[Paddlewise] Problems Fitting a Spray Skirt

"Hey", folks.

I'm having some problems and confusion with getting a spray skirt for my
new boat.  This may be a little long winded, but let me set up the
background before I ask the questions.

I built a cedar strip boat (Jay Babina's "Outer Island") with the Ocean
cockpit.  I received advice on which skirt to get based on what would
fit the cockpit, which included (among others) the Snapdragon Ocean Trek
EZ in Supratex in an XXS deck size. First one at the link below.

http://www.snapdragondesign.com/products.asp

When I ordered it via the internet, I used their tube sizing chart and
ordered a "XL" since I have a 36" waist.  Two hours later, one of their
reps called me and said that if I was using their chart, then I really
needed one size smaller, so I took his advice and got the "L".

Okay, yesterday, the package arrived.  First, I got bad advise from the
sales rep.  Wearing just my briefs, I had a very, very difficult time
getting the thing up past my hips and over my belly, and then I felt
like it would be hard to breath.  Forget about anything like a wet suit
underneath.  And, just my luck, they don't have and won't have the "XL"
in stock for quite a while, so it's back to the searching.  Second,
since I couldn't try it on the cockpit while wearing it, I tried to
attach it freehand while standing over the boat.  Ten minutes later, I
gave up.  I think this had more to do with my not being "in" the boat
wearing the skirt... I think, or at least I hope, because as I stretched
one end to get it over the rim, the other end popped loose.  It would be
easier to deal with that while wearing it and from within the boat.
Nonetheless, I'm afraid that my cockpit may be an inch or so too big for
the skirt.

So here are the questions.

When measuring a cockpit, do you measure the inside opening, or to the
outside of the rim?  My cockpit, from outside to outside, is 18x23
(small ocean cockpit, I'm told it's like the ocean cockpit on the Valley
Pintail).  The material on the snapdragon doesn't have much stretch to
it.  I'm afraid that it's going to be too tight to get it on, and the
next largest size may be too loose, but I have no experience in that
area so could use some comments from yall.

Second, how do you wear a skirt with a tube in the winter?   The Harmony
skirt for my Carolina doesn't have a tube. It has an adjustable " bungie
thingy"  around the waist.  Not a great skirt, but it's been sufficient
for recreational paddling. What should I expect to wear under a tube,
versus over it? I'm thinking that I'll probably need two skirts... one
for winter paddling and one for summer paddling, due to the tube size
and what I might need/want to wear under it.

I thought about making one myself using the instructions I found a link
to from the John R. Sweet site

http://www.wwslalom.org/skirt/index.htm

But, unless I calculated wrong, I could buy this snapdragon for $85 or
make one for almost the same price, so I chose to buy.  Did I calculate
the materials wrong or price the wrong material from the wrong source?
Anyone make one and can comment on that?
  
After many, many months of building, I'm now getting very frustrated
trying to get a spray skirt! Any and all help is GREATLY appreciated!

Rick
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