From: "Chuck Holst" <cholst_at_bitstream.net> > A fellow in our kayak club made a stich-and-glue kayak in which the hatch > covers are held down by internal bungees. [...] John Winters has a similar system in his personal QCC. However, he uses light line rather than bungie and the end of the line is attached to a cleat in the cockpit. The cover is permanently attached to the line. He puts stuff into the compartment and then cinches in the line from the seat. Both front and rear hatch covers have this system. That means the line passes thru a hole in the bulkhead, but he says the leakage in not significant. > I'm sure this method applies more downward pressure on the hatch seal than > any strap system. The builder says he has never had a leak when rolling. > Also, using this system gives a cleaner (uncluttered) deck. I thought it > was very ingenious the first time I saw it. I still do. The lack of straps etc on the deck does give a clean look. In John's case, however, without the bungie, the tension is either on or off. If there's something inside the compartment that the line goes around when tightened and that item shifts when paddling, the line could loosen. He'd have to be careful when packing. I can imaging a combination of line and bungie could solve this and I sort of like the line release in the cockpit. The holes in the bulkhead are not a problem, IMHO, since they allow the air pressure to equalize with temperature change and if the hole is tight, little water will go thru. That could give an even tighter seal than the bungie alone, since you wouldn't have to leave it slack enough to pry up the hatch cover to open. Mike *************************************************************************** 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 Sat Dec 28 2002 - 14:23:55 PST
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