Bimini Tops

[Outside]

I'm new to "Endless" and somewhat new to boating. We bought a Hurricane 22' 5 hull party boat in 2005 for lake boating. We have had two tops and boots destroyed by squirrels. I'm trying to find a reference for wholesale or, discounted top and boots as I have to find another replacement and $ is quite tight these days. Has anybody else experienced this problem while storing your boat during off season and, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to the education ahead.

Linda

 

[Chris]

Hi Linda,

Did they just chew up the fabric?

-Chris

 

[204 Escape]

We had a situation where hornets chewed through the boot of the top.

 

[chappy]

repair it...

I've had the same issue with my bimini top, but with mice. each winter I now put moth balls around it (works for most critters) which has has stopped my problem. I found a little shop in my home town that repairs tents and awnings. I would of never thought of it, but mine was repaired to new quality for $45. I found a site called www.premierboatingdirectory.com which helped me find it. You may try that to find a shop that can repair it for next to nothing like me.
Good luck

 

[Outside]

Thank you chappy. I did consider that when the first one got chewed up but after taking lifting the top it was too bad to go that route. We don't know how bad the damage is this time as we noticed it when we were winterizing and covering her up for winter and figured we'd just wait til spring. I'm not looking forward to spending another 650 for a replacement either. I think if we keep the top open as opposed to closed it will be a less likely area for the critters to nest (and eat).....

 

[Chris]

How big is the top?

I would think at worst, you could just get a local cover shop to replace the fabric and you can salvage the frame.

-Chris

 

[chappy]

re:

I think Chris has a good point. I'd try to find a tent & awning place in the area first. Might be less expensive than an entirely new cover. Although if your's is anything like mine (zippers on the sides for the camper encloser...and now resting at the bottom of the lake by a fluke accident) it may be time to break down and get a new one. If you find a place with good deals on tops, come back and let us know. I myself need a new one this year $650 isn't an easy pill to swallow. Have you tried overtons.com or barts.com? I started there, but didn't find the one I needed, but they had quite a few to choose from...Good luck

 

[Outside]

Chappy, I did look at overton's it appeared pricey. I have a friend in the "recovery and resale" boat business in Ft. Lauderdale that I'm going to hit up for a favor I think. If he can help me get the price down I'll go with a new one. We should have opened it up last fall and determined the damage but we were so disgusted that it had happend again that we didn't. I did take Chris' advice and looked at local tent/awning places but without knowing the extent I'm really stuck. I have to get over there, maybe next week. I'm 5 hours away from the lake were we keep. I will keep you posted though.

 

[Chris]

Outside,

Most of the local marinas just sub out their boat top and interior upholstery jobs, to local shops that specialize in covers and interiors.

So if you go direct to one of these shops yourself, you'll do best price wise. Depending on how new the cover is, and also what kind of shape it's in, a local shop might be able to just replace a section of what you have, or maybe just repair it. I've done this same thing myself for years.

I would think the worst case scenario is that you just replace the fabric and salvage the frame. And a local shop should be able to easily sew up something to fit your existing frame.

Usually the local shops typically just order all the frame and hardware for the roofs seperate from the fabric itself anyway. If you're going to go this route, ask about the different types of fabrics that they offer. They will most likely have vinyls as well as nicer fabrics like Sumbrella which I would describe as more like a heavy canvas.

So my advice here, would be to save yourself a few bucks by reusing the existing hardware and also save few more bucks by just going to a local shop direct.

And as chappy suggested, quite often a few cans with mothballs in them will keep the critters away in the off-season.

-Chris

 

[204 Escape]

I have a VERY good and in-expensive shop close to me that does great work, and is very reasonable.

 

[Outside]

Unfortunately the top was almost brand new
After I get a look at the damage I will pursue the repair avenue first if possible.
Chris, by "frame" are you referring to the aluminum frame? If yes, in the first "attack" it wasn't damaged at all. That would take some mighty strong teeth huh? Good thing, or we could have come back to a half eaten boat........lol. Gotta have some sense of humor, especially these days you know? I'm hoping to get over next week.
I learned the hard way about marina's btw. We went through the one that we bought the boat from for the first/last replacement and I found out that they added almost $200.00 to the manufacturer's price. It wasn't a pretty scene and needless to say I will never order from them again let alone send boat business their way. Why do people have to be so greedy anyway???
Regarding the weather.........it's 81 degrees here in Virginia.

 

[Chris]

Yeah, I mean the Aluminum frame.

The other benefit to reusing it beyond saving some money, is that you don't have to remount a new one which might not mount or line up the same way as the old, which would result in you quite possibly drilling additional holes into your boat.

-Chris

 

[FlipFlopFly]

Could you not take the top off and store it at home and put it back on in the spring?

 

[Outside]

We went to the lake over last week and removed the boot as well as the top. One side is pretty destroyed from the canopy top down to the one side panel that snaps on to the boat itself. I'm going to take it to an upholstery shop first that has a good reputation in town that we have used for furniture reupholstering and they also do antique/classic car seats, covertible tops, etc. If they cannot do it there are a few in our area that advertise tent/awning repair services. I will let you know. It looks pretty bad but an upholstery expert may see it different. It appears to have the ability to be just torn at seams and replaced (I'm hoping anyway). Thank you for the input. I will try and take a picture of it and post for you to see. I'm an animal lover but, this is over the top..........literally!!

Linda

 

[Chris]

Good luck Linda - let us know how you make out.

-Chris

 

[Outside]

I've taken the top to a couple places and basically they laughed and couldn't believe a squirrel could do so much damage. So, it looks like we're going to have to purchase another new one. Couldn't remember if anyone had suggested anybody other than Overton's?

Linda

 

[captjeremyholcomb]

Pick 3 reputable Canvas shops and when you phone them initially let them know you are getting estimates from three canvas shops. Canvas shops need work and this will help you get the best price without haggeling...just make sure all three shops are reputable.
Next-all frame tops are removable. Just be sure to remove and store in safe place from varmits for off season and put back on for season.
Hope this helps.
Capt Jeremy Holcomb

 

[Chris]

I've taken the top to a couple places and basically they laughed and couldn't believe a squirrel could do so much damage. So, it looks like we're going to have to purchase another new one. Couldn't remember if anyone had suggested anybody other than Overton's?

Linda

They laughed and weren't willing to repair or recover the existing frame?

I can't tell you how many times we've recovered boats over the years and they were all hand fabricated by a local boat top shop. We've had new side curtains made, new tops, zippers replaced, you name it.

-Chris

 

[Outside]

I apologize for my ignorance but, I do not know what is meant by "canvas" shops? Could you please elaborate a little bit for me. I'm waiting for a guestimate right now actually from a place in Ft. Lauderdale but she wants me to send the existing top to her. Maybe I didn't take it to the right places for repair??

Linda

 

[Chris]

Linda - There are typically places that specialize in doing tops for boats, campers, many times also upholstery as in seats, awnings etc. These types of places used to use canvas but I think now they mostly use Sunbrella type materials.

Most of the marinas have someone who comes around weekly or when needed and fixes up boat tops for clients, or makes and installs new tonnea covers, convertable tops etc. For repairs, they usually just use your existing frame parts and then they cut and sew the fabric material, side curtains etc. to fit and they mount them on your frame.

Below is a link to the company that I've used many times, which is up in our neck of the woods. Maybe this will help you identify the type of place you're looking for.

http://www.almaguincustomcanvas.ca/

-Chris