Do you leave your bimini and dodger up in port?

[Hoodsail]

Keep our bimini and dodger up for the season here in new england. I did take both down when hurricane Henri was forecast to hit us, but then the storm veered east and winds/rain/surge were relatively routine here in Connecticut. I have covers for the windows on our dodger to protect the strataglass from sunlite damage. Dodger has withstood 35-45 knot winds without much wear. Stout 1 inch stainless steel frame and legs make for a sturdy platform. thnks dave

[Zanshin]

When you are in the Caribbean your dodger and bimini are up whenever you are aboard. Despite the tradewinds the sun is brutal and being in the cockpit without shade is close to torture while staying the shade of dodger and bimini makes it pleasurable.

[girdasso]

I would recommend taking down the biminy and dodger in port when not on board and have experienced an incident which happened in Port Grimau on the French coast. We were cruising on a Moody 38 foot very well built boat and went alongside the marina for a short stay before the owner planned to carry on to Sete.
The owner and I went ashore to visit a nearby village for the day while one crew member stayed aboard. While we were away a short storm cell hit the marina and the yacht would have been pushed up onto the marina but for the action by the crew member who took action. He removed all covers and washing off deck and I think lowered the centreboard. The bimini was seriously damaged by the storm cell and had to be replaced later.
This was in the summer on what seemed a normal pleasant day

[C420sailor]

Up unless bad weather is forecast. If a line of t-storms is coming, I’ll usually collapse and lash the Bimini. For a tropical storm or larger, it all comes off. Less concerned about the canvas, more concerned with decreasing sail area to reduce load on the mooring system.

[David B]

Originally Posted by Sue Moon

I saw that there was a survey earlier on the forum about having your bimini up/down, and most of the answers seemed to relate to when one is on the boat or in preparation for storms/hurricanes etc.

But I would like to ask what the general opinion is about leaving the bimini and dodger up when you are not on the boat, eg when leaving it for a week/month and also over winter.

Our boat is berthed on the French Mediterranean coast, so pretty mild, but with the occasional storms. Looking round the port, about half the boats leave their biminis and dodgers up all the time; the rest take them down.

We have been taking ours down whenever we leave the boat, but are wondering if it might be better to leave them up, at least during the summer to protect the cockpit decking and nav screen from the sun. (We put the covers on the table, helms, screen etc, but they still get pretty hot.)

I guess this might depend very much on where one is in the world, but would be interested to hear opinions about the pros and cons of leaving them up.

Sue Moon

It would have to depend to some degree at least on the design, construction, and integrity of the dodger and bimini.

Our boat has been in the Med since 2012. All the canvas goes on at the start of our season, and all of it comes off at the end.
We have sailed in gusting F9/10 with it up - no problem. We have been in port in North Africa with the wind coming straight into the cockpit at 60knts. No problem, (other than we got wet with the horizontal rain that came with it...).
We have left our boat for a week, but that was in a marina, where we had people we knew would keep an eye on our boat.

Prudence says that if we were to leave our boat for several days in an area where no one cares, and weather was uncertain, then we should consider removing the canvas. It really would depend on the situation. Obviously if there was a severe storm warning, that would be a different matter.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

I leave mine up, with covers over the dodger windows, except when hurricanes threaten. They are now nine years old, and with yearly cleaning, both sets of canvas are in good shape.

[Sue Moon]

Thanks for all the interesting advice and different points of view. It seems there are arguments both ways, all depending on where you are and the type of weather. But I think we are probably going to carry on taking ours down when we are not there and investigate some kind of simple cover to protect the cockpit decking and equipment.

HeinSDL and others who take the bimini and dodger down and use an old cover ... can I ask, is your 'shabby cover' one that goes over the boom like a tent, or a flatter cover over the cockpit, companionway etc? I imagine the latter in that the tent-like shades are presumably more susceptible to catching the wind ... but maybe you have a clever design and a good way of tethering it down.

Thanks.

[girdasso]

I would recommend a tent cover over the boom as it then protects winches and instruments from the sun. Properly designed and secured down to the rails it presents low windage and keeps the cockpit and deck clean

[Sue Moon]

Many thanks, girdasso. We'll investigate the best design for our boat.

[jtsailjt]

Whatever most others in local area is probably right.

One problem with leaving it up over a winter is that unlike when your boat is anchored or on a mooring, it won’t always be facing into the wind so it’ll be getting hit from all sides. If your area has even occasional strong winds I think I’d hesitate to leave up an enclosure with vertical sides but would leave up the bimini top to provide shade.

If you get a tent like cover to go over the boom, be sure you secure it in many places so it can’t move around or slide fore and aft along the boom. I have a winter cover that goes over my boom and before putting it on I tape either a strip of old carpeting or an old tarp folded so it’s several layers thick all along the top of the boom so there’s no chance for the cover to chafe on anything hard. Also, your tent needs to be taut enough and have enough pitch so rain runs off it rather than pooling because that will add incredible stresses.

[Group9]

We use our boat 12 months of the year, so the Bimini stays up, even at the dock.

Now, the dodger, we only put it up in the cooler (winter) months.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

One problem with leaving it up over a winter is that unlike when your boat is anchored or on a mooring, it won’t always be facing into the wind so it’ll be getting hit from all sides. If your area has even occasional strong winds I think I’d hesitate to leave up an enclosure with vertical sides but would leave up the bimini top to provide shade.

This is a good point. On my powerboat, the enclosure is quite sturdy if all of the canvas is in place. But if the angled back piece is removed (leaving the bimini, side panels and fixed windshields), it'll take plenty of wind over the bow, but at 20 kts from any angle behind the beam, the bimini frame is getting pulled on awfully hard and starting to flex noticeably. But with the full enclosure up to prevent wind from getting under and lifting (and to provide more downward pull to the back of the bimini), 40 kts from any direction is fine.

[rwidman]

Up...

[sck5]

FWIW new dodgers cost way more than new biminis. Having said that, I left mine up all the time except when it went on the hard for the winter.

[nickc]

Here in Brisbane where we sail all year dodgers and biminis stay up permanently.
Typically a dodger requires new clears in 5 -7 years and the canvas lasts around 10 to 12 years. Just got a replacement quote for the Bimini which was new in 2007.
Apart from anything else it spares teak cockpit decks from the harshest sun.
Never had a wind problem and last year we had a storm with 50 knots in the Marina.