RE: [Paddlewise] Sea Socks

>
> I have his OK to put this out for discussion. Has anyone else had problems
> with a sea sock and neoprene spray deck? What sort of decks do sea sock
users
> prefer?
>
>
> Peter Treby
>

 
Peter,

I have used two Snapdragon sprayskirts with my Stohquist seasock on my
Mariner Elan.  Both the skirts and the seasock use approximately 1/4 in
bungee as the rand material.  On the seasock and the all neoprene skirt the
bungee is not in a tube, but is stitched directly to (thread runs through
whole diameter of bungee) the skirt/seasock fabric.  On the neoprene/nylon
(deck/tunnel) skirt the bungee is free floating in a nylon tube that is
stitched to the neoprene deck material.  The seasock and all neoprene skirt
have a fixed bungee length with no adjustment.  The neoprene/nylon skirt
allows the bungee tightness to be adjusted by retying a knot at the rear of
the skirt.

I initially did have problems keeping the neoprene/nylon skirt on with the
seasock when in surf or rolling.  I custom ordered the all neoprene skirt
and did request a "white water" fit.  I had talked with Snap Dragon on
previous occasions and they told me that they normally do no make their
touring skirts as tight as they do white-water ones.  They said fiberglass
coamings grab the skirt better than the plastic ones on white-water kayaks
so a white-water fit may actually be too hard to remove on a fiberglass
coaming.  Also they said they had found that touring customers generally
seemed more concerned about entrapment and had complained about too tight a
fit in the past.  In my case the white-water fit with the all neoprene is a
little difficult to remove when I use it without the seasock.  I have to
really concentrate on pushing the release forward before pulling up.  With
the seasock on I have what feels like a normal tight release and have had
no problems with a loosening skirt  in surf on when doing rolling.   

Since getting the all neoprene skirt I went back and adjusted the
neoprene/nylon skirt to a much tighter fit.  It does not look right off of
the cockpit.  There is lots of extra bungee out the back and the edges are
all scrunched up in pleats.  Once on the cockpit , however; it still
releases ok (although is a lot tighter than before) and I have used it
successfully for rolling with the seasock (though not extensively).  

The Elan's coaming is about 1.25 in wide and is thin and very flat.  This
allows the bungee on the seasock to get well back toward the inside of the
cockpit  and leaves plenty of room for the bungee on the skirt to still
grab hold on the coaming.   My general impression (no real data to back it
up) is that the Elan has a little bit more room for the bungees and a
better holding angle (way bungee fits all way toward the inside of the
coaming) than some of the other kayaks I have paddled. 

In summary I would say that you can get a neoprene skirt to work with a
seasock.  It is easier to have it stay on if the bungee in the skirt is
exposed (not in a nylon tube).  With a tube you have slick nylon trying to
grab onto slick nylon.  If you buy the exposed bungee type skirt, you may
have to go to a custom order since there is no way to adjust these skirts. 
When ordering a skirt you may want to ask the manufacturer if they have a
touring fit vs white-water fit.  If you are going to be using the sea-sock
you probably want a white-water fit since the nylon of the seasock makes
the fiberglass coaming more slippery like the plastic coamings on
white-water kayaks.

 




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