On Jun 11, 8:46*am, HK wrote:
SteveB wrote:
I, well, my wife actually, wants a bimini top for my Lund 16. *Comes in at
around $500 for frame and canvas.

I'm a metalworker, and have a welder and an industrial Singer walking foot
sewing machine. *A friend of mine used to do boat work, and I've seen him
make lots of tops. *Not a lot to them, actually.

Hardware seems to be the costliest thing, all being stainless steel. *The
tubing was probably special, too.

Went looking for boat part the other day, and noticed some hardware, and
IIRC, it was for 7/8" OD tube.

In all of your vast experiences, what would be your opinion of making one of
these out of conduit, or a light wall round tube? *Possibly custom making
some of the hardware pieces out of steel that I can have powder coated. *The
canvas could be Sunbrella, or even the cheap shadecloth material at Home
Depot is decent shade. *I have a couple of big shadecloths of that material,
just had to resew the edges after about four years of 24/7 outdoors
exposure.

Anyone ever do this type of DIY project?

TIA

Steve

I've seen some professionally made tee-tops where the metal structure
was powder coated aluminum. After a couple of seasons, the powder
coating began to chip and abrade, and in some cases, reveal the metal
underneath. If it is steel, you'll get rust when the powdercoat wears
off. Also, don't forget to isolate your steel hardware and fasteners
from your aluminum hull boat (I'm assuming your Lund is aluminum).- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Not all steel rusts, Mr. mechanical engineer.......

On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:28:54 -0700 (PDT), Loogypicker
wrote:

On Jun 11, 8:46*am, HK wrote:
SteveB wrote:
I, well, my wife actually, wants a bimini top for my Lund 16. *Comes in at
around $500 for frame and canvas.

I'm a metalworker, and have a welder and an industrial Singer walking foot
sewing machine. *A friend of mine used to do boat work, and I've seen him
make lots of tops. *Not a lot to them, actually.

Hardware seems to be the costliest thing, all being stainless steel. *The
tubing was probably special, too.

Went looking for boat part the other day, and noticed some hardware, and
IIRC, it was for 7/8" OD tube.

In all of your vast experiences, what would be your opinion of making one of
these out of conduit, or a light wall round tube? *Possibly custom making
some of the hardware pieces out of steel that I can have powder coated. *The
canvas could be Sunbrella, or even the cheap shadecloth material at Home
Depot is decent shade. *I have a couple of big shadecloths of that material,
just had to resew the edges after about four years of 24/7 outdoors
exposure.

Anyone ever do this type of DIY project?

TIA

Steve

I've seen some professionally made tee-tops where the metal structure
was powder coated aluminum. After a couple of seasons, the powder
coating began to chip and abrade, and in some cases, reveal the metal
underneath. If it is steel, you'll get rust when the powdercoat wears
off. Also, don't forget to isolate your steel hardware and fasteners
from your aluminum hull boat (I'm assuming your Lund is aluminum).- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Not all steel rusts, Mr. mechanical engineer..

Did it occur to you that is the aluminum that will corrode, not the
steel.

Stainless doesn't need to rust, when it is so easily attacked by
chlorides, and it will, in fact, rust.

Mariners depend on small bits of zinc to sacrifice themselves,
preventing corrosion of large expanses of steel. In a similar fashion,
galvanized coatings do not need to be unbroken to do the job. The
neighbors steel roof has half the zinc gone and no rust. So you can
have steel, that is properly coated and will not rust.

"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...

Stainless doesn't need to rust, when it is so easily attacked by
chlorides, and it will, in fact, rust.


Not only rust. It dissolves.

Our previous house had a pool. I was working on the filter for it one day
and took it apart for cleaning. The filter section had been held in place
by several stainless steel bolts. The only thing left on them were the
heads. The threaded sections had been completely eaten away by the chlorine
in the pool water.

Eisboch

On Jun 15, 10:40*am, Richard Casady
wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:28:54 -0700 (PDT), Loogypicker





wrote:
On Jun 11, 8:46*am, HK wrote:
SteveB wrote:
I, well, my wife actually, wants a bimini top for my Lund 16. *Comes in at
around $500 for frame and canvas.

I'm a metalworker, and have a welder and an industrial Singer walking foot
sewing machine. *A friend of mine used to do boat work, and I've seen him
make lots of tops. *Not a lot to them, actually.

Hardware seems to be the costliest thing, all being stainless steel. *The
tubing was probably special, too.

Went looking for boat part the other day, and noticed some hardware, and
IIRC, it was for 7/8" OD tube.

In all of your vast experiences, what would be your opinion of making one of
these out of conduit, or a light wall round tube? *Possibly custom making
some of the hardware pieces out of steel that I can have powder coated. *The
canvas could be Sunbrella, or even the cheap shadecloth material at Home
Depot is decent shade. *I have a couple of big shadecloths of that material,
just had to resew the edges after about four years of 24/7 outdoors
exposure.

Anyone ever do this type of DIY project?

TIA

Steve

I've seen some professionally made tee-tops where the metal structure
was powder coated aluminum. After a couple of seasons, the powder
coating began to chip and abrade, and in some cases, reveal the metal
underneath. If it is steel, you'll get rust when the powdercoat wears
off. Also, don't forget to isolate your steel hardware and fasteners
from your aluminum hull boat (I'm assuming your Lund is aluminum).- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Not all steel rusts, Mr. mechanical engineer..

Did it occur to you that is the aluminum that will corrode, not the
steel.

Yes, but a moot point. Harry's statement "If it is steel, you'll get
rust when the powdercoat wears off" is not correct.

Stainless doesn't need to rust, when it is so easily attacked by
chlorides, and it will, in fact, rust.

It will corrode.

Mariners depend on small bits of zinc to sacrifice themselves,
preventing corrosion of large expanses of steel. In a similar fashion,
galvanized coatings do not need to be unbroken to do the job. The
neighbors steel roof has half the zinc gone and no rust. So you can
have steel, that is properly coated and will not rust.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Exactly my point!