> A friend of mine has a nice Seaward Quest kayak that she had outfitted
> with "soft fittings." They are basically cloth tabs secured with
> marine screws. I like how they look and I figure they're probably going to
> hold up better than Pygmy's plastic hardware. (I just finished building
> the Pygmy Coho and am taking it out tomorrow for its first paddle!) I have
> a few weeks before doing the final sanding and varnishing and installation
> of deck rigging and would appreciated any comments about this system of
> deck rigging or any other.

> Thanks- Ashley

Ashley, most of the fittings I've seen like this were made with pieces of nylon strap. The best I've seen use a nylon tubular webbing that is the same as used by rock climbers. A 1 inch wide strip of the best quality stuff sells for about 35 cents a foot from places like REI and Campmor. A 3 or 4 inch piece makes a good loop, so the cost per fitting is about a dime, making this a very reasonable way of doing things.

A couple of tips on using this material. If you cut it with a scissors or a knife it will unravel. The best way to cut this is with a hot-wire cutter, and the stores that sell this stuff usually have such a device. If asked politely, and the store is not too busy, I've had good luck with the clerks cutting this stuff to size for me. (Really, I think they like having an excuse to play with the cutter, or the smell of the burnt nylon turns them on!)

This nylon webbing will hold up for a several years in daylight, but it does eventually degrade from UV light. For climbing safety this stuff is replaced at least once a year, but you won't be subjecting it to such great stress, so figure on having to replace these about every 5 years. If you varnish your boat each year you may want to remove these things at that time to make it easier to sand and varnish. You can inspect them for wear at that time, too. Since that means the fasteners will have to be removed rather frequently, consider using bronze or stainless steel bolts, rather than woodscrews, to hold these things on when they are first installed.

That basically means using stainless `T' nuts or brass threaded inserts in a block of wood that is epoxied under the deck. If your deck is already on, you can prepare these blocks, drill a hole in the deck, poke a wire through the hole, and fish the end out through a hatch. Loosely thread the block with the `T' nut on the end of this wire, put on a few drops of epoxy glue, and pull the wire back out. It should seat the block directly under the hole you have drilled. When the epoxy sets you poke the wire out and install your bolt and the webbing.

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson