yaknrugger wrote:
My point was with the amas slapping about that there is a perceived problem
Yeah, that's fair. These are unique boats, and I can see how some differences in these boats can cause people to worry about things that they perceive to be a problem.
I only put my two cents in because once something is online, it stays online for years (forever?) and this is the type of thread that, if read incorrectly, can cause these boats to develop an unfair, bad reputation.
There is nothing in these boats that is unbreakable, and as with any other craft, heading out on the water requires awareness. I just hope to clarify that being aware and being worried are two
very different things. If you're prepared to head out on the water for the day with a Hobie, you shouldn't worry about things unnecessarily.
Chekika wrote:
At some point, with your ama buried, the hull tries to ride over a wave, i.e., the hull is rising up, but the ama is buried beneath a wave and can't recover quickly back to the surface. Under these conditions, the bungee may suffer stress
This is exactly the scenario that I imagine when I picture the current bungee system being stressed. I've been out in big waves in Lake Ontario, and never experienced a problem at all, but any system that can keep the ama up tight in more extreme conditions while still allowing folding and quick release of the ama sounds great to me.
When I had my AI, I also rarely folded the AI for a long time, I would always disassemble the boat. I can see a TI owner sitting the boat folded for extended periods of time, and you'd think that over a matter of a number of years that the bungee may lose some elasticity. That's why I'm interested in this idea.