#STARWIND SAILBOAT 19 HOW TO#
#STARWIND SAILBOAT 19 INSTALL#

Installation hardware is provided for a complete package. The woven fabric is also cooler than cushions that are dipped in plastic. This combination gives you a cushion that dries quickly and floats. The 2' closed-cell floatable foam will not absorb water. Our cushions are made of closed-cell foam and Sunsure a tightly woven fabric made with PVC-coated yarn. Ask for instructions if you need custom cushions. Choose from our selection or provide your own pattern if you don't see your boat listed. We are known for our fit and style.ДЄll our patterns are pulled from the original boats. This past season I replaced the fixed gooseneck with an adjustable gooseneck to allow the boom a bit more clearance than you see in the photos below - this was necessary given the additional height of the bimini deck hardware.Ameriseam has provided cockpit cushions to many sailboat manufacturers including Hunter Marine, Precision, Compac and other quality boat manufacturers. When not in use, the bimini folds forward onto the cabin hatch and is secured to the handrails with a couple of ball-bungies. As the following photos show, the bimini can be used while under sail - it does not interfere with the boom or end-boom sheeting. After sailing two seasons that way, I replaced the pad-eyes with the appropriate bimini hardware (the grey gunk oozing out from under the hardware is the butyle tape I used for bedding - evidently I didn't take a photo after I had cleaned that up). As luck would have it, I had pad-eyes already installed on the deck just outside the cockpit coamings that were in the perfect location for this bimini. Unlike Jim's installation, I chose to anchor my bimini to the deck. This allows me to remove the legs and more easily store the bimini inside the cabin when we're not using it. Instead of permanently connecting the legs to the bows with EMT couplings, I permanently attached the upper coupling to the bow and attach each leg to the its bow coupling with removable quick release pins. Length of the legs will depend on where you anchor the bimini and the drop on the end of each bow. I put the additional arch in the bows by gently bending them over my knee. Practice.) Figuring the measurements can be a bit tricky - in the end my bows measured 69' wide for the aft bow and 66.5' wide for the forward and center bows.

#STARWIND SAILBOAT 19 HOW TO#

Plus I had to learn how to use the bender :) The good news is that EMT is cheap and readily available, so IДidn't worry about having to make a couple of frames before I got one right (I had to make two, plus a couple of additional bends for My situation was a bit more complicated - I had a top that fit the boat, and needed to build the frame to fit the top and the boat. In Jim's design, one builds the frame to fit the boat first, and then fabricates the top to fit the frame (more on fabricating the top below). The budget bimini plans call for 3/4' EMT (electrical conduit) I built my frame out of 1/2' EMT, otherwise, the design is identical (though the frame measurements are different.) Here are the design instructions for the frame: Unfortunately, Jim's website is no longer active, but the images below were produced by him. The design credit for the frame I built (and the fabric top discussed below) belongs to Jim Hall, who built a 'budget bimini' for his Windrose 19 and was kind enough to post the design plans to the TrailerSailor website back in 2006.

#STARWIND SAILBOAT 19 INSTALL#

Turns out, the cover was the correct size - all I needed was to build a frame and install it on the boat. I figured even if the top was too big, the fabric alone was worth the price and I could always cut it down to the right size if need be. Then stumbling through the 'bargain cave' at Cabelas one afternoon I found a 67-72 inch 3 bow bimini top and cover clearanced for under $40. I had always wondered if I could build a bimini for Praxis. There's nothing like shade on a hot day! And shade on a sailboat turns an intolerably hot, miserable sail into a pleasurable day on the water.

Starwind sailboat 19