FWIW -- my own recent sprayskirt replacement experience. I ordered an all nylon bomber gear tour du jour from NRS. Even though I asked for a "small" cockpit size, the one I got had a tag with an "L" on it. I cranked the bungee down hard, but it slipped and leaked badly when I rolled and the "Implosion bar" did not keep it from puddling. THe folks at NRS were really good about taking the bomber gear skirt back, and suggested I try a snapdragon "glacier" neoprene and nylon. (my old skirt that wore out was a snapdragon, which got tired after five years and puddled and leaked a lot at the seam). Then NRS called back and said that they wanted to get the size exactly right so could I send a template of my cockpit (boat is a home built Guillemot Coastal, so the cockpit dimensions are OOAK). Sent them a template and they sent it on to snapdragon and I finally got the skirt about 5 weeks later . . . I am pretty happy with the new snapdragon "custom" skirt -- it is the dryest skirt I have had yet -- I can roll without taking any more than a few drops of water. Havent tested it in really gnarly conditions, but now that I have learned to keep the chest tube really high up it stays dry when waves break into my lap. (Couldnt keep the chest tube high enough on my old skirt because the tube then pulled the skirt off when I leaned over in a roll). I say I am pretty satisfied because, despite the "custom" fit with a template of my cockpit, the fit is a tad looser than I like. OK, a lot looser than I would like. I have not had a problem with it coming off -- but for a while, I could see the elastic peeking over the edge of the coaming instead of being taut inside the lip. You cant adjust the sewn-in bungee on the Glacier. I have more or less adjusted for this by (1) leaving the skirt stretched around the cockpit for two weeks, hoping to get the neoprene to "learn" the shape of the cockpit a little better and (2) I have found that by taking care to center the skirt and also stretching the elastic at the sides of the cockpit toward the stern, I can get the skirt to tighten up a little. But I still occasionally look over and see that elastic band peeking over the edge of the lip and it drives me crazy because I am not sure it would hold in real serious conditions. I havent contacted snapdragon about this issue because the skirt works OK and I dont want to wait another five weeks for a replacement. I suspect if I made noise about it they would offer to fix it. Maybe this winter ! --Karl Coplan *************************************************************************** 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 Mon Sep 23 2002 - 07:01:38 PDT
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