Choosing a Bimini

You have several options when choosing a bimini. If you have a tower, you have either an Over-The-Top (OTT) style bimini or an under-mount bimini (mounted below the tower header).

Choosing a bimini depends on your style of tower you choose or have currently on your boat. Some towers have specific bikinis built for that particular tower. Some of those towers include: Monster MTK, Monster MTE thru MT2, Aerial Freeride, Roswell Brand towers, etc.

To choose a bimini, your first step is to identify your tower model. Once you know your tower model, we can determine if there is a specific model bimini to fit your tower model, or if using a universal style bimini would fit best.

Several things to consider when choosing a bimini:

1. Does it need to collapse or will it stay up most the season? 2. Do you have tower speakers or are planning on adding tower speakers? 3. Are there any height requirements for taller passengers? 4. Do you need to be able to collapse the tower regularly?

If your bimini needs to collapse, you will want to choose a tower that has a collapsible bimini option. The most popular tower with collapsible biminis are Monster Brand towers.

If you have or will add tower speakers, you will want a bimini that extends over top of the tower header to not block speaker clearance or sound. If you are not adding speakers, an undermounted tower bimini is an option for several towers models.

For the best height clearance, an OTT bimini is the best option.

If you are needing to collapse your tower regularly due to storage height restraints or low clearance bridges on waterways, you will want a bimini frame that folds closed. A rigid-framed bimini that does not fold will be cumbersome and inconvenient for collapsing your tower, because the frame will not fold with the tower to allow full collapse of your tower.

Lets take a look at the different biminis available and their features and restrictions.

Sometimes we can make your factory bimini work with a few different model of towers. If you want to keep your factory bimini, there are a few requirements.

1. Your bimini pivot-point must be mounted on your windshield frame or exactly inline with your windshield channel. If your bimini pivot-point is mounted anywhere outside of your windshield or on the side of your boat, your factory bimini will not be compatible with any aftermarket tower and you will want to consider a tower mounted bimini to provide shade.

2. Your bimini height from the top of your gunnel to the top of your bimini must be less than 48 inches tall.

3. You will be limited on tower models that allow enough width and height to accommodate your factory bimini frame. These model towers would give you the best chances of your factory bimini being compatible: Catapult, Vapor, Vapor X, Switch, FreeRide, or Thrust. Any other model tower is very unlikely and we can give you our best opinion on if its compatible based on our years of experience.

4. Your bimini frame will need to be modified for a quick-release hinge pin kit that can be added to your order and installed at the end of your tower installation. This allows your bimini to still collapse within the confines of your newly installed tower legs. Without this kit, your bimini frame will not be able to collapse without folding your tower out of the way.