[Rhodes22-list] bimini/rail parts.

[Alex Bell]

All the parts that people seem to be looking for are found in West 
Marine, either in the bimini top hardware section or the tubing section. 
You can find various fittings that terminate a tube and attach to the 
boat in the tubing section They come in round and rechtangle base, at 90 
to 45 degrees.

If you are going to make a rail support of some kind for the boat, you 
DO NOT  want to use the set screw that's a part of the fitting. These 
are absolutely of no good when you are about to fall overboard and latch 
onto a railing to save yourself. You'll end up in the water with the 
rail/tube that you grabbed. The procedure for making a railing or bimini 
frame secure is as follows:

Use a 3/16 drill to drill THROUGH the set screw, making a hole in the 
tube. Unless you are extremely gifted, you will not be able to drill the 
hole at the exact point the set screw hits. Hence, drill through it. 
Once you make the hole, you can rivet the fitting onto the tube with a 
3/16 rivet. Some people use a machine screw and the threads on the 
fitting, but I feel that's not enough thread to do the job.

Here's a helpful hint for drilling into stainless steel tubing. Go buy a 
fairly expensive 135 degree SPLIT POINT drill bit. This is the only 
drill that will go through SS. A cobalt bit would be good, but isn't 
necessary. Believe me, the typical 118 degree drill is virtually 
worthless after one hole drilled. I've been doing this kind of work for 
a couple of years now and we've learned the hard way.

We rivet all our eye ends on our dodger and bimini frames. I have a 
nifty compact hydraulic rivet gun that makes it possible to set 
stainless rivets. That, along with a good drill and the aformentioned 
drill bits make it possible to get this done. Of course, if you have the 
luxury of using a drill press, almost any drill bit might work (but not all)

If by some chance West Marine doesn't list what is needed, there are 
other companies that might have what you need. Look for companies that 
do custom fabrication. BTW, you need to also become familiar with "boat 
bucks" as it applies to cost.  I just had my boat hauled and the bottom 
serviced. Wrote big checks for that work.

Alex Bell