Stowing a Bimini/Bikini top on the Jeep when not using.

[Riperoo]

So, I was gifted a Rugged ridge Savannah Bimini for Father's Day. Been trying to come up with a storage solution for easy deployment when on the road or trail, originally I was going down the road of having it stashed in a 5inch diameter PVC pipe, hose clamped to the sport bar, or something along those lines, but that would have meant unbolting the windshield mounting bar every time.


So in one of those creative sleepless nights, and with inspiration from another member on this site who came up with a way to roll up the cover and secure it up by the windshield while still bolted on, I came up with the below, left it in place and rolled it up over a 3/4 piece of PVC cut to size and with a coupling in the middle to make it break down into 2 approximately 30 inch pieces for easy stowing. Drilled 2 holes at the end to run a tarp bungee through to wrap around the sport bar. I also used some of the Velcro straps from the Bimini to secure it as well. I'm still trying to think of a way to secure the middle, that would make it bullet proof, but that would entail having to wrap something around the whole structure, including the windshield bar which is gonna limit what can be done, but another sleepless night will no doubt give me the answer!

I can go from topless to Bimini in about 3 minutes now, and with the RR Bimini, it's all Velcro straps and a couple of buckles, nothing is permanently mounted on the Jeep. Other then the windshield rail of course.

just went for the maiden spin and it didn't budge. I'm also pretty confident that I can improve my rolling style and make that sucker a little tighter to make it even more aerodynamic. (Put I know if I go too tight, it'll kill the draw! ) haha!

Open to feedback if anyone has any suggestions for the Improvement.

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[dchemphill1]

Can't you just leave it installed when the hardtop is back on? My Jtop is just left in place and the hard top fits back on...are you wanting to run without the Bimini sometimes? If so your idea might work.

 

[Riperoo]

Can't you just leave it installed when the hardtop is back on? My Jtop is just left in place and the hard top fits back on...are you wanting to run without the Bimini sometimes? If so your idea might work.

No, you can't leave it on when the hard top is installed due to the channel on the windshield where it bolted on.

Im talking about the solid Bimini top, not the mesh, I have the alien shade mesh sunshades, they stay on all the time, the Hart top goes right over then. As does this Bimini.

This is the solid Bimini for the occasional rain shower. I prefer to have just the mesh shades, but also wanted something I could deploy quickly for rain when far away from cover. But most of the Biminis have the front channel mounted to the windshield, I only saw one that mounted with out the windshield attachment, and that was a pretty lengthy process to get on and off.

Below is a pic of it deployed fully the sunshades are left on under the Bimini/bikini.

 

[saido]

Love this! I have my top off all the time and just keep the bikini in the trunk. With the header on the bikini, it takes up too much space in there and I was trying to find a solution and also a way to be able to install quickly if it rains. I'm going to try this next weekend. Thanks!

 

[Riperoo]

Love this! I have my top off all the time and just keep the bikini in the trunk. With the header on the bikini, it takes up too much space in there and I was trying to find a solution and also a way to be able to install quickly if it rains. I'm going to try this next weekend. Thanks!

Saido, it did work well, I did come up with something different late in the season last year, I didn't even use the PVC for this one, what I did was take 3 tarp bungees, the ones with the balls on them, I think they were nine inch ones, when I put the Bimini on I put the bungees in between the top and the windshield before tightening it down down so that the Ball part was on the outside of the windshield and the long part of bungee was hanging inside, hope that makes sense, when it's all installed you have the ball part of the bungee outside above the windshield frame, so the all you have to do is roll up the Bimini and wrap it with the loose end of the bungee hanging inside. Hope you can picture that, I rode it on a couple of long trips, didn't move and no road noise, when it's all stowed up against the windshield it actually sits slightly below the upper edge of the windshield so it's real aerodynamic. No wind noise and no flap. I do have the mesh alien sun shade below it which helps to support it a bit and also gives you a place to tuck the hanging part of bungee. I was really happy with that set up. Takes about 2 minutes to fully deploy when the rain starts! Unfortunately I don't have any pics, come spring I will snap some!

 

[J2K66]

This seems like a great idea... any pics of the revised method?

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