diff --git a/config.js b/config.js
index ec0caf2c..c375f51e 100644
--- a/config.js
+++ b/config.js
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ Config.prototype._seed = function _seed(seed) {
             return val instanceof RegExp;
         });
     }, 'expected to be array of RegExp objects');
+    seedOrDefault('maxJoinAttempts', 50, numValidator);
 
     function seedOrDefault(name, defaultVal, validator, reason) {
         var seedVal = seed[name];
@@ -91,4 +92,8 @@ Config.prototype._seed = function _seed(seed) {
     }
 };
 
+function numValidator(maybeNum) {
+    return typeof maybeNum === 'number' && !isNaN(maybeNum);
+}
+
 module.exports = Config;
diff --git a/lib/swim/join-sender.js b/lib/swim/join-sender.js
index 2ccb4ae1..696d3b49 100644
--- a/lib/swim/join-sender.js
+++ b/lib/swim/join-sender.js
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ var JOIN_TIMEOUT = 1000;
 //   provisioned cluster
 //   - Trying forever is futile
 var MAX_JOIN_DURATION = 120000;
-var MAX_JOIN_ATTEMPTS = 50;
 var PARALLELISM_FACTOR = 2;
 
 function isSingleNodeCluster(ringpop) {
@@ -113,11 +112,6 @@ function JoinCluster(opts) {
     this.maxJoinDuration = numOrDefault(opts.maxJoinDuration,
         MAX_JOIN_DURATION);
 
-    // We want to abort the joining process if we have failed
-    // a certain number of times.
-    this.maxJoinAttempts = numOrDefault(opts.maxJoinAttempts,
-        MAX_JOIN_ATTEMPTS);
-
     // We do not want to retry joining as hard as we can. We
     // want to have some fixed backoff applied before we try
     // to join again
@@ -226,6 +220,7 @@ JoinCluster.prototype.join = function join(callback) {
     var numFailed = 0;
     var startTime = Date.now();
     var calledBack = false;
+    var maxJoinAttempts = this.ringpop.config.get('maxJoinAttempts');
 
     function onJoin(err, nodes) {
         if (calledBack) {
@@ -275,11 +270,11 @@ JoinCluster.prototype.join = function join(callback) {
 
             calledBack = true;
             callback(null, nodesJoined);
-        } else if (numFailed >= self.maxJoinAttempts) {
+        } else if (numFailed >= maxJoinAttempts) {
             self.ringpop.logger.warn('ringpop max join attempts exceeded', {
                 local: self.ringpop.whoami(),
                 joinAttempts: numFailed,
-                maxJoinAttempts: self.maxJoinAttempts,
+                maxJoinAttempts: maxJoinAttempts,
                 numJoined: numJoined,
                 numFailed: numFailed,
                 startTime: startTime
@@ -288,7 +283,7 @@ JoinCluster.prototype.join = function join(callback) {
             calledBack = true;
             callback(JoinAttemptsExceededError({
                 joinAttempts: numFailed,
-                maxJoinAttempts: self.maxJoinAttempts
+                maxJoinAttempts: maxJoinAttempts
             }));
             return;
         } else {
diff --git a/test/integration/join-test.js b/test/integration/join-test.js
index d7a3f621..13e726d9 100644
--- a/test/integration/join-test.js
+++ b/test/integration/join-test.js
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ testRingpopCluster({
 testRingpopCluster({
     size: 2,
     tap: function tap(cluster) {
-        cluster[1].channel.register('/protocol/join', function protocolJoin(req, res, head, body) {
+        cluster[1].channel.register('/protocol/join', function protocolJoin(req, res) {
             setTimeout(function onTimeout() {
                 cluster[0].destroy();
 
@@ -145,3 +145,20 @@ testRingpopCluster({
     assert.ok(cluster[1].isReady, 'node two is ready');
     assert.end();
 });
+
+// This is a 3-node test. All nodes need to join a minimum of 2 other nodes.
+// Node 0 has been blacklisted by Node 1 so it can't possibly join 2 others.
+// Node 0's bootstrap is expected to fail.
+testRingpopCluster({
+    size: 3,
+    tap: function tap(cluster) {
+        // This'll make Node 0's join fail faster
+        cluster[0].config.set('maxJoinAttempts', 1);
+        cluster[1].config.set('joinBlacklist', [/127.0.0.1:10000/]);
+    }
+}, 'join blacklist', function t(bootRes, cluster, assert) {
+    assert.notok(cluster[0].isReady, 'node one is not ready');
+    assert.ok(cluster[1].isReady, 'node two is ready');
+    assert.ok(cluster[2].isReady, 'node three is ready');
+    assert.end();
+});
diff --git a/test/unit/config_test.js b/test/unit/config_test.js
index 4abd13c0..a06e36d5 100644
--- a/test/unit/config_test.js
+++ b/test/unit/config_test.js
@@ -90,3 +90,12 @@ test('validates joinBlacklist seed', function t(assert) {
         'uses seed blacklist');
     assert.end();
 });
+
+test('validates num', function t(assert) {
+    var config = new Config(null, {
+        'maxJoinAttempts': 'notanum'
+    });
+    assert.equals(50, config.get('maxJoinAttempts'),
+        'uses default');
+    assert.end();
+});