Greetings...
Our new-to-us Catalina 36 is almost ready for launching on Lake Champlain the beginning of May. It's a 1983 vintage boat #78, so we have to think of a custom-made bimini (It came with a dodger.) We've looked at several online but can't come to a consensus. We'd LOVE some advice.
You were very wise to mention your cruising grounds because it will likely affect your choices.
Down here in sunny FL, our bimini is huge by many standards, but that is important to be able to stay out of the sun much of the year.
Duane Ising - Past Commodore (2011-2012)
s/v Diva Di
1999 Catalina 36 Hull #1777
Std rig; wing keel, M35B, Delta (45#)
Punta Gorda, FL
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/diva-di/
Krickit:
Your boat is like ours with a smaller stern. Some of the newer boats are much wider in the stern. Here is a link to a web site we have pictures of our boat on. [url]http://seaknots.ning.com/profile/Mutualfun[/url]
You can click on view all pictures and they then will come up so you can see them a lot better.
Randy
Randy Sherwood
Mutualfun 1990 # 1057
T/R W/K M35a
Home. Charlotte, Mi.
Boat. St Augustine,Fl.
Almost every bimini out there has been custom made. Just choose your canvas supplier and stand back. The process isn't difficult, and therefore wouldn't justify a vendor's setting up to build to a "standard" pattern and then ship all over the country.
A benefit of being custom is that the customer can set the height of it, the coverage (and therefore the slope of the transition), and other details. On our boat, for example, I like to stand on the aft seats to steer with a view forward over the dodger. My canvas guy set the height of my bimini to allow me to do that in the shade. Ok, not in the shade...but out of the rain.
Larry Brandt
S/V High Flight #2109
Pacific Northwest, PDX-based
2002 C-36 mkII SR/FK M35B
We had a dodger and bimini made for us last year. Like High Flight, we like to stand on the stern seats and look out over the dodger. While that limited the potential length of the bimini for us (because of the boom) we really like the ability to see.
Our canvas was custom made for the boat. I see canvas kits from time to time for powerboats, I suspect its not the way most of us would go.
Wesley & Brenda Moy
S/V Capriccio, #1922
The only suggestion I have is that I know some friends who have biminis that don't fold when they don't want the bimini up. That is, if they want the bimini down, they have to take the whole framework off and stow it.
Most of us have the kind where the framework folds up and the bimini has a cover that goes over it just like a sail cover. That is much more convenient for everyday usage. Seems obvious but, you want to be sure you are getting the right format.
Chuck Parker