I have a 2008 Old Town Dirigo 120 that needs the deck rigging replaced. I bought a kit to do this with but am unsure of how tight I should stretch the bungee cord. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also I was thinking of adding a static perimeter line,there is a set of holes in the recessed mounts to do this with. Right now the bow & stern grab handles are attached to the bungee line.I was thinking of attaching them to the static line and not stressing the bungee line every time I pick them up. Any potential problems with this?
Again, thanks for your input.
Dave
Rigging…
– Last Updated: Jul-17-16 1:03 PM EST –
The bungee should be tight enough to hold whatever you want them to hold. The grab handles should be tied to the boat. Sometimes they are also attached to a bungee to keep them from rattling. I hate that system as handles primary purpose is to hold on to the kayak when you are in the water out of the kayak and being also bungeed complicates that. I was taught to carry the kayak by the hull and never the handles. Perimeter lines should be just loose enough to get your fingers under them.
JMHO GH
Current Designs
I do like the way Current Designs (and probably many others) rig their carrying handles. The plastic handles are attached to the pad eyes with (reflective) deck line, but they tie a short loop of shock cord into the deck lines just behind them. When the boat is being carried or when it is in the water the handle is free so it can easily be grabbed, but when the kayak is on top of my car I can tuck the handle behind the loop of shock cord so it doesn’t flap around.
They do a nice job “blending” the joint of the two lines together with what looks like shrink wrap.
hog tie
– Last Updated: Jul-17-16 9:53 PM EST –
CD uses shrink wrap with Stainless hog tie rings / clips below it. I have re-rigged a few. Loop on carry handle is nice keeps it from flopping around.