Again, I hope nobody minds my questions and guesses regarding this issue. I don't have hatches such as described. All I am doing is trying to apply some logic to this from other fields. > << One just basically a cap that fits over the hatch hole rim and is held > by a built in flange in the hatch itself. Another kind is a cap but > with a flexible steel flange that has a latch on it, looking somewhat > like how the closures on ski boots. >> > > Ralph, mine does not have a steel band on it. At one of the symposiums I > asked about that since I saw some with bands. I was told that the design was > actually the same for both covers. The main holding mechanism is the small > flange on the hatch and the mating groove in the cover. The latching bands > were supposedly used on the older hatches, but people found out that the > covers stayed on fine without them. Gradually for convenience the bands were > dropped. The reason I asked about the steel band was really just wondering whether the hatches were of two kinds: one that had to be stretched over the hatch opening; and one in which the cover went on pretty easily and the steel band provided the seal. I.e. I was looking to see if stretch was critical and what that might do. From what you heard there is no difference in the hatch configuration itself, just whether it has a steel band or not. > One difference I noticed between the VCP covers and the Kajak Sport covers > (which fit over the hatch rims similarly to VCP) is the stiffness of the > cover. The VCP covers are quite thick and stiff. When you put them on they > do not stretch out the same way a sprayskirt strechtes. They just deform > enough to pop over the flange. The Kajak Sport covers are much thinner and > more strechy. You kind of pull and strech the whole cover more like puttting > on a spray skirt. Perhaps you have come up with the possible problem, i.e. the non-stretchiness of the Valley hatch and the way it has to be warped or bent to fit on. A non-flexible material that is subject to such forces can crack over time. Example, take a thin flexible sheet of plastic and flex or warp it constantly (without crimping or actually doubling it over). That sheet can flex forever. Take a sheet of plastic that is of greater thickness that won't let you flex it readily. Keep torsioning it and before too long it will start developing cracks. The same happens with thin cardboard in comparison with thicker cardboard, say the thin cardboard that is in back of a pad of paper versus the thicker cardboard in posterboard. Anyway, this is just a thought as to why. Maybe Valley should make the hatches more flexible or make it of a truer-to-size fit and return to the era of the steel band (I keep thinking calypso when I use the term :-)) to keep it on. BTW, does any of the literature with the boats that have VCP hatches warn you to regularly check the condition of the hatch for possible deterioration or state that the life expectancy of a hatch is x years? ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Jul 29 2000 - 12:48:43 PDT
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