As a paddler, I haul a canoe or kayak at times on my manual penthouse. While I can lift the top with a boat up, it doesn't seem to want to stay up very well so I usually remove the boat at night which is not very convenient. Since I also travel without boats, I don't want to adjust the springs since I still want to get the top down. Corner braces seemed to be solution so I made and installed a set. The brackets for the SMB ones seem a bit small with the screws close together
viewtopic.php?p=55822#p55822 - I wanted the screws and stresses spread out a bit more when attaching to the ceiling liner.
I made my brackets from 3-1/2" octagonal box covers. With some drilling, cutting, bending and filing, I ended up with this:
After measuring and cutting 3/4" oak dowels, I attached them to the brackets with a pivot bolt and added a endcap. A bit of measuring and drilling later, I attached them to the top and added low-profile broom clips to hold them in the stowed position:
If you have a RB like mine, make sure that the stowed position does not interfere with the penthouse supports when lowering the top. This photo is looking approximately straight up in the front, the rear is similar but a bit tighter:
The stowed braces do not seem to interfere with the canvas/windows when the top is down. This is in the front:
Looking at the photos now, I'm kinda wishing I'd painted the brackets white but I'm not taking them out just for that.