My Romany has the bungee cord and rope skeg and I bought it new last year. Where the skeg rope enters and the bungee comes out, the rope is cutting a pretty good groove in the grey plastic ring that the bungee and rope goes through. The groove is at an 1/8 now and getting deeper everytime the skeg is raised and lowered. Is there a solution that anyone knows of?
hmmn…
i might see if i can rotate the plastic widget first off and then see about releasing some of the tension in the bungie…it only needs to be stretched enough for it to deploy…not necessarily deploy at lightning speed with enough force to hurt anyone.
Yep
that’s a real design problem with the NDK rope skegs. The suggestion about slacking off the tension on the bungee could help, the grove gets worn when pulling the skeg up. I’ve toyed with the idea of mounting some kind of SS roller back there.
The bungee
is already as loose as it can be. In fact if the water is real cold it won’t even deploy complety at first without working it a bit. The factory cord was real rough and abrasive so I replaced it with, I believe dacron, that is smoother. I got it at a sailing shop and it’s not suppose to stretch.
The ring is epoxied in so no luck rotating that. I think a SS roller might snag on a tow rope but sure would work smooth. As long as I know it’s in the “design” I think I’ll just let it go. If and when the ring wears through I’ll worry about it then…maybe fill the groove with epoxy, smooth it down, and let go again.
Try here
– Last Updated: May-06-08 10:58 AM EST –
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDKOWNERS/message/42
May have to join the group for link to work.
Broken link
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Same issue
If one could find a stainless steel fitting the problem would be solved, right?
Hey, how about emailing NDK to point out the problem so that in the future they will correct it 
I’ll bet he gets right on it Please forgive my sarcasm. The company has a reputation for being pretty independent.
Bob
My Romany has the bungee cord and rope skeg and >I bought it new last year. Where the skeg rope >enters and the bungee comes out, the rope is >cutting a pretty good groove in the grey plastic >ring that the bungee and rope goes through. The >groove is at an 1/8 now and getting deeper >everytime the skeg is raised and lowered. Is >there a solution that anyone knows of?
“Document Not Found”
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is this a new design?
no…
ndk has been using it for more than a few years.
rope skeg
You can sand the edge of the gray plastic thing, but be careful, it’s not solid, it’s hollow. Rounding the edge might help a bit.
Replacing the bungie cord with a new one that is smoother might help. I love the Neocord bungie because of the coarse finish, it holds items to the deck. If that’s what they used for the skeg bungie replace it.
A friend replaced the bungie with a slippery length of cord attached to a bungie. The cord wouldn’t catch on the gray thing but it would still deploy the skeg. This might be a good solution.
Make sure the skeg is properly fitted (ie: it can be removed) the skeg box on my wife’s NDK was too small, so they just jammed the skeg in and it wouldn’t deploy. Make sure they didn’t do this again and that they didn’t solve the problem by over tensioning the bungie cord… actually I doubt they would have ever checked the skeg so see if deployed…
NDK = Not Done Korrectly Good luck, it’s a great hull!
The infomercial legend Billy Mays…
has now gotten into the 2 part epoxy putty business, but I forget what he calls it. Anyway, you get like 6 sticks for 20 bucks. Use 2 part epoxy to fill the groove.
Now, let’s correct the real issue. Why are you using the skeg so much on the Romany?
Dogmaticus
grey thing
sooooo…NDK’s have a ‘grey thing’ too. just like the Pamlico 140!!!
you can actually replace the ‘thru deck’ fitting. it’s a standard marine fitting and it’s just marine sealant, not epoxy, holding it in. Been there, done it a couple times.
steve
There may be a good reason
I bought a Romany about a year ago - have hardly ever used the skeg.
When I paddled up the east coast of Australia in an Explorer - with quartering SE trade winds - I used the skeg about 95% of the time.
Andy
ball bearing block
I’m not sure if this would work as mine has a wire skeg and I haven’t seen one in awhile, but we used to use Harken ball bearing blocks (pulley) for everything on the sailboats I raced. They have a block designed for something like this but it would need a big hole in the deck to mount it. I’m not sure what’s under the NDK fitting to keep the rear compartment water tight, but this would take some creative engineering as well. Just an idea.
http://www.harkenstore.com/uniface.urd/scpdinw1.ShowProd?B4RPMEB9Y8TMF8
You’ll probably have to cut and paste the link to get it to work.
I was looking
at a similar through the deck fitting a while back. Don’t remember where, but it was much smaller and less expensive. There is a goofy rubber hose like tube between the deck and the skeg box.
The hose is
for the skeg cable and bungee to run through into the skeg box. This keeps water from entering the boat through the skeg box or from the through the deck fitting. Actually it is a pretty fool proof and field repairable setup. It could have been “designed” better rather than just “slammed” together.
That would be a time I would use the
skeg, too. Sounds like a fantastic trip.
Dogmaticus
The real issue is
– Last Updated: May-06-08 8:23 PM EST –
that the skeg rope is cutting a deep groove in the through the deck fitting. I have only used the skeg a couple times when the wind really kicked up on Lake Superior. This boat rarely requires the use of a skeg. I do lower the skeg after I put it away after each days use just to make it a litte easier on the bungee. Why keep everything all "cocked and locked" for no reason. Next time you respond to one of my posts please stay on topic and don't imply that I have a problem with the way I paddle. Thank you dogmatyman.