Stupid Simple

[sunedog]

The best ideas are stupid simple.

I have to lift the rear sunpad on my 2001 Bennington to do anything with the battery, take the cover off the motor, etc. The boat didn't come with any mechanism to hold it up. I used to get my young son to hold it for me, but then one day when he was about 8, it slipped and conked me on the head. ("Sorry Daddy!") He's 13 now and could probably do a better job as helper, but he's not always available when I have to do something.

So I cut the strap off of a junk ski vest and put a female snap on one end. Screwed a male snap to the underside of the sunpad. Then I tied the other end of the strap to the loop attached to the seat closest to the sunpad. When I need the sunpad up, I snap the strap to the underside. The weight of the seat counter balances the weight of the sunpad.

Took longer to post this than it took to make the thing.

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[HandymanHerb]

I putting gas lift cylinders on mine to hold it up and help hold it down too, like mine on my topper once you open the doors two inches they open on their own, same when you close once you get below two inches they pull them shut and hold them shut

[Darin]

Well you know that paddle that most states require you to have on a boat...?, I use mine as a prop-rod to hold up my sundeck when need. But I will eventually add some gas struts to hold it up.

[Bryden24shp]

The conk in the head was probably intentional! I've done the same thing for alot of things, Just made a strap to hold my sunpad up a few weeks ago at the lake, when my support cylinder gave out. I do the same thing to make straps to keep the gates from rattling when open, hold my bimini top, anchor lines wrapped, porti potti enclosure sides, even made some to lengthen the reach of my cover snaps on some older boats. I use rivets on the free ends to secure the snaps.
If you can imagine it, you can make it! Thats how my EzFenders came along, just a need and an idea!