Synthetic blind grass thread

[Chip M.]

What's everyone's thoughts on synthetic grass and the applications on traditional gunning rigs? I've run FastGrass and Rafia for years and giving this a shot as a "supplement" to help with vertical head cover off the flappers.
Pictures? Experiences to share?
(online picture)

 

[RM Anderson]

What's everyone's thoughts on synthetic grass and the applications on traditional gunning rigs? I've run FastGrass and Rafia for years and giving this a shot as a "supplement" to help with vertical head cover off the flappers.
Pictures? Experiences to share?
(online picture)

View attachment 78106

Chip,
Synthetic blind grass is awesome for a small boat but prohibitively expensive (at least for my budget) on a larger craft. The upside is it will look just as good after driving a thousand miles as the day you put it on.
RM

 

[Jeff Reardon]

Just raffia grass for a small lay out blind was a pretty good chunk of change, and added a ton of weight, even dry. Will be much heavier after the first hunt in the rain. I'll try it this season, but think I will be back to using to dead grass, seaweed and drift wood I can scavenge on site for cover. That would obviously not be possible for a larger boat or in many hunting locations, but it'll be easy in my salt marshes.

 

[Cody Foster]

I have blind grass on my TDB. It is attached to green garden fence with zip ties and it stays on the boat all season.

I had used a mix of blind grass, raffia and natural in the past. The raffia is heavy when wet and the natural didn’t hold up all season. I was also having to carry way to much in the boat to get the coverage I wanted.

The blind grass holds up to highway speeds and provides a great base for the blind. I can still add natural as needed at each hunt location. It is expensive and took a long time to put on, but I think it’s worth it.

The top row can only be put so high on the fence before it starts to droop to much. So I made some additional cover by zip tying bundles of grass to short prices of cane.

Attached are some photos of the grass and boat.

Hope this helps.

 

[T Entwistle]

I have blind grass on my rig. It is definitely expensive and doesn’t cover as much as they claim per pound. It has held up well trailering on the highway through snow storms and high speeds. I think its best quality is that it doesn’t absorb water and stays light. You can work it many ways to get the look you want. So far I’m happy with it. Just trying to get some overhead coverage without losing an eye in the process!!

 

[RM Anderson]

Just trying to get some overhead coverage without losing an eye in the process!!

The "eye" thing is no joke. I purposely blunted the ends because I was worried about Berta catching one in her eye.
RM

 

[roy brewington]

Greatest camo for overhead cover on a boat blind top rail, roof or shoot slot cover i,ve found. The drape it provides when positioned correctly lets you rise thru it to shoot when standing to shoot. I haven't used the mats yet but have extensively made doubled over bundles to get cover over shoot slots and use it mixed in with rafia grass on wall covering applications. As far as getting some drape over top your flip panels its about the perfect thing to use. Also hold's spray paint well if you need to change shade a bit.

 

[RM Anderson]

I haven't used the mats yet but have extensively made doubled over bundles to get cover over shoot slots and use it mixed in with fast grass on wall covering applications

I have had good success weaving it through garden fence netting to create my own custom mats. As Roy mentioned, it is great for overhead cover.
RM

 

[Carl]

Back in the day I used fast grass and it held up well for around 10 seasons of hard use.

 

[bob welsh]

Blind grass offers a sample kit and I bought that first. The samples show the true colors.

 

[Tim Clark]

Overall - I found it performs very well and holds up. I’ve used both the mats and the loose bundles and would only order the loose bundles moving forward. After two season, most of the wire that held the mats together was corroded and breaking, so I eventually just stripped them all out and wove into netting. I drive at highway speeds for an hour each way to my spot. Held up through it all.

I mixed in a bit of raffia in select spots to add a bit more texture as I felt it all looked a bit too uniform with just the blind grass. Not sure if that’s needed, but I think it looks better.

On flappers it’ll do great. I had it on a TDB style canvas blind and the strands stayed upright if supported within 10” or so of the end. If you want it to flop into the overhead opening, just slide the grass up. I’ll also echo what others have said about the ends. I’d recommend wearing glasses if you’re going to be standing up into the flappers.

 

[Anthony Babich]

I've been down this road many many times, from spending money on a variety of products the best company & material I've found thus far was in a visit to Alberta, Canada. The company https://jstern.com/ provides a great product a bit expensive in bulk and be mindful their weight measurements on the site are way off 5lbs is about 2.5lbs in reality. I have purchased more then I'd like to admit for a few different boats I run.

