My custom Bow Awning Canvas!

[Gary M]

After spending 22 nights aboard our 2001 Marlin in the hot Bahamas this summer we discovered that the little 8000 BTU A/C really struggled to keep the cabin cool during the hot afternoons. With plans to continue enjoying overnighting during the upcoming summers, we knew that the little AC needed some help! Putting the cabin in the shade was the obvious answer. While in the Bahamas, we do not go out fishing every day so we do spend time in the cabin during the late mornings, early afternoons, etc, so being able to stay cool during the day is important to us......

Here's the boat last June over in Bimini and the bow is facing the late afternoon sun in the West. With basically zero insulation, the cabin never really cooled down until well after sundown. Note the retracted Aft Bimini tied to the hardtop.....

So, we had our local canvas folks come out to discuss a simple way to put the majority of the cabin in the shade. They had just made a bow awning for a 330 Express so between the two of us, we came up with a plan. We wanted it to be "taut" in order to easily withstand night time storms and winds as well as for water to easily run off. With quick connect buckles it was made to be easy to set up and take down.

Plenty of air flow under the awning.......

Keeping the helm area a bit cooler too.

The heavy duty, quick connect buckles. The straps are far longer to allow me to make any adjustments after any stretching. Eventually, I'll shorten them for a neater appearance. I plan to make a few comparison tests very soon. It came out FAR nicer looking than I imagined!

 

[midnight-rider]

Good Idea

on my shoe string budget I used a King size white bed sheet on my 20' overniter...and had some extra materail sewn at the corners to use to tie it to the bow rail and to the Top's supports...not fancy but for about 20 bucks it worked well.

 

[OffTheCharts232]

great idea and nice execution, you could put those into production!

 

[fastal]

Gary, did you also have the cockpit cover custom made. My kids luv hanging out on the back of the boat but the sun really gets them.

 

[Gary M]

The retractable aft Bimini is something that we LOVE! I have posted about it here several times. We inherited our first one on our 1994 252 Sailfish and just fell in love with it!

When we bought the 2001 Marlin in 2006, it had a fixed aft Bimini and we had it modified to retract, although it's not as "clean" of a retracting Bimini as on the 252, since it was never designed to retract.

Here's the old one that retracted on the 1994 252 Sailfish:

It was a simpler and lighter design and the frames retracted FWD of the mid-gunnel rod holders. On the Marlin, the frames when retracted are somewhat blocking the mid-gunnel rod holders and you must reach around the frame to pull the rod out of the rodholder. An "aggravation" but not an obstacle as you can see here.

 

[fastal]

I have a 92 sailfish and that aft bimini would be perfect. Does anyone know of a company that makes those or is it a custom job?

 

[ahill]

That front cover is a great idea. What was the cost?
My Sailfish did not have an aft Bimini so I had a local shop make one. Used thick wall aluminum tubing so its almost as rigid as stainless but lighter.
How did the top "retract"

 

[Gary M]

The retractable aft Biminis are all custom jobs. Make sure that you hire a company that has made them before.....

They retract by unbuckling the aft straps and then sliding the frame along the gunnel tracks, then lifting and laying it on the aft portion of the hardtop, then tying it down.

The bow awning cost more than I planned to spend, $540. But when I saw how nicely it was made and fit, the price did not bother me. During two identical days, it lowered the cabin temp (with AC on) 5-6 degrees taking it from a bit "warm" in there (79-80) to a cool 75. It also greatly quickens cooling the cabin from start-up of the AC.

The straps are way too long and I've decided to leave them that way in case we get a bigger boat (330?) and the extra lenghth allows me to use it on the bigger boat.....

By staying aboard now, we save about $125-150 each night over getting a room so by having a much more comfortable cabin now, it'll prove to be well worth the expense......