Boat blind batten?

Nick Zito

Nick Zito

Active member
Having some extra added to my new (last year) blind for my DW15. This blind also includes the top door, which we rarely use except when it's raining or really darn cold. I've noticed the top door material tends to sag a bit, and we used to just put a paddle standing up so the material didn't sag onto your head. I was thinking of asking the canvas folks to put a slot in there so we could slide a batten of some sort to keep some rigidity. Anyone else done this? Not sure if a fiberglass sail batten would be enough (100" cockpit), or if I should be taking a piece of EMT or a 1x2 and glassing it over to make it sturdy. Something small would be nice as the top material is usually rolled up and sits just inside the boat normally for quick deployment.
 
How about an appropriately sized piece of bamboo to stretch lenght of roof line. Pretty rigid for diameter but i,m assuming you,ve got something or some way for ends to rest on. Emt unless going with 1" diameter is going to have a tendency to sag a bit in that lenght.
 
Yeah bamboo would work, but I don't want it to stay in there more or less permanently if it's going to disintegrate after a season or two. Effectively whatever this piece would be would go horizontally above our heads.

There are frame supports all around the top "door", or lid, whatever you want to call it. They pop in and out for easy takedown and setup. I figured the best thing to do would be to rest said piece on the shorter Pieces of framing so said piece can reach across and give the center support- this reducing the total sag
 
why not a vertical stick from the floor up? If it isn't life or death that there is some sag when you are up and moving around a stick or two propping the lid sag up when you sit down would be pretty easy.
 
That's what we do now with the backup paddle. It's not perfect but it works. Invariably it falls over when we throw open the door, but I was curious if there was another system. Might just stay with it in the interest of cost and simplicity.
 
Maybe you could use a fiberglass tent pole with a slight upward arc for rigidity. They can be bought inexpensively in various sizes.
 
Without seeing it, not sure of the geometry. I would be looking for an improvement on your paddle that is not going to fall. Some fiberglass fence posts, that have a socket on the top to nest the roof in, and snap into the sides or front to support the roof. If seldom used, them fiberglass poles can snap out and store easily.
 
I would look at the pop up blinds and tents.
Then use fiberglass tent frame to make the x shape.
Notice on tents they sew in a channel and a stop for the pole.
Bend the fiberglass pole and put it in place.

Blinds use a hub and do if from the inside.
 
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