At 01:05 PM 5/8/02 -0700, Kevin Whilden wrote: >Did you mean "skirt" as in sprayskirt? In that case, go for an all-neoprene >skirt if you expect to do any rolling or paddling in rough weather. I've >heard neoprene/nylon skirts called "sprayskirt with a colorful leak point". >They are fine as long as you don't expect to have a lot of water washing >across the deck, and provide good ventilation in hot weather. Yes, neoprene skirts can get quite warm when used in hot weather. I've tried a few nylon/neoprene combinations and they're a bit cooler in hot weather but many of them do leak. Typically, they leak over the top of the tunnel, so a spray skirt with just suspender straps and a draw cord are no better (or worse) in terms of leakage than a nylon only skirt with suspender straps and draw cord. There are, however, quite a few combo skirts which have a narrow neoprene band at the top of the tunnel that can be cinched down with a velcro closure. For example: <http://www.snapdragondesign.com/images/products/exp_ot_glacier.jpg> >The one difficulty with a whitewater specific skirt is that it might be a >little tight on a large sea kayak cockpit. There are some huge whitewater >cockpits too, but not all are as large as general sea kayak cockpit. You >will probably want to test the skirt on your cockpit before buying. One of the primary reasons nylon skirts aren't used often on whitewater boats is that they don't stretch and the chance of it imploding when rough water is pounding on the deck. The neoprene skirts fit tighter and are less likely to implode. However, since most whitewater boats are plastic the cockpit rim doesn't have the hard edge that is often found on a fiberglass, kevlar, or wood sea kayak. If you've got a plastic touring boat a neoprene skirt will most likely release just as easily as if it were on a whitewater boat. *************************************************************************** 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 Thu May 09 2002 - 07:58:30 PDT
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