Dinghy Chaps - a good or bad idea?

[sailorboy1]

Call it whatever you want, it isn't and problem. My last dinghy had the/navy blue sunbrella and my current one has the same

[Muaddib1116]

Cool. (pun intended)

[JPA Cate]

Muaddib:

If cockpit cushions are what's on your mind, what we have done is make the underside white. Then you can turn them over, and you can walk barefoot on them, when our dark red or your navy would be too hot for my bare feet.

Ann

[skipgundlach]

Absolutely.

We're off the boat now but our hypalon dink with tuffstuff (awning material with UV protection one side) showed NO deterioration after 7 years.

Until our replacement tuffstuff was made UV inside by a fabricator who didn't know any better, and we didn't know it was one-side-only.

First set of chaps lasted about 7 years. PRISTINE hypalon under it.
Second set lasted only a couple of years (wrong-side out). Sloth prevented our replacing them.

Previously pristine hypalon failed in a couple of years, with constant patching, delamination, you name it.

Chaps for sure. Solid material won't let UV through (like the tuffstuff awning material we used, e.g.).

We used yellow, which made our dink easy to find on a 3-deep rafting at the crowded dock...

[White Rabbit]

Dinghy chaps are well worth installing. I have a new hypalon dinghy that cost me $3800 a few years ago. The thought of it sitting out in the sun slowly deteriorating was too much. I bought a Sailrite sewing machine and the dinghy chaps were my first project. Made the chaps with Sunbrella and PTFE thread that won't rot in the sun. Sailrite has a great video on making chaps. The Sailrite machine and material were about equal to what I would have paid to have someone else make the chaps to the same degree of quality. Also I have a big dog that loves to ride the dinghy. His claws were scratching up the hypalon. Now I don't worry.

[argonauta1]

When we first went sailing tropo, because of lack of knowledge and poor research we bought a Zodiac dinghy fabricated in a UV vulnerable material called Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC. In the Caribbean It self destructed within a year. Most of the seams failed. We were by then in Venezuela, home of the Caribe. So we bought one. We had learned that the Caribe fabric was HYPALON and highly UV resistant. Other users called it bullet proof! The Caribe lasted us for over ten years and that was without any added protection such as chaps.

[JPA Cate]

A commercial post was removed from here and transferred to the Marine Service Providers Forum. It was from a Stuart, FL place that makes dinghy covers.
Here is their contact e-mail address, transliterated: < mlpults at bellsouth dot net>

[wingssail]

I made chaps for my Avon when it was new. I used light grey Sunbrella. It was a lot of work but I was satisfied by the end result...except for the extra weight they added.

It is hard enough to pull the dingy up and down the beach even with big dingy wheels, and the chaps add to it significantly.

Since our dingy was completely deflate-able we simply folded it up and put it in the bag when not in daily use. We sold the chaps. That Avon lasted about 15 years and the tubes were still fine. The high pressure floor and inflatable keel were a problem so we sold that one and bought a new dingy, a Zodiac PVC. Also completely deflate-able. This one is now 13 years old, 100% on the tropics, and showing wear. Chaps would extend the life of this Zodiac, but the weight is the thing. We don't want to add anything to that dingy.

So we go without chaps.

[Muaddib1116]

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. How much do you think the chaps weighed?

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. How much do you think the chaps weighed?

A 12' dingy (like ours) needs about 8 yards of cloth to make chaps. Sunbrella weighs 9.25 oz per sq yard, so 74oz plus weight of the trim, etc. All together it is it is about 5-6 lbs for ours, somewhat less for a smaller dink. It's equal to another gallon of gasoline.

We are very weight conscious on every way about our boat. Is 5-6 lbs much? No, but imagine carrying 5 1-lb bricks of butter under your arm when your feet are sinking into the soft sand and you're trying to pull the dingy up the beach. (we are in our 70's).

[Jim Cate]

^^^^
Fred, considering your advocation of sailing as an athletic sport, the addition of 5 lbs to your dinghy as a reason to not have chaps seems odd to me.

Different strokes and all that, but odd...

Jim

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

^^^^
Fred, considering your advocation of sailing as an athletic sport, the addition of 5 lbs to your dinghy as a reason to not have chaps seems odd to me.

Different strokes and all that, but odd...

Jim

Yeah, well, I'm odd.

I go to the gym to work-out but I hate struggling with the dingy.

And besides, we're obsessive about weight on the big boat too. (it's a mental problem I guess)

Then, if we did have chaps presumably we'd need to take them off when we deflated and bagged the dingy, and store the folded up chaps somewhere...

All in all, simpler is better, besides being lighter.

[Muaddib1116]

Originally Posted by wingssail

A 12' dingy (like ours) needs about 8 yards of cloth to make chaps. Sunbrella weighs 9.25 oz per sq yard, so 74oz plus weight of the trim, etc. All together it is it is about 5-6 lbs for ours, somewhat less for a smaller dink. It's equal to another gallon of gasoline.

We are very weight conscious on every way about our boat. Is 5-6 lbs much? No, but imagine carrying 5 1-lb bricks of butter under your arm when your feet are sinking into the soft sand and you're trying to pull the dingy up the beach. (we are in our 70's).

Thanks for the info. I think for my setup, I'd be ok with that amount of weight.

[TPG]

I'm surprised I don't see more chaps. Capt Fatty swears by them and reports that it's led to more longevity on his tubes over the years.

We have a new dingy on order and we ordered chaps with it, am interested to see how much it helps or hinders usage.

[JPA Cate]

Re post #40, by Fred from Wings,

Funny, we've never worried about the weight of the Sunbrella at all (except when I was in my WeatherMax phase). However, since we started cruising, we have one of the dinosaur tampon style round fenders that has been used as a roller (and occasionally as a fender) for our approximately 13 ft. dinghies (turned out to be as big as we could handle conveniently, and made stable dive platforms). Pretty interesting how one's values get worked out as sailors.

Ann