Re: [Paddlewise] Spray skirt recommendations needed

>From: Bill Leonhardt <WJLeonhardt_at_bnl.gov>
> >I have a skirt by Dagger ( I think they call it their tropical skirt) 
>which
> >is, nylon deck, nylon tunnel,
>Dan, et.al.,
SNIP
>
>I have a three of the same Dagger skirts.  They are the most comfortable
>skirts I have ever used.  One I bought from the Jersey Paddler and the
>other two I got directly from Dagger.
>
>Despite the comfort, I'm a bit disappointed with the skirts' performance.
>I find that water seeps in at the seam where the deck meets the tunnel.
>It's the same on all three skirts.  I'm sure some tent seam seal goop would
>probably help, but I feel that the skirts should be leak free, especially
>when new.  SNIP
>YMMV
>
>Bill Leonhardt

In working in an outdoor retail shop, I know I've had customers surprised to 
find that they may need to do some hand seam-sealing work even on very 
high-end tents made by reputable manufacturers. I suspect that the 
explanations for this may also apply to spray-skirts:

Smoother, flater seams lend themselves well to being sealed with a heated 
tape-sealing machine, but curved, angled, and "bunchy" seams (such as the 
meeting point of the sprayskirt tunnel with the sprayskirt deck) are 
difficult-to-impossible to do well and durably with tape. To hand-seal with 
goop at the factory would be labour-intensive (adding the retail cost in a 
competitive market)and require huge floor space as a drying area, since the 
goop takes day or so to cure (unless you add a rather volitile 
accellerator). I also suspect, although I don't know for sure, that while 
folks can do one-offs at home without too much risk, that if you were to be 
using the goops as a regular part of your work, work-place safety 
regulations would propably require some fairly fancy exhaust-extractor 
venting.

Philip Torrens
N49°16' W123°06'


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