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Sorry for this lengthy post!
I hope I don't scare away the folks whose advice I'm hoping to benefit from, but in the interests of "more info is better than less":

As part of a recent full restoration, I had a new bimini and top installed on my 1989 17' Montauk. It replaced what I believe to have been the OEM bimini top. Rather than fore and/or aft tensioning straps (as it was on the original), I opted for rigid stanchions in the rear (the supports for which were mounted where the old strap eyes were mounted). It was set up such that the top can be booted yet still in an upright position, behind RPS, braced against the rear stanchions. On it's very 1st voyage since all the work was done, I had the bimini in this stored upright position (mounted to gunwales at 4 points w/SS fixtures). Within 10 minutes, having not even exceeded 3500rpm (brand new eTEC 90), the bimini ripped 3 of the mounts clear out of the gunwales and was barely hanging off the back behind the motor by the 4th mount. After a panicky de-throttle and muscling the unwieldy carcass of a bimini back in the boat, I continued running her through the paces. Other than the profound disappointment of the bimini failure, all else went exceedingly well - she's a beautiful and well-handling vessel.

After discussing this faulire with the outfit who's been doing all the work, they are confident that no new holes were drilled, and that the positions of the mounts are identical to the prior mounts ( which we believe were the original factory install)

I’ve asked them to get the wood locating diagram from Boston Whaler for that year hull, and to double check and be certain.

I did notice quite a bit of lateral wobble in the rig and can imagine this could loosen any gunwale mount.

I’d love to hear from this forum as to the collective experience with regards to properly installing biminis such that they are as close to bullet-proof as possible (given the inherent limitations of the setup).

ALSO: I’ve seen reference to some biminis having been installed with sliders that allow stowage fore of the bow rails without having to detach and remount to forward storage-only mounts. Does anyone have a line on where to get these, preferable in stainless steel?

And if, in fact, these mounts ripped out of the original properly-placed factory mounts locations (with wood blocks under gunwales), what the hell am I going to do? (the BIG question!)

Thanks in advance to all who have experience and/or advice to relate on this matter.

Doug.

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Link to current photos (post-restoration):
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/izob928zf3...rEfla?dl=0

Pre-restoration photos are on my personal page.

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