corbin james

I used to build hang gliders professionally in the mid- eighties and we ran into similar problems trying to scale down a successful model. Had to experiment with completely different airframe geometry and completely different planforms and aspect ratios for larger or smaller models of the ....same....glider. which meant it wasnt really the ...same...glider except by name (not design)

my test on scrap fabric was semi-succesful with tight fabric. would have worked but wasnt clean enough for my liking so i am going to wait and try this on my next project, not this one. from my experiment i believe this technique should work well if the drybag and ring are positioned and sewn into place bEFORE the initial running stitch is done.

Thanks for the input jeff....the 'already skinned" aspect bothers me too....for the test i'll do some shrinking on the fabric to simulate an already skinned boat and let ya know....it will be fun to try (on scrap)

i'll install it on a piece of scrap cloth first to see how its going to sew and look. I'll post the pics . Yes, I couldnt bring myself to cut the top stringer even though i really like the way jeffs hatches look when they are done. i also did not want to add the weight of a piece of plywood.......so this is my experiment. if it sews up okay, the main hassle so far was building a mold and a ring of the perfect thickness to fit inside the drybag. took me two trys and its still a bit tight. it was hard for me to measure the inside of a dry bag and then subtract the exact thickness of the coaming ring, then make the coaming ring to an exact thickness.... trial and error.

forgot to add the pic of the rolled up drybag....

Just finshed skinning my first build, "Vardo", and have an "after the fact" hatch idea i would like to run by you all. I built a small oval ring like a small coaming to fit inside the diameter of a dry bag I have. thinking of cutting the drybag in half, inserting the wooden oval so aobut 5/8" is hanging down then folding the outside edge around to the inside where it would be mated to the kayaks fabric folded up and over the drybag edge then sewn to the ring same way as the coaming.....i dont see why it wouldnt work except for the extremely small radius of each end. Might be very difficult to wrap and pin into place for sewing. Ill post a pic of my freshly sewn vardo along with a pic of the "drybag hatch ring" laying on the deck....I'll slide the ring into the bag and take a pic of that too....I havn't cut the bag yet so its going to look pretty bulky but you'll get the idea.... Has anyone done this? I will practice on a waste piece before cutting into the fabric to see if i can pull it off but I see some advantages of this method.... 1. light weight 2. totally secure, there is no way this hatch lid could pop off or come undone. 3. It going to be extremely watertight has anyone else done this? Whats the smallest radius anyone has sewn to their skins? i guess I'll find out.