Valley Avocet RM Redux

I have an 03 Valley Avocet and looking a spray skirt that will stay on while rolling and rough play. This has been discussed here before but hoping fresh ideas will eliminate a costly special order or a series of almost fits.



Thanx



Dp

I have …
an '02 and '04. The seals standard size all neoprene 1.4 works fine.

Fits but
it pops off with the slightest tug, the Seals ** version of same may do the trick, I dunno

I use a Pro Shocker model
but the Shocker is very similar.

Avocet

– Last Updated: Sep-25-12 1:43 PM EST –

I have an older single-layer Avocet -- not sure of the year. The skirt that's worked for me is a Mountain Surf rubber-rand neoprene skirt.

I haven't been impressed with the performance of the bungee skirts I've tried on plastic boats in rough water.

edit: They were cheap bungee skirts with a fairly flat cut -- I suspect that a properly shaped bungee skirt would be better.

under coaming texture?
Perhaps scuff with 80 or so grit? Apply a coating that adheres to poly for increased friction to skirt?

Wearing it too high?
Try not pulling the skirt up too high so there’s some room for you body to move without pulling on the skirt.

Idea maybe
I had the popping off issue with a plastic WW boat, using a skirt that every measurement said should be right. I sent a tracing of the rim back to the manufacturer when I sent back the skirt.



Their solution was very simple and worked right out of the gate. It was a skirt with a bungie (I won’t mess with rands but that’s another story) - they put in a thicker bungie. I haven’t an issue since.



The rand idea would have the same effect, but a thicker bungie might also do the trick.

Kling-on Empire
No not my idea of a name but it’s rather fun.



Immersion Research Kling-on and Kling-on Empire. Extremely dry and with a bungee rand with neoprene deck fabric stitched to cover around 3/4 of the rand so there’s additional deck fabric protruding out from under the coaming when the skirt is on. This makes a 3 sided seal. Underside of the coaming, interior wall of coaming and deck surface adjacent to the interior wall of the coaming. This has worked very well on some RM coamings that have not had a great amount of relief to the lip.



The Empire has supremely durable Kevlar armor along the upper front surfaces which helps keep the skirt deck from damage for boat over boat drainings.



I’m sure there are other options out there too. This is what I’ve been using of late and been very pleased with it’s performance.



See you on the water,

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

It is on the way
I decided to go with this and believe it will do the trick.



http://comfortpaddling.net/shop/waterproof-breathables/sprayskirtakuilisaq/

I tried
Immersion Research Lucky Charm and it seem to fit and not pull off better than any in stock skirt. SkirtWorks came in second but both of these were over 150.00.



I made this same post over on the qsite and Paulo at Comfort Paddling www.comfortpaddling.net jumped on it and had one shipped out to me in a day, and I saved 30.00.