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| Slalom Spray Skirt Question | ||
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Moderators: WayneM, bpkayak1, Bob P, canoepc
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| dend |
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  Registered Member #5869 Joined: Sat Aug 02 2008, 04:49 pmPosts: 184 | Is there a spray skirt made just for slalom boats? What do you guys use, and can it be bought today? My Snapdragon Large Keyhole skirt works, but is to large. I get a lot of water on top of the skirt. The Snapdragon fit guide says a XS would fit, but doesn't fit the glass boat. The plastic boat is 16.5" wide 30" long (outside of the cockpit) The glass boat is 17.5" wide 29.5" long One skirt would be nice for both boats. Thanks, Denise | ||
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| bpkayak1 |
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   Registered Member #171 Joined: Tue Jul 20 2004, 07:50 amPosts: 330 | You won't get a spray skirt to fit both cockpits properly. If you measure the circumference of both you will see why. Also, the way the edges of the cockpit rims are, often require slighty different construction of the way the shock cords are sewn onto the spray skirt. What may seem to fit one cockpit rim and then loosely fit another could actually turn out to be a safety issue, especially if it's not properly sealing around the edges and water gets in, could result in a popped spray skirt just when you need it the most. Most glass spray skirts (kayak style, not C1 style) will fit all glass kayaks. What we remember can always be changed, what we forget we are always.  Richard SheltonNever be afraid to try something new. Remember amateurs built the Ark - professionals built the Titanic.  (Unknown) | ||
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| telliot |
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 Registered Member #6468 Joined: Sat Sep 05 2009, 09:33 amPosts: 57 | they make specific skirts for slalom,but it does not effect your paddling at all. you may be better off with the skirts you have, its so rare to have a slalom skirt fit other boats | ||
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| riffc1 |
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 Registered Member #2813 Joined: Fri Sep 23 2005, 08:51 pmPosts: 19 | Denice - There's really no such thing. FWIW my wife uses a playboat skirt on a slalom boat and it's ok...on flat water. The bunching around the rim is painful to watch. I'd follow BPK's advice. Get a slalom K1 skirt for the glass boat. Just make sure it's the right size. Jack | ||
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| jcoraor |
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  Registered Member #1933 Joined: Wed Apr 27 2005, 03:55 pmPosts: 739 | Denise: Kaja & Juli use Snap Dragon XS sprayskirts on all their composite slalom K-1s. However, particularly if this is a NEW skirt, you can expect the fit to be very tight with Snap Dragon's standard skirt. When the girls were younger, someone had to help them get the skirt on. Now that they're older and the skirts have loosened up a little from use, they fit more easily. We had the same problem with a custom cut slalom skirt I ordered from Snap Dragon for Everett's C-1. It was cut to fit, but the rand was very tight. Everett also needed help getting the skirt on and still has to work at it to this day. However, a tight skirt is also less likely to leak or to implode in WW. (NOTE: If in trying out the skirt you're putting it on the coaming when you aren't sitting in the boat, it is actually harder to do that way. You should conduct any skirt fit trials when actually sitting in the boat with the skirt on.) I would be very surprised if a Snap Dragon XS doesn't fit your composite K-1 cockpit. However, you CAN order a looser rand from Snap Dragon if you wish. Specify a "River Trek" skirt and you'll get a looser rand designed to fit the same size cockpit but with less effort. The down side is that it will be more likely to come off in WW. As for getting a skirt to fit both, as Brian suggests you should measure the circumference of each coaming. If they are notably different, then the same size rand isn't going to be tight on both. You could probably make do with either a looser rand (River Trek) or a slightly larger skirt (S rather than XS), but as Brian notes, it won't be as tight on the smaller of the two coamings and thus more likely to leak and to come off in bigger water. This may or may not be acceptable depending upon what kind of water you normally paddle and your tolerance for leaky skirts. John | ||
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| dend |
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| Registered Member #5869 Joined: Sat Aug 02 2008, 04:49 pmPosts: 184 | Thanks for the skirt info, outdoor play should sell a "slalom skirt". Lisa said the Snapdragon small keyhole fit both her plastic and glass slalom boats. I couldn't get the XS keyhole on the boat; I did sit in the boat. Right now Class two water is quite enough, so I'm not worried about the skirt imploding. Thanks... see you guys at the Punch Brook, Denise | ||
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