Camperback questions

[mwilson]

Just spent a great weekend on Flathead lake with my bride. Sun was great but after she just had to have a nasty thing cut off her cheek we decided we need to look for a camperback for my 22 cruiser, could someone please tell me;
1. About where on the Gunnel does the brace and bracket for the bimini attach? I have down rigger bases attached just in front of the Gas fill. is there room?

2. Does the bimini ( in place but folded up) still leave room for a stiff legged yoga challenged guy to get in and out of the cockpit along the side?

3. Is the bimini (when folded ) in the way for fishing? Is it easy to pull the bimini and put it ???(on top) Anwhere else you would suggest???

Anyone have a used green one they'd like to part with?

thanks michael

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Hi Michael,

I will try and answer your questions as I understand them....

When you are talking about the brace and bracket, I assume that you are talking about the frame of the camperback, including the brace that stiffens the entire rig. The deck hinges on my boat are on top of the gunnel, in front of (for the arched frame) and immediately behind the gas filler (for the brace). Yes, there is still access.

Getting in and out of the cockpit with the bimini portion wrapped up is no problem, but it is a problem when the top is attached to the cabin top. I strongly recommend that you have a zipper installed in the top so that you can open it up and step down into the cockpit, rather than getting down on hands and knees and crawling in under the top (which is how my boat is set up). Like you I am getting stiff legged and not nearly as flexible as I need to be.

For fishing, you may want to consider another set of deck hinges close to the cabin, so you can wrap things up and move the frames out of the way. Also, some folks have their deck hinges on the sides of the gunnel, rather than on top. Regardless of where they are, they seem to do a good job of snagging lines, clothing, etc..

That's my story, and I am sticking to it until I change my mind.....

Steve

[Will-C]

Hi,
I would take a look in the c brats photo album named Valkyrie. That is one of the nicest I've seen. Go to the photos and boats are listed alphabetically.
D.D.

[colobear]

The camperback supports on C-Cakes are on the inside vertical face of the gunwales, not the top surface so there shouldn't be any interference with downriggers. The top can fold forward and be secured against the cabin bulkhead or folded aft and lay flat across the lazarettes. I don't think there would be any fishing interference but someone more of a fisher than I would know better. The front edge of my campertop slides into a fitted slot attached to the cabin top and there is a zipper just an inch or so aft of that so that I can open part of the top for easier access or can remove the top without taking everything apart. As you can see from just these two answers there is more than one way to set up a campertop. It is hard to transfer a camperback set from one boat to another as they are usually pretty well custom fitted. Having said that, I got mine from Casey on NakNek but went to the original maker to have it installed on C-Cakes. I asked another canvas shop if they could install it and they said no, things were too unique.

[drjohn71a]

If I am remembering it correctly, there were some old photos on the C-Dog site showing a track that some ppl have installed so you can slide the gunn'el mounting base up against the cabin for fishing, stowing, towing.

John

[Capital Sea]

The legs to the camper top on Capital Sea are mounted to the inside of the gunnel at two points on each side. The base of the side curtains snap to the outside of the gunnel and rear sides of the cabin. Downriggers, as mounted on my boat can be at rest with the camper deployed but for fishing it is best to get the whole works out of the way IMO.
To do this, you replace the standard screw headed screws which connect the leg sections with hand tightening headed screws (available at west marine or boaters world) and install an additional set of mounting brackets low and against the cabin bulkhead wall on both sides.
When not in use, I take the short legs and side/rear curtains off, boot the biminy top, shift the long legs to the forward mounts, store the other parts and strap the hoop to the rear ends of the roof hand rails.
In this configuration, all the parts are handy for use but 100% out of the way for fishing. The legs on either side run down just outside the stainless handles on the rear of the cabin. The boot holds all of the metal parts an inch or so from any hard objects so you get no rattle or damage over time.

[mwilson]

Thanks everyone I'll take a look at some photo's and see what I can figure out.

michael

[thataway]

C Pelican (22) had tracks inside of the gunnels (actually would be combings)--and the lower brackets would slide foreward, so that the top would be flush over the motor well--and thus not interfere with fishing.

I would suggest that you have a canvas shop custom make a top for you. One of my boats is "factory" and the other is custom--the custom is far better, both in quality and fit.

Also consider having a full camper back--that is back and sides. It doubles the useful size of the boat--also makes a mud room when raining or foul weather.

[Robbi]

Good tips from folks. I would second having a zipper at the front edge of the top. Mine (and I think this is like most C-Dory biminis) has a rubber rib that fits into a track on the cabin top. The zipper is back about 1 1/2 inches from this and the strip with the rubber rib is attached with velcro to the boat top. The zipper makes it so much easier to get into and out of the boat. I did not have one when I had my bimini made, and paid about $100 to have the zipper added. Worth every penny. This also makes it much easier to fold the bimini around the bows, just unzip and wrap.

I don't know if the bows will be in your way for fishing (they sure are if you fly fish!) On my 19, I fold mine all the way forward to the cabin top when I fly fish and it is only mildly in the way. If I had a 22 or a 25, I would fold the top together, and detach the bows from the gunnels and move the bows forward and attach them at the base of the bulkhead. This product from Cabela's makes this much easier. They are called quick release bimini brackets.

The one thing that I wish I would have done is have the back panel attach to the boat with shock cord and hooks instead of snaps. I think DaNag has this set up.



Robbi

[Capital Sea]

I looked at the rail or track system and chose to go the way I did for two reasons. First it is cleaner and second it relys on fixed points. Anything adjustable can be a pain when it comes to having things tight.

Robbi, those quick release mounts look interesting but it looks like you would need to adjust the piece at the end of each leg since the angle would be different between the deployed mount and the storage mount.
As result they may not save much energy. If you have that system installed though I would be interested in seeing it.

As for fishing on the 22', the long leg if left attached would run back to the cabin roof at a 45% blocking more than half of the gunnel as well as ingress egress from the boat. I think the design is different on a 19'.

[Pandy Girl]

Hi,
I had a Custom top made for our 22 Cruiser, Look at our Pic. alb.
next to the last Picture you can see the top and the Down riggers
I use them without any problem with the top up.
Jim

[C-Hawk]

I had two sets of the quick release on Fishtales.
One set near the fuel fill for deployment and one set near the cabin for storage position.
I had the canvas made to reach the stern instead of the back of the cockpit. This way I still have access to the lazerettes.
Like Robbi, we had the zippers for both side near the cabin-- no matter what side I was tied to the dock, I could unzip and have easier access to the cockpit from the dock.
There are some pics in the Fishtales album.