Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 40

ShopTalk Exterior

These are photos of SewLong Custom
Covers' latest Folding Canopy Top (FCTv3)
for the Nautique G25 Power Tower.
Photos: Laura Kinser, Kinser Studios.

Wake tower bimini smarts
By Clint Halladay

"Just remember-
less is more. If
your design feels
complicated, it
probably is."

H

ere in Salt Lake City, Utah,
towboats are king. We have a
few lakes with cruisers, but for
the most part, it's day trips to the lake
to play. We have one of the highest boat
ownerships per capita in the country.
Because of this, we have some of the
biggest towboat dealers in the world
nearby, and we have been lucky to
build relationships with them. Many
of these dealers rely on us to provide
their customers with an overall better
experience with their tower biminis.
We have spent the past 20 years finetuning our tower biminis to make them
both easy to build and quick for the
boater to set up and use on the water.
Now, many people may feel the
same way about tower biminis that
we feel about biminis and enclosures.
We don't do a lot of them, and they
slow down our shop. Like many other
articles and fabricators (shout-out to

Katie Bradford and Mark and Deb
Hood) who have helped us, I hope
to shed some light on what we do at
SewLong Custom Covers so it can
help your shop when you take on
these kinds of projects. Sometimes
it's the inspiration of seeing a
photo or a new piece of hardware
that can make something click.
Framework design
The first step in building a wake tower
bimini is to design your framework. We
like to keep the framework as simple as
possible. We don't like telescoping parts,
unnecessary struts or over-engineered
setups. I recommend trying to keep it
simple regardless of what style bimini
you are comfortable building. Don't
be afraid to edit your framework
down. Less is definitely more.
Keeping it as simple as possible
provides two underappreciated

40 Marine Fabricator | March/April 2020

0320MF_40-CV4.indd 40

2/19/20 11:47 AM



Marine Fabricator March/April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Marine Fabricator March/April 2020

Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - Cover1
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - Cover2
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 1
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 2
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 3
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 4
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 5
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 6
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 7
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 8
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 9
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 10
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 11
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 12
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 13
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 14
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 15
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 16
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 17
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 18
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 19
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 20
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 21
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 22
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 23
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 24
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 25
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 26
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 27
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 28
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 29
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 30
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 31
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 32
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 33
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 34
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 35
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 36
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 37
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 38
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 39
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 40
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 41
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 42
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 43
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 44
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 45
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 46
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 47
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - 48
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - Cover3
Marine Fabricator March/April 2020 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2025
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-tips-and-trends-supplement-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ata/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-january-february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-november-december-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-september-october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-july-august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-may-june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/marine-fabricator-march-april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0121MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1120MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0920MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0720MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0520MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0320MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0120MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1119MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0919MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0719MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0519MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0319MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0119MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/1118MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0918MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0718MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0518MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0318MF
https://www.nxtbook.com/ifai/marinefabricator/0118MF
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com