New Dodger and Bimini leaks. A lot.

[CarinaPDX]

Originally Posted by Hoodsail

Spot on Wingless - in sewing my bimini I used all full flat fell seams as described by sailrite...easy to do with my Barracuda sewing machine...my problem was not leaking but sunbrella stretching from the weight of the water on it after a rain....Am now re-designing my frame to increase support so water drains off & doesnt pool...thnks

Do you have a seam in the middle of the area with the pooling? The seam will stretch less than the surrounding fabric, creating a higher line that will help with runoff.

Greg

[Hudson Force]

We kept our Sunbrella bimini covers for about eight years before each replacement. Regular maintenance always required a brush on liquid water sealant that we would apply about every six months. Our selection for the best sealing was the gallon size of Thompson's water sealant that was convenient and moderately priced at Ace Hardware Stores. A single liberal application was usually sufficient with a second application along the seams.

Care needs to be taken not to let the liquid drip down onto the clear acrylic. The application of the Thompsons water sealant also leaves the fabric a little darker, but we did not find this significant.

[Hoodsail]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

Do you have a seam in the middle of the area with the pooling? The seam will stretch less than the surrounding fabric, creating a higher line that will help with runoff.

Greg

Nope, but my bimini is made up of two sections of continuous sunbrella, each spanning about 3.5 ft and about 2.5 ft wide, wrapped around SS frame and secured with snaps..the two sections run fore to aft and are snapped together allowing the backstay to come up between them. No seams in either section. I may have to add another SS tube to divide up the 3.5 ft span to provide more support. With a good downpour each section of sunbrella will hold about 3/4gallon of water. So I wished the fabric leaked!