I've just about finished refinishing my Pygmy Coho Hi that I built in 2009.
Today I made new soft pad eyes for the shock cord that also acts as a perimeter line.
The shock cord kit and perimeter line kit that Pygmy sells includes hard plastic strap eyes that are not very professional looking in my opinion. They are also very hard and ouchy if you have to crawl back on board.
ALTERNATIVE STEP FROM THE OFFICIAL PYGMY MANUAL: Instead, many people are making their own shock cord systems and using soft webbing for their pad eyes.
1. Purchase a couple yards of 1" nylon webbing (NOT cloth!).
2. Cut as many pieces as you need. Use scissors and cut them into 4.5" pieces. 4.5" makes a pad eye large enough for two lines of shock cord to easily pass through. Any smaller and it will become impossible to pass two lines through. You'll often need to get two lines through the same pad eye. See the pictures of the new shock cords below and you'll see that most have two lines going through them.
3. Melt the ends so they don't fray. I have an old wood burner tool, but you can use whatever you can jimmy up to melt the ends. Matches or a lighter work fine.
4. Fold the piece: Take one end and it fold over about 3/4" - 7/8". Then fold the other end down to meet the crease. The picture shows the loose end on the bottom but there's no reason that you couldn't tuck the loose end inside. It would make it even cleaner and give it a nice look. I'll do that on my next boat.
5. Melt a hole through the triple-layer end. Again, I use a wood burner. But you might use a match or perhaps put a propane torch on a nail held by pliers... I don't know, just melt a hole the size of your bolts through the webbing. If you just drill the bolt through the webbing it may end up fraying.
6. Bolt it through the hull. Bolt down each piece where you've drilled your holes. Put the folded side up. See picture below. Cutting the straps at 4.5" will leave a large enough opening for two lengths of shock cord to pass through. If you make it much smaller then it will be impossible to get two cords through.
Here is how I rig my hand toggles so that they are retractable, and how I rig my deck shock cord pattern. As you can see I like the red shock cord. Bought mine on Amazon but you can find all sorts of shock cord and webbing at Seattle Fabrics. GREAT store! I use shock cord for the entire perimeter. I also use it to make the handles retractable. See pictures. You just have to find a stainless steel ring to feed your hand toggles through.
Connecting the shock cord perimeter line to the hand toggles means that your toggles will never droop over the sides or drag behind. They become retractable! On my next boat I will make custom hand toggles instead of using the plastic ones.
In the picture below you can see a compass. It's a Brunton 58 Marine Kayak Compass and it comes with bungee cords and hooks. I'm keeping this compass when I sell the boat so I can use it on my next one which is why I've left the black shock cords in place. When I use it permanently on my new boat I will remove the bottom plate on the compass, take out the included bungees and simply route my deck shock cord through and then install the bottom back on. It works well.
You can see how the compass is installed permanently in the picture below. This is from our paddle this summer to Portland Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands. You can also see why I needed to refinish the boat! Look at those faded and rotting out shock cords. The new ones look so much better! If you look carefully you'll also see that that Brunton 58 compass has yellowed. They last about 5 years and then the plastic starts to yellow and turn opaque. The one above is a brand new one. I'm sure others would last longer but I like the size of this one and the fact that you don't have to build it into the deck. It's just the right size and not too big or too small to read.
Pygmy only has one set of shock cords in their kit. The advantages of making your own is that you can choose any color of cord that you like, plus you can take advantage of more deck space.
The stern has the same type of setup:
Good luck on your deck hardware!
Happy paddling!
Today I made new soft pad eyes for the shock cord that also acts as a perimeter line.
The shock cord kit and perimeter line kit that Pygmy sells includes hard plastic strap eyes that are not very professional looking in my opinion. They are also very hard and ouchy if you have to crawl back on board.
ALTERNATIVE STEP FROM THE OFFICIAL PYGMY MANUAL: Instead, many people are making their own shock cord systems and using soft webbing for their pad eyes.
1. Purchase a couple yards of 1" nylon webbing (NOT cloth!).
2. Cut as many pieces as you need. Use scissors and cut them into 4.5" pieces. 4.5" makes a pad eye large enough for two lines of shock cord to easily pass through. Any smaller and it will become impossible to pass two lines through. You'll often need to get two lines through the same pad eye. See the pictures of the new shock cords below and you'll see that most have two lines going through them.
3. Melt the ends so they don't fray. I have an old wood burner tool, but you can use whatever you can jimmy up to melt the ends. Matches or a lighter work fine.
4. Fold the piece: Take one end and it fold over about 3/4" - 7/8". Then fold the other end down to meet the crease. The picture shows the loose end on the bottom but there's no reason that you couldn't tuck the loose end inside. It would make it even cleaner and give it a nice look. I'll do that on my next boat.
5. Melt a hole through the triple-layer end. Again, I use a wood burner. But you might use a match or perhaps put a propane torch on a nail held by pliers... I don't know, just melt a hole the size of your bolts through the webbing. If you just drill the bolt through the webbing it may end up fraying.
6. Bolt it through the hull. Bolt down each piece where you've drilled your holes. Put the folded side up. See picture below. Cutting the straps at 4.5" will leave a large enough opening for two lengths of shock cord to pass through. If you make it much smaller then it will be impossible to get two cords through.
Here is how I rig my hand toggles so that they are retractable, and how I rig my deck shock cord pattern. As you can see I like the red shock cord. Bought mine on Amazon but you can find all sorts of shock cord and webbing at Seattle Fabrics. GREAT store! I use shock cord for the entire perimeter. I also use it to make the handles retractable. See pictures. You just have to find a stainless steel ring to feed your hand toggles through.
Connecting the shock cord perimeter line to the hand toggles means that your toggles will never droop over the sides or drag behind. They become retractable! On my next boat I will make custom hand toggles instead of using the plastic ones.
In the picture below you can see a compass. It's a Brunton 58 Marine Kayak Compass and it comes with bungee cords and hooks. I'm keeping this compass when I sell the boat so I can use it on my next one which is why I've left the black shock cords in place. When I use it permanently on my new boat I will remove the bottom plate on the compass, take out the included bungees and simply route my deck shock cord through and then install the bottom back on. It works well.
You can see how the compass is installed permanently in the picture below. This is from our paddle this summer to Portland Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands. You can also see why I needed to refinish the boat! Look at those faded and rotting out shock cords. The new ones look so much better! If you look carefully you'll also see that that Brunton 58 compass has yellowed. They last about 5 years and then the plastic starts to yellow and turn opaque. The one above is a brand new one. I'm sure others would last longer but I like the size of this one and the fact that you don't have to build it into the deck. It's just the right size and not too big or too small to read.
Pygmy only has one set of shock cords in their kit. The advantages of making your own is that you can choose any color of cord that you like, plus you can take advantage of more deck space.
The stern has the same type of setup:
Good luck on your deck hardware!
Happy paddling!
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