I've had one of the aluminum frame, sunbrella, mass produced ones for
close to 10 years now. It's still fine. You can get custom made
stainless steel one if you want but as far as I can see you're just
spending a bunch more money.

My boat came with a convertable top that upzipped at the windshield
walkthrough but it was cramped and we only used it to get out of the
rain.

Reginal P. Smithers III wrote:
Eisboch wrote:
"John Gaquin" wrote in message
. ..
"FREDO" wrote in message news:8O4Eg.60283

I am going to get a Bimini top installed on my 17.5' Crestliner fishhawk.
Any ideas how much I should expect to pay for this.

Also is sunbrella the best fabric or is there anything better?
Don't know any prices, but I was very happy with Sunbrella. Had a full
bridge enclosure made for my 32' Luhrs in '00. Have since sold the boat,
but it is in the area and still looks great.

For your purposes, I would consider paying a bit more for stainless steel
frame and hardware. I've known several folks with mail-order biminis who
lost them in the first heavy wind.


Also, Sunbrella comes in different flavors. There's lightweight, heavy duty
among other options.
I like the type that has a liner on the inside. It may have to be custom
ordered.

Eisboch



Rich,
I completely agree with the the concept of having a bimini tall enough
so you can stand up to get to the helm, using heavy duty fabric and
stainless steel frame and hardware, and having it custom made (many
shops already have the templates for the most popular boats) but I can't
figure out why one would need, or even want a liner on the the inside.

Since my bimini does not have a liner, I am afraid to ask or I just
might get "liner envy".