A Bradenton Shop Makes Boat Shade Poles That Fold in Half. Your Cooler Will Thank You.

Every boat in Florida has the same hidden ranking system. It isn't about who drives or who paid for gas. It's about who gets to sit in the one square of shade under the T-top, and the answer is always whoever got there first, plus the dog.

Made Here week two goes to the people trying to end that fight. The Blackstick is a family-owned shop in Bradenton that makes boat sun shades, and the thing that makes them different is the stick.

The stick is the whole point

Each shade rides on the company's patented collapsible carbon-fiber poles. Per their site, each pole weighs 3 to 4 pounds and breaks down in the center, so it stores in about half the length. If you've ever tried to find a spot on a center console for a long pole that isn't a fishing rod, you understand why someone patented this.

The FAQ is direct about where they come from: "We make all of our carbon fiber poles by hand in our Bradenton facility with materials we source in the U.S." Since 2014, the site says, they've delivered more than 1,900 complete shade systems and hand-built more than 5,000 poles. The about page lists the delivery map as "From Dubai to Hawaii, Tampa to Cape Cod."

The poles also flex on purpose. The Traditional shade page explains they bend with wind and boat movement instead of fighting it, which puts less stress on your rod holders. And under a real overload, the pole is designed to give way before your boat does. A lower section can usually be swapped without replacing the whole shade. That's a shop that has thought hard about which part of your weekend should be the cheap part to fix.

Two ways to get out of the sun

The Traditional Rod Holder Shade is the one that started it all. The poles drop into the rod holders you already have, the shade clips to your hardtop, and it's custom-built for your specific boat in two- or four-pole setups for the bow, the stern or both. The fabric is Serge Ferrari Soltis 86, a micro-perforated marine mesh that lets air through and keeps water from pooling. No extra tag lines, no new deck hardware for normal use.

The Rocket Launcher Shade is for the fishing crowd. It mounts in the rocket launcher rod holders on top of your hardtop, so the gunwales stay clear for actual fishing. It's free-floating, comes in Small, Medium and Large kits or custom, and it's designed to stay up while you're moving: up to 30 mph, depending on conditions, setup and wind direction. For comparison, the FAQ says a bow shade is for trolling speed, 5 to 10 mph.

Can't decide? They built a side-by-side comparison page, and the short version is: Traditional if you want the most shade, including the bow; Rocket if you want stern shade and open gunwales underway. Or both, which they're happy to help sort out.

The measuring trick

My favorite page on the site is How to Set Up, because the first step is a fishing rod and a piece of string. You stand a stout rod in the holder, tie a string to it, run it toward the hardtop until it's level, then pull the rod out and measure to the bottom. That's your "stick height." It's the most Florida measuring tape ever invented, and it means they can fit a boat in another state without ever seeing it. Turnaround, per the FAQ, is roughly two to three weeks depending on the time of year.

There's no price list, and that's honest: every shade is custom, so you send them your boat's make, model and a photo through the inquiry page, and they come back with a recommendation and a quote. If you only need poles, they'll sell the carbon sticks by themselves.

The family part

According to their about page, the current owners moved down from "the Hoosier state" and bought The Blackstick in November 2024, "amid back-to-back hurricanes." Their own words: "To say we were on pins and needles is an understatement." Moving to Florida and taking over a boat business while the storms are still lining up takes real nerve, and the shades are still going out. Their stated values are to "do what we say we are going to do, when we say we are going to do it." The site says some customers have shades that have lasted more than nine years.

Need someone to fix the rest of the boat while the shade's on order? Gigly has local boat pros. Last week's Made Here was the Bradenton skiff that floats in 5 inches of water, which would look very nice with a little shade on it. Planning the week? I've got everything happening, costumes included.

Somebody in Bradenton is hand-building the thing that lets everyone on the boat sit down. That's worth knowing.

— Sandy