghy. What could possible go wrong??! The frame went back first and was fitted while the final coat of paint was drying on the hard top. Carrying the hard top down the steep and slippery embankment, which had suffered considerable erosion with our daily comings and goings, was a real challenge but somehow we managed. With the hard top laying across the RIB there wasn’t much room for us humans, but nothing worse happened than a little bit of salt spray during the short trip from the dock to ITIKI. We managed to nose the dinghy into the transom and I stepped off so we could lift the hard top on board and take it to the foredeck. We passed it over the front of the coach-house and placed it gently on the frame. The moment of truth as the brackets were deployed and it was screwed into position and voila! It looks fabulous!! You cant even notice the half coat of paint on the top… Now it just remains for our trimmer to fit the new clears around the helm station and we will be back in business.

Meanwhile the skipper will need to stay rugged up in the open helm station as we head the 40nm back to Prince Of Wales Marina, where we fitted the Perspex skylight. Now that it’s in pace, it looks amazing - all that planning Keith had done, really paid off! 

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Our beautiful anchorage for 4 weeks - Surges Bay

The statistics

Bella has seen it all before

All up our bimini hard top took us 102 person-hours of labour over 3 weeks, mostly from the skipper, but with guest appearances and timely advice from our host Bruce, local tradie Jack, the first mate and scrub nurse (ie me) and of course Bella the wonder dog, who has seen it all before. Having a huge and well-appointed workshop, with every tool known to man, made a huge difference and it would not have been possible without Bruce and Mon’s kind offer to house sit. I think we spent more time in the workshop than the house though!

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Epilogue: An expensive, surprise ending

​We really enjoyed our time cruising around The Channel (the d’Entrecasteaux Channel), Bruny Island and the Huon River. It is a beautiful and peaceful part of the world, very sheltered waters but with easy access to some lovely bays and cruising grounds. In fact we liked it so much we bought a property just down the road from Bruce & Mon’s place! It’s a waterfront block with plenty of space out front for a mooring for ITIKI. Time to put down some roots and swap the dinghy for a ride on lawnmower!

Room for a mooring - ITIKI's new home