Mark, thanks for your reply. "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)." Jim at Pygmy Boats also thinks this: "The sewn on bungee actually has a good chance of working with the sea sock. The problem is most common when the bungee is run through a folded over tunnel. The folded over neoprene is what really prevents the skirt from gripping with the sea sock. The sewn on bungee is a lot less material to go around the coaming." I suppose whatever arrangement is adopted needs a good implosion testing. I'll get around to trying it in due course. Cheers, PT. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
> > 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. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 8/6/2003 1:55:00 AM Central Daylight Time, ptreby_at_ozemail.com.au writes: > "In most cases there is not enough room under the coaming lip to allow a > good > fit for both a neo skirt and the sea sock. The neoprene needs more room to > get a decent grip. Peter, I suspect that is because many, though not all, wood coamings are wider than a FG counterpart. The only cockpit I have used my seasock on is the one it came with, the Feathercraft. It is very much a traditional FG cockpit rim in performance and the Feathercraft neoprene lipped seasock and neoprene sprayskirt grip the rim just fine in surf or rolling. I have had many rolling sessions in it and not much water gets into the boat. The security of the combination is good, in my opinion. The Feathercraft seasock is a very well made product and as the cockpit dimensions are similar from my folder and hardshell and either the Feathercraft provided skirt or my Bushsport one work identically well on either boat. No affiliations with them, just a customer. Rob G *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
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