It's something I've fancied trying on the Pack for a while. She tends to dive when dropping into river pools and in chop can sometimes ride down the back of a wave and cut into the next one. She's only a little thing so rides low.
Anyhow, I had an old shell(with decks) from a Sevylor inflatable that I'd sold the inner from to someone who didn't need the outer. Dragged it out and started on it with a pair of scissors....
Quality control.
The outer already had a pocket of sorts into which I popped panels of corrugated plastic. It's firm enough to hold the deck in shape(for rain and the odd splash) but really this is an afterthought. Most of the time I'll be using them along with barrels so will leave the panels at home.
A liberal sprinkling of the latest wondermaterial. Rubber tape with a kind of bitumenous backing that you heat up to apply and seems to stick to anything.
So - without and with the barrels in place.
The four little extra-looking flaps are there because I haven't decided what to do with them yet. Still have a lot of material and a centre panel with skirt might be on the cards. Those wee bits look like they might come in handy. More likely not and I'll whip them off but for the moment they're not doing any harm.
I'll no doubt rustle up some lower profile rope, the orange stuff was just plentiful and handy.
For calm use the decks should hold the barrels in place quite nicely. They can still be lashed down independently under the deck though for when they're maybe going to be on bouyancy duty.
Only takes a loosen off to get them in and out.
Bit of a fluke for it all to work out so neat. Didn't need to sew a stitch - just cut it down to shape and punched some eyelet holes.
Josh
Anyhow, I had an old shell(with decks) from a Sevylor inflatable that I'd sold the inner from to someone who didn't need the outer. Dragged it out and started on it with a pair of scissors....
Quality control.
The outer already had a pocket of sorts into which I popped panels of corrugated plastic. It's firm enough to hold the deck in shape(for rain and the odd splash) but really this is an afterthought. Most of the time I'll be using them along with barrels so will leave the panels at home.
A liberal sprinkling of the latest wondermaterial. Rubber tape with a kind of bitumenous backing that you heat up to apply and seems to stick to anything.
So - without and with the barrels in place.
The four little extra-looking flaps are there because I haven't decided what to do with them yet. Still have a lot of material and a centre panel with skirt might be on the cards. Those wee bits look like they might come in handy. More likely not and I'll whip them off but for the moment they're not doing any harm.
I'll no doubt rustle up some lower profile rope, the orange stuff was just plentiful and handy.
For calm use the decks should hold the barrels in place quite nicely. They can still be lashed down independently under the deck though for when they're maybe going to be on bouyancy duty.
Only takes a loosen off to get them in and out.
Bit of a fluke for it all to work out so neat. Didn't need to sew a stitch - just cut it down to shape and punched some eyelet holes.
Josh
