I started to make a Bimini for my '87 CP 16/2 and ran into a problem. With the main hoisted all the way to the top pulley, I found that there was no head room to work with under the boom. Any Bimini configuration I could think of left me having to tilt my head or scrunch my back to fit me under a Bimini. I am 5' 8" tall. I am beginning to suspect that the mast height and the boom height of a CP 16/2 are lower than the Mark 1: in all the pictures of Biminis I have found, the boats lacked a bowsprit. I have an original Johnson Sail with a ComPac 16/2 insignia that is not badly stretched . . .
Has anyone installed a Bimini on a Mark II? and do you have the height problem I am seeing?
If I put a reef in the main, no problem, but I don't want that restriction just to have a Bimini.
Thanks,
Citroen/Dave
(http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y491/ellie12342/IMGP1258_zps17519682.jpg)
Here's the one I made for my boat. Just took an old frame from a bimini that was given to me and cut it down. Works awesome with the sail up.
Dave,
Have you measured the luff of your main sail? The boom is close to rubbing the Bimini on my 16. If the luff were over 15ft 3in. ...problems.
Nope, the rigs are the same height on both boats. Original sails and not stretched? Highly doubt it! The originals are kinda cheaply made,IMO
Now something may of been modified by a prior owner...or perhaps it's not getting raised all the way due to a poor taper on the halyard splice or for some other reason.
Hi Tide,
Does the boom make contact with the Bimini when you tack? I could squeeze another inch or two of height if I let the boom slide up and over the Bimini.
Dave
Hey Dave,
No everything is perfect!!! Doesn't get in the way at all.
Dawn
Carryon,
I measure the luff at 15 feet on the ground, unstressed. I have less than 2 inches of knot at the top of the halyard.
Are you guys and gals sitting on the seats of are you somehow sitting on the cockpit floor?
Thanks,
Dave
Dave,
I am 6'2". I sit on the cockpit seat. I happen to be long in the legs and sitting maybe about the same height at a someone shorter. At 5'8" you should be comfortable under the Bimini.
With a luff of 15', the goose neck on my rig would barely reach below the slug entry slot in the mast.
Could you have a short mast?
When your main is up and 2blocked, boom midship;no wind, is the boom horizontal? If the boom sags with this setup, the sail has lost some shape.
For those without clearance issues, is the topping lift attached while sailing?
Once the main is up, I slack the topping lift so the sail takes a natural shape.
I have a new main on order, with a leech line. Never had a leech line. Maybe that would raise the boom.
Anyway, as said before, sailing with the Bimini up on the CP16 is not my favorite; reaching the topping lift, adjusting the outhaul or just shifting sides with old man knees is not great with the shade up.
For Dave: you might like a bunt line hitch at the head of your main. Good knot and unless you hahe a large diameter halyard you may get an inch closer to the masthead. Small amount but might make a difference.
Carry-on,
The blunt line hitch helped, but you were right; I need a new main sail. (Or at least that sounds like a good excuse to order a new one . . .)
Thanks all,
Dave