Installing Kayaking Bob Spray Skirt on Hobie TI

To keep the spray down I installed a mesh spray skirt on each side of the bow. I purchased it from Kayaking Bob. The spray skirt comes without any installation accessories. The web site has different recommendation on how this can be installed. I decided to use what I had in my garage instead of going out and purchasing additional material.

List of Materials:
     Parachute Cord
     4 Plastic Eyes
     4 Plastic Hooks
     2 Fiberglass rods from a reflective road marker
     Heatshrink Tubing

I threaded the sprayskirt with the parachute cord leaving ~ 4" loop at each corner. ~ 2" Heatshrink was slid over one end and then both ends were tied with a square knot. The Heatshrink was slid over the knot and shrunk to keep the knot from coming apart. The knot was slid into the AFT short section of the skirt to hide the knot.

Two plastic eyes were screwed on to the bow. The bow loop of the skit was passed through the eye (inside-out) and the entire skirt was passed through the loop. The position of the skirt was adjusted and parachute cord was sewn to the skirt to maintain the distance. 

 The AFT corner is attached with a combination of hook and loop. Make sure the center loop position is slightly forward of the ama crossarm. The tension keeps the loop from coming out.

 The center corner is pulled out using a piece of parachute cord. Make a small loop in the end. Loop it through the center. Run the line out to the bungee peg, back to the start loop and make a sliding knot on the return string. This will allow the tension to be adjusted as the lines streches. The double wrap acts like a Spanish Tacle reducing the load on the sliding knot.

 The inside edge tends to pull away from the hull. To keep it close a fiberglass rod is inserted into the inside edge of the skirt. I did not want to use use the hatch bungee as recommended on some sites to pull in the skirt. A short Bungee and a plastic hook is used. I have a welded hook but another reverse plastic hook could be used. The two hooks pull against each other.

To stowe the spray skirt disconnect the center loop. Roll skirt into it self and tuck under the hatch bungee.

I will be going on to the bay this weekend to test the rig.