Hobie Cat Forums

Titlewave,

I could send you a piece, but the shipping from Hawaii would be as much as the cloth costs. Maybe someone on the mainland who's buying some to make one for them self would offer to buy extra and send to you?

Kayaking Bob

On recommended mesh size, ALL shade cloth I've tried here from different stores have worked well in letting water going strait through (draining), while stopping water hitting at and angle (spray). The only material that did not work, was my first attempt using waterproof cloth. I had to add holes with brass gromets, and it still drained too slowly.

Kayaking Bob

I suppose, then, almost any woven cloth I can get which has an 'open' weave should work...but probably the smaller the 'holes' the better?

Go raid a kiddies playground or kinder in the middle of the night for their overhead shade-cloth Tidalwave. Maybe better not come to think of it. Imagine what the judge would say.... Pirate

Titlewave,

Email me, if you want to "talk" to me about sending you some of the shade cloth I use.



Pirate,

Have you been hitting the "grog" early again??



Kayaking Bob

I do have an e-retailer who is willing to sell/ship custom sized woven cloth at a very reasonable rate. But they need to know the 'mesh size' of the openings between the threads. Some sizes are almost large enough to trap a bird and others are nearly invisible. I was wondering what would be an optimum opening size. I cannot get even a sample of 'shade cloth' up here (MN) to measure the opening size.

By the way...Hobie has my vote to retail a spray shield the same way they provided me with a dodger. If they can sell a plastic tube 'speedometer', I would suspect they would make even more money selling an add-on spray shield. They aren't patented, are they?

Old Pirate always has early moring 'emergency supplies' handy Bob.
I am amazed that some of you guys are having trouble finding shade cloth in your stores. It must be that it is far sunnier over here as I can pick it up for 'dime a dozen' prices in any of three or four places in Bairnsdale. And this town has a population of only about 15000 people...Pirate

Tidalwave, Here is two closeup pic's of the "good stuff".

I placed it on a dark background, so you can see the mesh size.

You'll need over 4' (x72") for easy layout.

They costs about $3/foot here.



Hope this helps,

Kayaking Bob

This looks like the same material:

http://www.thenaturalhome.com/shadeclot ... hadecloth2

Kayaking Bob

Thanks, reconlon

Just what I needed to know to be able to order the fabric.

May all the forum members who have been so gracious and forebaring
on all of my questions have a joyous Holiday season.

Thanks Bob! I appreciate you and your wife for helping others with your design. Also, thanks for the tip that we don't need the irrigation tubing anymore.

I also didn't even think about this until I was done, but I thought that the spray skirt might make it more difficult to fold in the ama when trying to land a fish. I'm not sure if all designs handle this, but it turns out that the pieces of bungee I used were long enough to stretch and allow the amas to be folded in without having to remove or disconnect a corner of the skirts.

Now I can stay nice and dry on those long windy days!

Looks like a nice clean install. Well done!

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http://KayakingBob.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2007, 2009 & 2010 Hobie AIs and a 2010 TI

Looks real good, Jolly.

I like the finishing touches with the yellow line.

_________________
"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
- Ayn Rand

I received my skirts from Kayak Bob while up visiting in the USA last week. Thanks Bob!

I managed to find a 30 ft. piece of 1/4", or maybe 3/8", I'm not sure but it fits inside the hems, bungee. The old style, not the slick looking black style.

I am having some issues figuring out how to attach the outer corner of the spray skirt to the aka, when using our trampolines. Our dog goes with us a lot, and we use the tramps in all but the windiest conditions. We usually roll them up if we are expecting to have to reef. For us that seems to be around 16-18 kts. of wind or more.

Anyhow, looking at those photos, I already have two bungees looped around that little outside knob at the far bend of the aka. One to hold the ama on and the other holds the trampoline in place. There is literally no room for a third bungee.

What are you guys doing there? Replacing that little OEM knob with something bigger than can handle three bungees? Or are you attaching the spray skirts some other way when you use a tramp?

_________________
Island life in the Devil's Triangle:
http://2gringos.blogspot.com/

You could try using a plastic hook and clipping it to the ama bungee.


Two (use to?) come with the AI seat with strapping which I never figured what it was supposed to be used for.

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http://KayakingBob.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2007, 2009 & 2010 Hobie AIs and a 2010 TI