Bimini Top

I replaced my aluminum frame with a stainless steel one at the end of last season.  I got it through my Hurricane dealer who got it from the Hurricane Manufacturer.  It was almost completely plug n play.  I took the canopy off theold one and it fit perfect on the new one. All the existing hardware on the boat lined up fine.  The frame came pre-wired and came with a new light on the top of the bimini.  All i had to do was cut the 2 pronged connector off the old bimini and slice it on the new bimini .  

I drive from Nashville to Destin at least 1 time a year and the aluminum frame will not handle that type of long term stress so I had to go steel.  I will also remove the canopy from now on as well to reduce the amount of wind resistance on the frame.  

I drove from Destin to Nashville a few weeks ago. I took the canopy off the frame and used bungees to wrap the polls.  I also took the Bimini light off the frame.  I will never drive long distances with the canopy cover on again.  While driving with the cover and the bimini boot on, the entire frame just shakes bad.  Real bad.  When I took the canopy off there was hardly any shake.

I did take a pool noodle and cut it into sections then cut it long way to place between the sections of the polls that touch and wrapped them with a bungee.  It helped secure the polls even more and kept from the medal on medal rubbing.

I went to the lake this weekend and had the canopy and boot cover on.  It gets so much wind resistance.  For the 1.5 hr drive to the lake, I will keep the cover and boot on but I am going to wrap up the boot.  There is to much room inside the boot and it fills up with air while driving on the road which then creates drag while hauling down the road at 70mph.  Wrapping the boot will help keep the air out and cut down on the wind resistance

But on my trip to Destin, I will always take the canopy off now and simply protect the polls with foam noodles and bungees.  


As far as the 115, last weekend was the first time in a long time it was just me and my family. We normally take several people with us, Normally about 9 folks on the boat.  We normally tube and it becomes tricky in rough water with 7 people on the boat and 2 people on a tube.  It is doable and pulls ok, I could just tell with all that weight, the 150 would be a lot better.   When we cruise with 7-9 people, I find we are around 20mph at 5rpm.  This weekend, with just the 4 of us, we were running about 26-28mph at 5rpm.  

115 is more than fine with a half full boat. The more the people, the more of a struggle but we have done ok.  Probably can get a more aggressive prop but we get good gas and decent performance with what we have which was what came with it when we bought it. 

This is probably to late, but I'm new to the form. As far as replacing the plastic with SS there is one problem with this SS will eat the aluminum poles in time.

There is a brace, not available anymore from Hurricane. My dealer has the Stainless Steel brace made locally. It is a prefect replacement. This fits a188 SS. Not sure if it will fit a fundeck. My dealer ( Echo Bay Marine, Brookfield, Ct.) won't order any Hurricane Boat without the stainless steel option as the aluminum supports and plastic connectors are flimsy and will break.