Here is the material on my 17' TDB. The grass hides extremely well, I don't have to break my back pulling salt-hay and at the end of season I simply wrap up and store dry inside the boat. One of the best things I've found is this material sheds water rather than absorbing it. This has been my 3rd year with the grass and I've been very happy with the time savings, concealment and durability it provides.

This boat below took 3 orders of (33lbs) in reality that is about 50lbs compared to their scales of 99lbs I mixed in the Olive, Tan, Sand and Natural colors.

 

[Anthony Babich]

Natural Long Island Salt-Hay hand picked no substitute for hard-work.

 

[RM Anderson]

I've been down this road many many times, from spending money on a variety of products the best company & material I've found thus far was in a visit to Alberta, Canada. The company https://jstern.com/ provides a great product a bit expensive in bulk and be mindful their weight measurements on the site are way off 5lbs is about 2.5lbs in reality. I have purchased more then I'd like to admit for a few different boats I run.

Here is the material on my 17' TDB. The grass hides extremely well, I don't have to break my back pulling salt-hay and at the end of season I simply wrap up and store dry inside the boat. One of the best things I've found is this material sheds water rather than absorbing it. This has been my 3rd year with the grass and I've been very happy with the time savings, concealment and durability it provides.

This boat below took 3 orders of (33lbs) in reality that is about 50lbs compared to their scales of 99lbs I mixed in the Olive, Tan, Sand and Natural colors.

View attachment 78247

View attachment 78248

View attachment 78250

My experience with raffia, though limited, is much different than Anthony's. Maybe salt water is different but the grass on my Kara Hummer gets absolutely saturated and becomes quite heavy. Regarding Jstern.com, be advised that in addition to the weight being way off, the colors on his website look very different than what you get on your doorstep. My belief is that they turn up the saturation on the digital photos to make it look more appealing.
I actually emailed the company one evening after receiving my order because you literally could not tell one color from another. A few hours later the owner is drunk texting me at two in the morning. Needless to say, I have not ordered from them since. Shortly after that experience I discovered Blind Grass and have not looked back.
RM

 

[Anthony Babich]

My experience with raffia, though limited, is much different than Anthony's. Maybe salt water is different but the grass on my Kara Hummer gets absolutely saturated and becomes quite heavy. Regarding Jstern.com, be advised that in addition to the weight being way off, the colors on his website look very different than what you get on your doorstep. My belief is that they turn up the saturation on the digital photos to make it look more appealing.
I actually emailed the company one evening after receiving my order because you literally could not tell one color from another. A few hours later the owner is drunk texting me at two in the morning. Needless to say, I have not ordered from them since. Shortly after that experience I discovered Blind Grass and have not looked back.
RM

I’ve got to say I must of been the second text that night because I called about the weight discrepancy and it was pretty funny the reasoning behind it (Chinese scales are off) in regards to the coloration as you can see in my pics the grass does change coloration must be something to do with the dyes they use but they weren’t that far off I couldn’t tell.
Also I haven’t found water to absorb much on mine maybe just the batches I ordered again this was back from 2023 so who knows but overall I’ve been happy with it

 

[roy brewington]

I,ve had my best luck with rafia coloring dyeing it myself in a large turkey fryer pot. Rit liquid dye can make any color your after from J.Stern base tan rafia. Mainly because I hunt a lot of wooded /brush backdrops that I never was satisfied with their colors. I do mix their predyed in with my custom dyed to get the effect i,m after though. Colors on all of it over time will mellow out to an extent over time. Actually I think that faded look looks more natural anyway. And doesn,t have a shine to it at that point.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I've been down this road many many times, from spending money on a variety of products the best company & material I've found thus far was in a visit to Alberta, Canada. The company https://jstern.com/ provides a great product a bit expensive in bulk and be mindful their weight measurements on the site are way off 5lbs is about 2.5lbs in reality. I have purchased more then I'd like to admit for a few different boats I run.

Here is the material on my 17' TDB. The grass hides extremely well, I don't have to break my back pulling salt-hay and at the end of season I simply wrap up and store dry inside the boat. One of the best things I've found is this material sheds water rather than absorbing it. This has been my 3rd year with the grass and I've been very happy with the time savings, concealment and durability it provides.

This boat below took 3 orders of (33lbs) in reality that is about 50lbs compared to their scales of 99lbs I mixed in the Olive, Tan, Sand and Natural colors.

View attachment 78247

View attachment 78248

View attachment 78250

Anthony
How do you mount the Stern grass on TDB ?
Loop grass strands thru existing loops on blind ? - or on plastic fence netting and then zip tie on the blind ?
Yours looks great