Bimini / Camper-Top Enclosure for 26' Venture

Full Circle

We are selling our cockpit enclosure for a 2019 26' Venture. It has full side and aft curtains with isinglass. All 3 panels are individually removable, leaving just the top. The aft section has an unzippable center section that can be rolled up and secured to allow access to the motor well. The side curtains are one-piece from cabin to aft corners allowing great visibility. They may be unzipped at the aft corners and flipped over the top to provide open access on the sides. No screens.

This has been a lightly-used boat until now, and the zippers, snaps, isinglass, and hardware on the bimini are in good shape.

We have just begun the Great Loop and decided we'd rather run with the cockpit open for now. I am 6-1, and the headroom is too low for my liking. With new ones costing $5000+, it may stay that way for awhile. We've rigged an extra-wide paddleboard as a makeshift hard-top that's working well for now.

We are currently in Paducah, KY and will be heading down the rivers to Mobile over the next month. We'll be somewhere in Florida from December to March. The top has been removed and is stowed on the boat for safe keeping. It's not very shippable, but we're open to creative delivery ideas.

$950

Photos here: https://tinyurl.com/yc7cbwsc

DM me for photos if that Google Drive link doesn't work for you.

Dan: (970) 623-3283

Full Circle · Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 12:10 am Post subject: Price reduced

Lowered to $650

ssobol · Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 11:30 am Post subject: Re: Price reduced

Hunkydory · Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 12:52 pm Post subject: Re: Price reduced

C-Wolfe · Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2023 6:18 pm Post subject: Re: Price reduced

Full Circle · Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:31 am Post subject:

Bumping this one last time. Currently in Marathon, Florida.

colbysmith · Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2024 12:18 pm Post subject:

Dan, that is a great price you have on your bimini enclosure. I assume you are selling the entire bimini. I spent at least twice what you are asking several years ago just for my bimini on my 25. It might be worth keeping if you can find some where to store it, in case you change your mind later. I hear you on the headroom. When I had my bimini made, I had the guy raise the bimini to the height of my radome, or about 13" above the cabin roof. I have the plastic window glass then along that forward section, so when I'm driving from the cockpit helm, I can see forward over the roof. Enjoy the Great Loop. I'm starting to think maybe sometime I need to reconsider putting it back on my bucket list. Colby

ssobol · Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:28 pm Post subject:

If only I had a 26 Venture...

Storm Dog · Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:04 pm Post subject:

Does anyone think this camper back can be adapted to a 25' cruiser?

thataway · Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2024 6:22 pm Post subject:

I looked at the fittings on the boat (Full Circle was on my boat lift for about 2 months this winter) and the photos of the canvas--It could be fitted to a 25, but there certainly would be some serious ($$) modifications.

There is some difference in cockpit size, C Dory 25 cockpit:Cockpit 4’8″ long x 7’1″ wide Venture: Cockpit 5′ long x 6’6″ wide, the height of the gunnel in the CD 25 and Venture 26 is different, There is a full transom in the 26, and the aft seats, with modified transom in the 25. I suspect that the height issue will even be greater with the 25 as it is with the 26.

I believe that you would have to make a new, almost vertical piece between the Bimini and awning rail on the top of the cabin. There would most likely be splints and lengthening of all of the tubular structures. You would have to put a "skirt" around the bottom of the side and aft panels. You would want to include the back seats inside of the camper back, that means either extending the entrie back out to the motor or having a Jog on each side to include the "seat:" on each side. I would not change out the zippers, but would make the skirt snap on (using the sanps on the side of the V 26 side curtains and using common sense fasteners, instead of extending the zippers).

If you were skilled in the use of a good canvas sewing machine, and had some experience working with Sunbrella fabric, then it is "doable": to pay someone to make those modifiaionts you would be spending over one thousand dollars. The Bimini and canvas I had made for my Tom Cat 255, was ab0ut $4,000 in 2007. I modified one which was already on the last C Dory 25 I owned and that cost only about $300 for my material, but I have been working with canvas for over 40 years and helped out in my friend's sail loft when he was very busy as well has having built several Bimini and Full camper backs in both vinyl and in canvas. You really want to have someone with a good tube bender to put the crown on the top, and then the proper radius on the 90* bends on each side. It can be done manually, but without experience you could damage some rather expensive SS tubing.

If you decide to do that, I could sketch out what I probably would do. 'but you would have to have the canvas, and bows (shipping of the bows --####). in hand.

Full Circle · Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:14 pm Post subject:

Thanks, Bob! Storm Dog, you won’t get a more comprehensive assessment than that one.

Storm Dog · Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 6:18 am Post subject:

Thanks Bob for the expert advice, as always! I'll wait for an opening for a more custom fit. Tough though it is in this area of the gulf coast.

Glenn

Full Circle · Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 8:31 am Post subject:

Gee, thanks, Bob. Wink

Good luck with your search for a better solution, Glenn. I’m fiddling with designs for a hard top with side curtains using 80-20 aluminum extrusions. It may or may not ever become a reality.

thataway · Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 2:55 pm Post subject:

Dan,
My Symbol 42 had a hard top over the flying bridge (About 12' wide and 15' long, made out of the laminated material used for "sun room" additions. It had aluminum on both sides--about 3 mm thick. The total laminate was about 3" thick, with styrofoam in the center. The edges were made of fiberglass. All sorts of things were bolted thru it including a 15,000 BTU RV Air conditioning unit, Searchlight, air horns, Radar pedestal. It was relatively inexpensive, and seems to still be holding up well

The aluminum extrusions could be fixed to the underside or end outside of such an extrusion. For the Venture, you could probably use one which has less insulation. In any case this has "I" Beam type of strength. People were able to walk on it for maintenance.

Full Circle · Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2024 4:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks, Bob. That sound like the right idea. The trick is staying put in one place long enough to fabricate all the bits and pieces. Might have to wait until we complete the Loop next fall.

Lightleaf, the company that supplied our rigid carbon fiber solar panels, now laminates panels to custom hard top panels. Probably very expensive, but would simplify things. They posted photos of our boat on their website recently. Scroll through the photos here:

https://www.lightleafsolar.com/solar-panels/p/gleaf