C-Forum

Anyone have any kind of old bungee skirt laying around, doesn't have to be a huge or circular shape, just something with a bungee and small cockpit. Kind of like a one of the old Tightskirts but will stay on my boat...
Will

I don't know about your boat, but the wildwater boat that I had had a smaller than slalom sized cockpit opening. Luckily the skirt that is tough to put on my Acrobat would fit w/o popping (my slalom sized skirt was way too big).
Mountain Surf will custom make you a skirt. You need to send them a tracing of the cockpit rim & measure from the outside back of the rim to your back for tunnel placement. Or you can use Bob Putnam's plans to make your own:
http://www.wwslalom.org/skirt/index.htm

I like the looks/sounds of "make yer own." Has anyone tried this method? How'd she work? I think the only problem for me would be the cockpit rim is really low to the deck, so the "rand" may be a little thick. I wonder if 1/16" neoprene would work instead?
Will

I tried once to make a skirt. I didn't get the bungee tight enough & ended up with a cockpit cover Maybe I just needed better bungee. Maybe Bob will respond with a good tip or two...

Also my wildwater boat had very little clearance between the deck & rim. The rim was real thick & the boat was old & battered. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wh20crazy ... /my_photos I marked an even measurement all the way around & opened it up with the router bit on my Dremmel tool. The skirt I used is whatever Mountain Surf makes for glass boats. The bungee is encapsulated in the neoprene, so it's kind of thick but not as thick as what they use for tupperware.

What kind of boat is that? No offense, but it looks like a log!
Will

Will,

I can get you a snap dragon skirt made- It takes about a month- I'll need to trace the design. I'll show you the Sith skirt they made/make for me-

I'm trying to decide if I need to move the tube .5 back or not for future sales.

Bill

Nobody knows what kind of boat it is. The builder gave it to me last year. He built it around 1975 at the NOC boat shop & didn't know what model it was. It was fast. It was also as ugly as it was tippy. It was never intended to last this long. I hit a big wave & busted it up pretty good. There was a bad stress riser along the seam, all the way around the boat & I decided that it wasn't worth fixing & gave it away. That made my wife pretty happy.

Mike,
So do you have a WW boat anymore? If not, you should get another one, haha.

Bill,
I think I'm going to try the "DIY" and see how that turns out. $$ is of the essence. If it doesn't work though, I'll take you up on yer offer. Thanks. PS-Paddled the Slasher yet?

Will,
Nope. I no longer have a ww boat The only race boat I have is a Wenonah Marathon. I think my next boat will be an OC so I can do the big slalom race in Charlotte next summer. Sure hope they have a cool t-shirt Beyond that, I'm thinking of having a new squirt boat built next year...either a Maven or a master cut Acrobat.

Hey Will,

I've only paddled 2x since Gauley

I have my son every other weekend, and at Wachovia we've restarted heavy work with replacing ATMs, AND it gets dark too soon now.

have you checked out John Sweets site for DIY? The Snapdragon skirt should be $105.00 FYI Johns website had some awesome instructions. I had asked for Amortex coatings but in the C1 line, I think only the Cascad and Atom skirt have the heavier neoprene.

billcanoes@yahoo.com
704-604-6687

I will admit knowing nothing about Wildwater boats, but would an inexpensive nylon skirt be inappropriate? It seems that those would be easiler to make.

Chuck

I just use a regular slalom c-1 skirt from Rapidstyle. It has fit on every wildwater design I've tried, although I haven't tried an Ace II, it fit fine on an Ace III. I think that MWP (Davey Hearn's site) may have them on sale for $60 or so. Another option if DIY doesn't work....edg

Hey Will; You brought back a Blunt for me from W. Va. I have an old C1 slalom skirt I'll give you. Just E-mail me your address off list at cheajack@bellsouth.net. As they say, One good turn .........

I've made a lot of them. but mostly from the old Walbridge kit/design, which was lousy for K-1's but great for c-1's (hehe). Neo construction is pretty easy -- just make sure you have sharp scissors & fresh glue.

I suspect the skirts that Davy has for c-1's would work altho C-1 cockputs, esp older ones, can tend to run small. You could measure & email an inquery.

Finally, if you just want to get out on flatwater/Class1 el quicko & dont plan to do lots of rolling, a nylon skirt of any description would be fine. Unlike slalom boats, DR boats have such a high deck that they can be paddled in flatwater workouts without a skirt. (OTOH, you "may" be flipping..even on flatwater)