I know....It's been hashed over, but...

Patching a vinyl tramp. I've searched the repair forum and still can't make sense of some of the replies. I have flipped my tramp over and where the hiking straps were sewn on the tramp is starting to tear. I'd like to stop this and get a few more years out of the tramp. Any Ideas? I would love an iron on solution. I've looked in Murrays for a tramp repair kit with no luck and every other idea involves finding an upholstery shop friendly to sailors. Here in Utah they are few and far between. The Great Salt Lake water temperature is now 44 degrees F and I'd like the solution before it gets to 50 as I'm sailing at 50 degrees. Thanks for your help and experience.

I don't know how you would repair that without sewing some kind of patch over the torn area, when mine started doing that I did have patches sewn under the tramp, however it didn't last very long and i found that when i knelt on the tramp it would start to fail. It wasn't too long after that that the tramp ripped all the way across. See if you can find a good used one to get you by until you can afford a new one. there was another topic in the 16 forum about a used tramp, check it out, maybe someone still has one.

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Do what you will in trying to patch. My tramp was the original one from 1981 when I bought our boat last year. It was in pretty bad shape. The original owner as well as a few others said it would "probably" hold up.

All I could picture in my head was having the tramp fail while I was stepping the mast and breaking my legs in the trailer cross bars, the mast comming down kerplunking people in the head, being dragged away from the ramp to wait for the ambulances to pick up me and the kerplunked people, survivors repacking the boat messing up my rigging and stuff while I'm being taken to the hospital, THE BEER GETTING WARM in the cooler while I'm WAITING 10 hours in the ER for them to get around to me, waiting to heal...OH! THE HUMANITY!!!...I ordered a new one. Something to consider.

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1981 H16.
1993 Macgregor 26S

A couple of ideas related to this thread....

I have a friend that had very good results repairing a couple of rips on a (solid) vinyl H-16 tramp. He cut the patches out of an old, trashed tramp of the same material (that he got for free) and glued them on using the cleaner and glue for joining PVC pipe. He roughed up and cleaned the areas that would be fit together then put one patch on top and one on the bottom and kept it all pressed tightly together until it cured. From a materials compatibility standpoint, it makes sense, but I was very doubtful it would work, since these were some pretty big rips. I was amazed....they held up for two years of double-handed sailing right up until he sold the boat. Even if it doesn't work for you, you won't be out much in terms of time, effort, or money.

Regarding Swampcreek's mast stepping concern, I have another friend who has bad knees....previous surgeries on both. Regardless of his tramp's condition, he ALWAYS raises and lowers his mast with the boat off the trailer so there's less distance to fall (and less stuff to fall on) if things go wrong. A second pair of hands is nice for keeping the mast on deck while getting the boat on and off the trailer, and this technique would probably be difficult if you had to launch from a ramp. However, it actually seems to make rigging quicker, easier, and safer. I've done it a couple of times when there was a crowd and limited vehicle/trailer access to the unloading site. I dumped the boat and got it and the vehicle/trailer out of others' way prior to rigging....must faster for everyone.

Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16
Clinton, Mississippi

Weak tramps can be dangerous in many ways. I had a friend with a Tornado who went through a mesh tramp with both feet. The boat was tied to a dock and he went through while raising the main. Tornado main halyards come out the bottom of the mast so you are actually pulling up and forcing your feet downward. He nearly drowned!

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Jack Woehrle
Wave #100
H20 #287 "Tallahassee Lassie" (down in FLA)

I've had that same nightmare! ! !

New Tramp .....$400.00
Health Insurance Deductible .....$2500.00
Peace of Mind..... Priceless

Stephen
H-18