Lowering the Bimini for storage question

JRKJeeper

Bought a new to me 2016 SS202 which I have to keep in a storage unit because of my HOA. Has anyone come up with braces or something to lower the Bimini all the way down and not put all that pressure on the bracket. Since it seems it’s not ment to lay down flat. It seems nuts to me to have to remove the whole top every weekend and put it back on. End game is building a storage building for myself with large doors but that’s a few months out. 

pharmsrt

I have the exact same issue and was just about to make the same post.  Hopefully someone has a solution.

cjjjdeck

I hope I understand your question and the response addresses what I think you're talking about.

As far as I know, most of the Hurricane models come with a bimini top similar to the pictures below.  The bimini top can be put in 3 positions.  Fully upright, stored on the short supports or laid completely down.  I will share with you what I know.  Although I would love to show you individual pictures of the 3 positions, these were the best pictures I have:

Your bimini top has 2 types of support poles that can hold the top in one of two positions.  Not using the support poles will lay your top flat against the upper hull.  This picture shows the long and short support locations.  See the next picture for the rear support (the curved one).



Here's the location of the rear support.  To lower your bimini top to a stowed location, either on the short supports or lower completely, start by disconnecting the lower bracket by pulling the pin at the base of the bracket.  This allows the supports to pivot only on the top bracket and will lay down on the back of the boat when you lower the top.


The next step is to disconnect the base (the bracket attached to the deck) of the long brackets by pulling the pin, then repositioning the support in the bracket located on the main support pole and attaching it using the pin you pulled from the base.


When you attach long brackets to their stowed position, you now can choose to either lower the top onto the short supports or lay the top all the way down.  Usually the time to use the short supports is if you are going to put the boat in motion, either while on the water or towing.  I lower my top to this position when I'm towing my boat (and I highly recommend you do the same), this way the top remains in a stable condition and doesn't have the ability to flop or bounce around.  I would only lay the top down completely when I am storing the boat or need to drop the top for clearance.

Not sure if I explained this well, hope it helps.

JRKJeeper

Now that is a perfect and descriptive answer thank you! I can now see the problem is my boat doesn’t have the short arms. It looks like they were removed at one time. Ill have to see if I can buy new ones! Thank you!

cjjjdeck

Since the SS202 is a model that is still made, any Hurricane dealer should be able to order you those short supports.