my simple dumb grab loop solution
...which is, as of yet, not patented:
Sew or otherwise imbed a thick piece of easily bendable metal cable, wire or banding inside the loop, so that the fabric loop has both more rigidity, and some flexibility in order to mold it to a desireable, easily grabbable shape.
I now have one winter project...
PVC clear tubing
Hardware stores sell it by the linear foot. I once used short pieces of it for end “toggles” for my wood kayak.
I’d thought of that
…but it won’t hold a shape when bent like wire or a steel band would.
Piece of curved plastic, such as
…cut off the curved tubular handle section of a gallon water or milk jug?
Less dense than metal pieces, so if it smacks you in the eye or nose it won’t hurt as much.
consider this
I am not saying that folks should not modify their grab loops so that they stay in an open configuration, but I am aware of two drowning deaths that occurred when individuals grab loops happened to “lasso” underwater wood while swimming, and hang them up in a heads-down configuration.
So you might want to consider what type of water you are boating in.
Why the need
to modify the grab loop for? Never ever had any kind of trouble finding or releasing the loop. I always check to make sure its not under the coaming when ever launching, then never give it a second thought.
no
This is from the thread in the Dicussions
In November of 1997 a kayaker died at Double Suck on the middle Ocoee. He had been pinned and unable to exit his boat, having tucked the grab loop into the cockpit. Another boater, who happened to be a physician, freed him with a knife but accidentally lacerated his thigh. Despite the best efforts of a physician and a former first responder, the paddler died. The extent to which blood loss caused his death has been debated.
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=chat&tid=1415853
more info
This link provides more detailed info on the death of that paddler:
http://www.eruditium.org/pete/death.html
Here is the accident report from the American Whitewater database. The eye witness account is the same, but there are comments regarding the paddlers history and a summary from Charlie Walbridge:
http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Accident/detail/accidentid/465/
I happen to know someone who witnessed the victim being taken off the river and they told me he was "white as a sheet", but then people who are hypothermic and on the verge of cardiac arrest from any cause generally are.