I chose to join the neoprene (2mm smooth/jersey, from http://hookloopoutlet.com/neoprene-sheets--nylon---smooth-skin.html with hand sewing and aquaseal (I bought scads of Aquaseal from ebay as the price annihilated the dive shop price). I received the rubber and promptly played on it with my 19 month old daughter Lili. Lili is an excellent judge of all things kayak so her approval was very much appreciated.
The lines were drawn, cuts were made and procrastinator-y confusion ensued. After begging a friend to sew it for me, attempting a glue only joint (I slept through the part where the glue was ready to join) and fiddling with my dear spouses sewing machine, it was determined that hand stitching would be the ticket.
Much to my surprise this process went fairly quickly and in two evenings a tuilik took shape. In conjunction with heckling John and Paul while they worked away on Abby (John's new boat), glue was spread or rather glopped onto the tuilik seams. I had my doubts as to how effective this approach would be, but as evidenced by my paddling this afternoon in the jacket success was had! Soonish, when the poor thing is given the time to dry out..., a seam sealing coat will be added to the inside as well.
The perfect compliment to this tuilik and the opportunity granted by having adequate neoprene left over for such an enterprise, a pair of mittens were crafted as well. They came together quite simply with some paper pattern play, stitching, and a little Aquaseal sealant.
The final touch will be the addition of a bungee cinch strap to seal them to my wrists and then voila, finito, I'm done.
It is my wish that some web drifter searching for tuilik demystification will alight upon this page and be emboldened to see it through. Good luck and pleasant paddling.
tuilik demystification much appreciated
ReplyDeleteTuilik making much demystified!
ReplyDeleteThank you!