"HK" wrote in message
...
Eisboch wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...

Eisboch wrote:
Check this out:

http://www.bimiteetop.com/

Eisboch


Interesting idea, but I wonder if it is rigid enough for a tee-top.
Those tubes look pretty thin.

The write-up claims that unlike a regular bimini, the tee-top can be left
up for high speed running (tested to 68 mph). Downside is you can't
stand on it (comparing it to a hard top).
Tubing is available in either aluminum or stainless.

Eisboch


As I said, it is an interesting idea...but not one that interests me.
My new boat has a 6' long perfectly flat deck forward of the center
console for flyfishing, which is all the room I need. No need to "walk
around the boat" chasing a bonefish, because, well, we don't have any
bonefish up here. If I want to liveline or troll or bottom fish, I can do
that from the stern without having to "walk" a fish around the boat. It's
not a technique that occurs around here that often. Most fish can be
controlled from the stern and released near the stern. If I feel like
sightfishing or casting, I can do that from the front of the boat.

The bimini is there simply to fend off the sun on those really hot sunny
days when we're drift fishing or anchored. Most of the time it will be
folded flat, out of the way.

Like you and a couple of others here, I've had a lot of experience in
boats and with a wide variety of boats. What I want in a small fishing
boat has evolved over these many years. This time around, I wanted a
smallish but deep vee center console, high quality but minimalist in
features (stuff I don't need that requires maintenance). There are a
kazillion boat dealers within 50 miles of where I am right now, so my
choices were virtually unlimited. I picked the boat I did for a lot of
reasons, all based upon what *I* wanted, as opposed to what to what some
boat manufacturers think I need or, ever sillier, what some of the
landlocked "boaters" here read somewhere.

Oh...I cut a 2-1/4" hole in a non-structural part of my Parker to install
an accessory. The circle I cut out is 7/16" thick, and consists of gelcoat
and layer after layer of glass cloth and resin. No filler, no balsa, no
foam, no crap. Gelcoat on the outside where you can see it, and on the
inside, where you can't see it unless you cut a hole.




I hear you, and a Parker is indeed a well built boat. I just wasn't sure if
you were aware of other options for the bimini.

BTW though ... I may be wrong, but if your intention is to use the forward
section of the boat for fly-fishing ... isn't the bimini installed
backwards? Seems to me it should fold up aft, rather than forward, leaving
the area forward of the console clear. The way the braces are set up in
your installation, I think it's designed to fold forward. Just a thought.

Eisboch