1st January 2022 Shutter top steering?

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Saturday 1st 47F, mild but grey. It is warmer for the moment now. So I could go out and play.

I keep watching new YT videos on sliding gates and doors. Few, if any relate to tall and narrow gates or doors. Those that do, use top hung rollers. This avoids the potential problem of the shutters tipping on bottom rollers as they are moved. The shutters are very unlikely to topple but the diagonal measurement becomes much longer than the height. Which can seriously upset the fit and action of rollers and rails, or channels.

I really need to fix the shutter, top boards securely to the GRP shutter covers. This will inevitably involve brackets. There is a considerable reach over the zenith board, from the shutter ribs. Which is simply too far for sufficient stiffness of any reasonable metalwork.  

I have learned one valuable lesson, during the bad weather: Upward facing channels fill with snow, ice and leaves. Which means I really shouldn't use them. So now I may have to use my skate rollers at the top of the shutters with inverted channels. Which requires yet another, major rethink: How to attach the skate wheels and channels. 

Then it occurred to me: Treat the shutters as a pair of sliding gates meeting in the middle. There is no need for a bottom channel if the top does the steering. The bottom support needs to be no more than a smooth board. The skate wheels will make their own narrow track if there is lying snow or leaves on the board. An inverted channel at the top of the shutters will steer them via a narrow roller. 

The image shows the rollers resting on a short larch board. The support board has to be at least 2m wide. To fully support the open shutter rollers. The slit ribs are blocking movement of the new roller housings. They will need more trimming. Reinforcement will follow once the shutters are finalized.

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