Bimini on long distance tow

[Mike in SC]

Tuscany, you obviously have never driven La. roads

LOL you have a point, but trust me, live in western NY, which might as well be Siberia when it comes to State road money.
And yes, I agree with the post above that points out that the weak areas are the fiberglass mounts. Another reason to install the EZ slide mounts where the rear attachments are mounted on the top of the gunnels instead of the permanent side hull mounts. The modern Cobalt Bimini does have a unique feature that lets you torque down the whole apparatus which totally removes all of the slack, and takes the shock from loose parts out of the equation, but that feature is only good when fully deployed.

Mike, if you are concerned, just drop the Bimini, fully support/secure, and your worries are over.

Was never concerned about mine, my towing is mostly local when boat isn't in the dry stack. But I was interested in others experience, and wondering exactly what their point of failure was, at what mounting points. Mine seems rock solid, heavy as can be.

[mdadgar]

Still wondering if we're comparing apples to apples here, but your experience certainly means something. I am trying to imagine my bimini getting damaged or the mounts being pulled out during towing, and having a hard time. No, I don't want to test it and see what happens!

Maybe. What I saw happening is that the folded bimini rocks side-to-side when you tow and it tends to loosen the bolts, so then the mount starts moving around.

I think just laying the bimini down flat will prevent this.

- Mark

[dustinm]

Maybe. What I saw happening is that the folded bimini rocks side-to-side when you tow and it tends to loosen the bolts, so then the mount starts moving around.

I think just laying the bimini down flat will prevent this.

- Mark

This is what I have also noticed and after inspection of screws found some holes were egged out. I used some epoxy in the screw holes. I think our old 220 was always towed with bimini up before we got it. We tow flat 99% otherwise a mishap might happen when I go to back it into the garage after a hard day of boating, because it will not fit thru the door.

[MikeBo]

So I towed my boat a total of 7 hours and it caused some fiberglass cracks. I should have laid it down or removed. The difference is on the water it’s not really going 55-65 all of the time.

Tips, if you split noodles down the side they can wrap your uprights and lay them down. The other tip if you want to leave it up wrap the cover in plastic wrap.

[Tuscany]

A Bimini takes 10 times the beating on water than it does on land.
The difference is that when deployed, there is torque on all connections to limit movement, which eliminates wear and potential cracking.
When towing, limit the movement. If it’s up, bungee the rack tight to limit any shake or movement. If down, support it, again to limit movement.

[Platnumtoof]

I only take it down when driving 3+ hours on the highway, which also includes a ferry ride and long gravel driveway. I have the Razor tower on my 220 WSS, so it's a quick conversion.