Leaking Bimini

[chrisj]

Are there any products out there that might be effective at re-waterproofing a canvas bimini ?

Thanks

[MalcolmP]

I have not used it myself, but there was a guy I was talking to in my Marina who was painting on his bimini a product call Fabsil which came in a 5l tin, he said he thought it was fantastic and had used it for several seasons without any problem and it is much cheaper than the Startbrite equivalents in the chandlers

Fabsil link

[chrisj]

Mar 26, 2014 10:50:43 GMT MalcolmP said:

I have not used it myself, but there was a guy I was talking to in my Marina who was painting on his bimini a product call Fabsil which came in a 5l tin, he said he thought it was fantastic and had used it for several seasons without any problem and it is much cheaper than the Startbrite equivalents in the chandlers

Fabsil link

Brilliant thanks

I have used that on my boots in the past but forgot what it was called.

[On y va]

Starbrite also do a very good waterproofing fluid. You can sponge it on, but it is easier to buy a small pressure plantspray for 3 euros. I have done bimini, sailcover and sprayhood. I am also amazed how long the effect lasts, like > 1 year.

[dnickj]

Just a word of caution Fabsil will destroy your acrylic windows also if you have a Sunbrella fabric they advise against using it

[sailbleu]

I also have recently treated my bimini with waterseal product , no sence in sharing the name since it was bought in a local campershop and probably only availabe in my country .
EDIT:
A picture anyway


The problem was getting the bimini saturated with the stuff .
The best way is putting in a bath ,leaving it in for the night or so and then have it to leak out and dry. But that would require many liters of the product. Therefor I used a gardenspray and spayed the horizontally hung up bimini untill it leaked through all over. Gave it a second coat after an hour or so and left it to dry for 24 hours.
Its like a big umbrella now , although I fear the sun will eventually destroy the coat after some time.

Regards

[chuckr]

this will not be popular but -- we painted ours with a waterproof roofing paint - we spent a number of years in the tropics and we painted it white and it really cut the heat and made it totally waterproof -- it is not done for esthetics but for practial reasons -- ie keep the cockpit dry and trying to cut the heat

the bimini is now 11 years old and it still works but the old bimini is getting a bit frayed in some areas so we have to replace it soon - and in the med we are not as concerned with the heat

so if you do not mind what it looks like take a look at waterproof roofing paint -- in usa got ours from home depot

[ForGrinsToo]

Practical Sailor had an article in its February 2014 issue (http://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/37_38/features/Keeping-Canvas-in-Tip-top-Shape_11322-1.html) which rated a number of products - mostly available only in the US, I'm afraid. Most expensive, yet top-rated was 303 High-Tech Fabric Guard in a spray bottle. The article also indicates which of the products was particularly harsh to clear acrylic windows.

Geoff

[sailbleu]

Apr 4, 2014 16:22:56 GMT chuckr said:

this will not be popular but -- we painted ours with a waterproof roofing paint - we spent a number of years in the tropics and we painted it white and it really cut the heat and made it totally waterproof -- it is not done for esthetics but for practial reasons -- ie keep the cockpit dry and trying to cut the heat

the bimini is now 11 years old and it still works but the old bimini is getting a bit frayed in some areas so we have to replace it soon - and in the med we are not as concerned with the heat

so if you do not mind what it looks like take a look at waterproof roofing paint -- in usa got ours from home depot

I have a marine blue sprayhood and a creamy-white bimini (which I treated with the mentioned product) and I can tell you there is a distinct difference between the radiated (sun)heat comming from both.
As you might know , last year I covered my sprayhood with flex. solarpanels and that way also reduced the heat .
Therefor using a dark bimini as a mount for flex. panels would help in several ways.

Regards

[zofiasailing]

Renovo is a product we first saw in Practical Boat Owners magazine from the UK. We were able to source the Renovo in Australia and found it successful. It was originally created for restoring soft tops on cars I believe.
It's a 2 or 3 part project. First you use the cleaner fluid that cleans off any staining, mildew and old waterproofing residue. Next, if the fabric is badly faded you can recolour it. Once clean (and re-dyed if necessary) you apply the waterproofing which also has UV protector in it.
We used it on both the Bimini and Dodger. It was more successful on the Dodger than the Bimini we discovered because the Jeanneau dodger is made of higher grade Sunbrella fabric than the Jeanneau Bimini. The Bimini fabric is actually thinner. We wish we'd found the product earlier as it would possibly have helped preserve the canvass better. UV in Australia is brutal.
You use a paintbrush to apply both the cleaning agent and the waterproofer in their separate steps. The bristles seem to assist getting into the weave. Initially I used a wider brush than recommended but finished up using the recommended narrower brush and the take home message is that the shortcut was not better.
The first coat of the Renovo waterproofer/UV fluid was so effective that it was much harder to get the 2nd coat on because of beading... A very god indication of how effective it is.