Alright, I just wanted to give those of you a little bit of a heads up... in the event that you need to replace a few of the rods in your blind. I had a buddy that had his foot smashed last summer, so I let him borrow my Matrix this past fall. Long story short, he got in a hurry and broke 5 of the fiberglass poles in the blind. I contacted DB and went through the process to get all the replacement pieces.

So, a few weeks ago I spen an entire afternoon taking the old ones out, measuring, cutting and replacing. Well, the rods that I had been sent were actually shorter than the ones that I needed for the ceiling... Not good. So I did the best I could and my blind was shaped more like a diamond than a square, which, in turn meant that two of the walls were to short and wouldn't stay popped out.

This weekend, I decided to fix it after getting more parts from DB. This time I decided that I take out all the rods to make sure everything was the same length. That was a horrible idea. Three and a half hours, a can of copenhagen and several beers later, I got it put back together. The rods for the ceiling were again too short, so I improvised. I stuffed material into the pockets where rods fit into. It worked perfectly, and the blind is back the way it's "supposed" to be.

Anyway, my advice is this:

1. Do everything you can to not take out all the rods... it's a mess.
2. If the rods that are mailed to you are too short, stuff the pockets. It works.

I realize this may not draw much attention, but if it saves one person the pain and suffering that I endured this weekend... it's worth it. So, good luck!

Just goes to show that those DB's aren't worth a nickel.[8D]

It seems like a broken rod is a common problem with a lot of blinds. Are they that fragile or just user error usually? Combination of both?

It probably would have been a lot easier had you not had those several beers.

Sooo... Uhhhh.... Did yause any DUCT' tape?

Good lookin' out, bud.

I need to replace poles in both of my blinds, I just haven't gotten around to ordering them.

I love them and I've never seen one that was jacked up that didn't result from user error...

Well maybe, but by the time I got done... I was at least 8 beers smarter

No, but if I would have... it woulda' been wrinkle free.

Well maybe it will at least save someone the price of a tin of Cope!! $5.00+ is REDICULOUS!!!

I feel your pain - replaced 4 of mine Sunday what a PITA

We have the 2 cans for $6.49 down here... it's wonderful