I sent a mail to Brandon a couple of months ago to ask if he could make me a slightly modded Blackbird for my trips to Scotland during the warmer months. I already have a 1.7dbl but found out last June that the no-see-um netting was not fine enough to keep out the abomination that is the Scottish Midge.
I lay there one night on our Loch Shiel canoe trip last summer and watched in horror as the little beggers dragged themselves through the holes in the net and into my living space. I sacrificed a couple of ciggies in an attempt to keep them away but in the end I had to reach for an additional head net before I could finally get some peace.
A bit of email tennis followed and Brandon agreed that if I sourced the some midge net myself he'd be happy to have a look at it, if it was up to the job then it was a goer. I got straight onto the suppliers and had them post me a large square of net direct to Warbonnet HQ, a couple of weeks later I got the news I was hoping for and the Scottish Midge proof BB went into production.
A few more anxious weeks past before I got the shipping notice from Brandon to say it was on it's way I was then annoyed to see that customs had got their hands on it and I spent another five days constantly checking the tracking link. Eventually after five days of thorough testing by her majesty's finest it was finely released and on it's merry way again.
Today I called into the local postal depot and happily handed over another £20 in exchange for a smallish box which interestingly weighed very little. Twenty minutes later and I was in my bat cave and getting it rigged for the first time. Having already got one of Brandons early BB's I knew what to expect, every stitch line was perfect, no loose threads and the finish was top quality. The net looks perfect and a lot stronger than I thought it might be, I' hoping to get out for a test hang at the weekend but as for testign the midge resistance that will have to wait a couple more weeks until I head north again.
Just wanted to say thanks to Brandon for working with me on this, the BB was already perfect but now it's even better
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