Ama Bungees: Do You Un-Hook Them Out of the Water?

Does anybody have, say, a three-year-old AI on which they have left the ama bungees attached the whole time?

i.e. How long does bungee tolerate being in constant tension before Bad Things happen?

I have found old bungee in my rope bag where the rubber had simply deteriorated over time and lost all it's stretch - but that bungee had never been under any tension... ever.... So the stuff clearly has a shelf life... The question being how closely ShelfLife approximates ServiceLife.

I have no feel for how bungee tolerates being under constant load.

Front hatch? ..... Rear cargo tiedown, ..... Amas....

One tradeoff for the ama bungees is between (maybe) increasing life (??) and forgetting to attach them one day and having an ama fall off in the water at speed.

Of course, that can be mitigated or eliminated by hanging a flag on each bungee that is detached, like I used to do with my windsurfers when the air vent screw was loosened.

But no sense going all OCD on this if the bungees tolerate a few years of constant load - in which case I would just leave them under load and schedule pre-emptive replacements.

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2015 AI in "Dune" - "The Grey Pig"
2017 Trailex 450 Trailer
Pre-September 2015 cradles
(anybody want to buy a slightly-used AI SpinKit?)
eMail: [email protected]

Why leave them under load all the time? Makes no sense to me. You don't want them to break (because they have been left under load &, perhaps, in the sun) under stress and maybe have an ama fall off underway. I believe Fusioneng actually adds a tether at each aka/ama joint to prevent the ama coming off if the bungee should break. I've gone the route of adding a 2nd bungee to each aka/ama joint on my 2014 tandem. Hobie has also done this on their 2015 and later boats, I believe. But, I always release all the bungees when my TI/AI is not in use.

Same with bungees on front hatch. Why leave them on and possibly compromise the front hatch seal because of continuous pressure? I don't even leave my front hatch cover on when the boat is stored to avoid stressing the hatch seal.

I remove the rear storage bungee. I don't use it.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

I unload all of my bungees when the boat is on the trailer. I just made it part of my pre-departure checklist to re-attach all of the bungees before pulling out of the garage. I don't know if they will last longer because of it, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

I do exactly the same thing as TI_Tom. In summer i also open up the drain plugs on the boat and amas.

+1 for the drain plugs. Just make sure you put them back in!

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

I sold my 2008 AI late last year and the original bungees worked fine. My 2010 TI still has its original bungees, which work fine but I did do the second bungee mod early on.
Both boats were stored with bungees undone. We have done multiple weekly camping trips, mostly with the TI, where the bungees remain hooked the entire time and have had no issues.
I rarely undo the drain plugs on the hull and have never undone the ama drain plugs.

Pete, try a little lateral thinking...

Get some light grey Dyeema rudder cord from your dealer. Unscrew one black fitting on the ama at each aka attachment point.

Tie a small washer to one end of the dyeema cord (big enough to prevent the end slipping through the hole - don't tie it to the bungee, as you want it to be anchored independently from the bungee), pushing the other end up through the hole in the plastic fitting. Screw the fitting back into the ama, and hook the bungee(s) onto the button(s) on the aka.

Tie a bowline loop in the dyeema so it will just reach one of the buttons, and cut off the excess. Repeat for the other corners.

You now have the ability to undo the bungees (to theoretically prolong their service life) WITHOUT the risk of an ama falling off if you forget to do up the bungee(s) before launching.

Of course, you also get the added bonus of failsafe should your bungees break while out on the water. Not bad for the coast of a few bucks.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

Yea the best part of adding that grey rudder line (available from any dealer , I think it's called spectra over here) is it's like 500 lbs test, and lasts forever (many of my liitle re-enforcements are 6 yrs old now, with no sign of deteriation).
Once you have them installed you can sit on the AMA's when snorkeling and swimming (we do all the time). Like Tony said if you leave your AMA's on during storage, just unload the bungys and leave those lines in place (make sure you leave enough play in them so you can fold the AMA's, it's best to mount them in the rear fitting on both the front and back bungy caps (I just use needle nose pliers to remove the plugs, they just thread in). The cool thing about the spectra is the line is very thin so you can have 4 or 5 things attached to those little mushroom thingies on the end of the AKA's, we have everything under the sun attached to ours, including our ladder. The trick to making them load bearing is wrap the cord around the aka bar before attaching.
FE

Huh...FE, there is an old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words." Picture(s), please.

Keith

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2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

+1 Chekika

I've seen the FE mods before but would take a month to find them - would really appreciate a picture or two

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2015 Tandem Island - Golden Papaya "HALIBOO"
(retired) Outback - Hibiscus Red

Yep agree 100%, I've done this with all my Yaks

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Cuda Kev Frampton

2015 Hobie Adventure Island in Golden Papaya "Sail-Fish"