Ralph Hoehn wrote: >Since you wear the "funnel" over the PFD, some people worry about taking on water. In my experience this is minimal. "Fred T, CA Kayaker" <cakayak_at_mindspring.com> writes: I hadn't thought of this in a while, but haven't seen it posted here. What is the consensus or rule on is it best to wear your skirt tunnel under your PFD or over it? Fred, lest I have opened myself up to misunderstandings: The set-up, to which I was referring, applied only to double folding boats with a long open cockpit. A special deck / cover can be stretched over this cockpit. These covers come in two basic varieties. 1 - A deck with integral funnels (sometimes merely with drawstrings around the top; sometimes side-opening, closed with snap buttons; sometimes equipped with front (or side) zippers). 2 - A deck with integral hoops / coaming rings, to which you can attach "normal" spray skirts. In both cases the deck is more or less permanentely attached to the cockpit coaming of the boat, which necessitates some kind of opening arrangement for the funnels (or separate spray skirts) to allow the paddler to get in and out. Depending on the permanence of the deck to cockpit coaming, loading and unloading of gear may also need to be made through these funnels. You would not want to wear integral funnels under your PFD in case you need to wet exit (yes, it happens "even" with double folding kayaks). The likelihood of remaining attached when you would no longer want to be is too great. Remember that your PFD need to be relatively tight to be fully effective. Of course, if you use a set-up with detachable individual spray skirts you're back to your normal wisdom and wear it under your PFD, preferably cinched tight or rolled into your dry top/suit to provide a near perfect seal. I have in the past been in situations where I wore my funnel over the PFD, but wore a rain jacket over that. While the latter might have impaired my mobility, had I been forced into the water, I believe that I would have been able to get out of the boat with no problems at least. Also, having some air between my body and the rain jacket made for a comparatively comfortable paddling climate :-). I hope that I made this point clearer now. By the way, the original side opening Pouch spray deck version allowed the paddlers to unbutton completely the left side on both funnels. That in turn allowed one to roll up the amidships section of the deck and be left with an open cockpit once again bar the short pieces forward of the bow position and aft od the stern paddler. In case of rain or cold (as evening approached) or of excessive sun, the deck could be closed up again in a snap so to speak. Weh Pouch dropped this version in favor of something more substantial than the buttons, old time fans almost stormed the barricades in protest :-). There is a serious after sales market offering various deck and skirt arrangements for Pouch and Klepper doubles in Germany. Best regards, Ralph C. Hoehn Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com www.PouchBoats.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Nov 14 2000 - 13:28:20 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:34 PDT