[Rhodes22-list] (no subject)

[Mary Lou Troy]

Dave,
We sail with our bimini up all the time. Just 
crane our necks outboard or around the aft end. 
If you steer from the coamings you can see around 
it but of course then it only does the crew some 
good but not the helmsperson. If we adjust the traveller we are aft anyway.

I've seen the patches you describe on large boat 
biminis. Usually they are plastic window material 
covered by a canvas flap. The flap also protects 
the plastic from UV rays when the windows aren't 
in use. They probably wouldn't be all that hard 
to install but we probably wouldn't bother. 
Placement of the window is important. I seem to 
recall talking to someone who had a couple 
installed but they just weren't in the right 
location in relation to the steering position for good visibility.

Our outhaul is adjusted at the end of the boom. I 
think we can reach the furling line from the 
companionway with the bimini up but right now I 
can't remember (shows you how much sailing we've 
done so far this year - ah well, September is coming.)

Mary Lou
1991 R22 Fretless
Rock Hall, MD


At 12:13 PM 8/7/2007, you wrote:
>Folks, Recently we’ve sailed a couple of times 
>with the Bimini up - the sun was  just too 
>hot.  I put it up at the slip to motor out of 
>the harbor.   When we cleared the breakwater I 
>collapsed the Bimini long enough to get 
>the  mainsail out, and then put the Bimini back 
>up.  Comfort-wise, it’s much  better with the 
>Bimini up on a hot summer day, I recommend it - 
>the shade makes  all the difference.  Handling 
>the headsail was not much affected by the 
>Bimini, except that it’s  hard to see what’s 
>going on at the top.  BUT, I have a hard time 
>monitoring  the mainsail - the entire sail is 
>completely obscured by the Bimini.  Once  the 
>sail is out and the Bimini re-set, all 
>subsequent mainsail adjustments were  all “by 
>feel” and by listening.  I can crane my neck 
>around the aft portion  of the Bimini from time 
>to time to spot check what’s going on with the 
>main  sail, but it’s not convenient for easy 
>monitoring.  It would really be  great if there 
>were a small window, or flap, you could see 
>through to check out  what’ s going on “up 
>there”, or maybe even have an opening in the 
>Bimini that you  could reach through to adjust 
>the mainsail since all the IMF mainsail “ 
>controls”  are on the boom. Are there any 
>other sailors on the list that sail with their 
>Bimini  up?  If so, how do you monitor the 
>mainsail and the top of the headsail? It’s 
>occurred to me that having a window along the 
>top of the Bimini- or  perhaps even a flap that 
>could be secured, and that you could reach 
>through -  might be a good and useful thing.  Or 
>you might have a window that could be  covered 
>by a flap to keep the sun out if you weren't 
>interested in viewing  aloft.  Any thoughts?  I 
>hate the thought of carving up our nearly 
>new  Bimini.  I’ ve looked in West Marine and 
>Defender catalogs and I haven’t  found 
>anything like this.  The Biminis in the catalogs 
>appear to be made  for power or sail boats - the 
>tops are solid, no windows.  But sailboats  have 
>this problem where you want to monitor what’s 
>going on above you - unless  I’m missing 
>something. I think the R22 is kind of unique 
>when it comes to it’s Bimini, on larger  boats 
>the mainsail isn’t totally obscured, or there 
>is deck space that will let  you look out from 
>under the Bimini and monitor what’s going on 
>“up there”.   Smaller sail boats don’t 
>usually have Bimini’s (I think).  On the R22 
>the  Bimini covers nearly all the cockpit - 
>which is good, but that really obscures  the 
>main sail. Any thoughts? Dave. 
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