"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 *************************************************************************** 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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