Years ago I was given a spray skirt that fit a Wilderness Systems Pamlico kayak and it kind of fit my Rob Roy. It has two stays in the bow which work fairly well but behind the seat is lacking and makes for a nice puddle, enough for a small dog to enjoy! During one work session at the abode of McCrea's workshop we put some snaps on the rear cowling to hold the rear end of the skirt. http://scooter-bangortoportland.blogspot.com/2017/07/road-trip-and-working-on-hull.html
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| 2 Stays Work OK |
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| Sag Behind Seat and Back Band |
Well, 2017 is a lot of years since I pulled it out to play with a new idea to take care of that sag area, yeah it took that long to mull this over. The idea was to use what was in the shop and it came down to a few simple items to make it work: A) 2" webbing, B) Kydex. I had played with Kydex previously making deck plates (limited success) and in sheet form bends easily while providing strength and while in storage will lay flat. http://scooter-bangortoportland.blogspot.com/2021/03/
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| What's left of a large sheet of Kydex |
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| Easy Bending |
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| Kydex when cut will fit in the pocket |
It does have to be cut with a jigsaw. I had limited lengths so had to go with the longest at two feet.
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| Measuring the Kydex |
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| Cutting it, messy job |
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| Dry Fit |
The two inch webbing needed to be sewed into a pocket and since I have been banned from the sewing machine for life the better half did the job for me.
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| Pockets |
To get placement for these I need the spray skirt in place. While futzing around with the snaps on the back cowling the snap decided to pull out from the skirt, not just one but two! There were colorful words thrown around for a spell.
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| Tenacious Tape in Old Age |
Well, tantrum done and over with I dove into my supply drawer(s) only to find I have three, count them THREE grommet kits which of course none of the anvils fit the much smaller snap and button!
So, off to the hardware store, nope, no snap and button kits but I can order them, off to the first big box store, nope no snap and button kits, but I can order them and finally to the last big box store, nope, no snap and button kits, but I can order them. All three stores did have one thing in common...lots and lots of GROMMET kits! So until I order them I am at a stand still.
More To Come.
I finally order a kit off of Amazon for a hefty seven dollars. Of course the buttons were a tad too small but I had a supply of those BUT the anvil and punch fit perfectly and in about ten minutes was done. I did put Gorilla Tape on the inside of the skirt and heating it added for extra reinforcement. We had used Tenacious Tape originally but years of being stored took the tenacious out of the name.
With the back band hooked in and the skirt on I was able to get a good idea of where to place the new stay, quick measurements and marked with tape I pre-drilled on the inwale as they are very thin.
I put washers on both side just for the hell of it. A quick dry fit and testing the Kydex to make sure it would bounce back flat, of course I knew it would but sometimes.....
All in all not to shabby and I was pretty happy with the results but if I were to put three new snaps higher up on the spray skirt it would definitely pull the skirt much tighter from front to back. In the meantime with the skirt zipped up on my body the new stay does a good enough job to keep water from pooling up. This is not for running whitewater, a class I wouldn't be a problem but above that nope! Mostly meant for rain and mist conditions.
For storage the spray skirt fits into a stuff sack and so I stuffed the Kydex stay in a U shape for a week and then pulled it out and it sprang right back to its flat state.
