I have a small tear in my tramp located near the rope bag. Otherwise the tramp is in great shape, Is there a good fix for this or should I be shopping for a new tramp?
Honestly, I had to ponder over this for quite a while myself when I discovered a tear in my tramp. However, i must say, it is most likely worth while to bring it to a canvas shop or something of the sort and ask them to sew it up for you. That's what I did and it cost me about $25 to have a 15inch tear sewed up. The hole started out at around 2inches, but I went out sailing with it once, and while jibing my knee went directly on top of it and i went straight through the tramp. Now granted, this was a 1979 vinyl tramp, but I was still surprised. I still have that tramp stored somewhere, but the repair job was well worth it cause it lasted almost an entire season until i save up enough to buy a new hobie stock race-legal mesh tramp.
One bit of advice when bringing the tramp to the canvas repair shop would be to bring both sides with you just in case you decide to have grommets installed in it so water can drain. Also, make sure you have the repair guy sew the tear shut, sew another piece of vinyl on the top and also sew another piece on the bottom of it as well, this will make sure that this weak spot will be super reinforced.
Hope that helped
A couple years ago some vandals punched a knife through my tramp in several places leaving slashes an inch or two long. I found a product called Seam Grip by McNett. I just applied it on top of the rip and let it cure. I expected it to come right off the first time I left the beach but it didn't. It lasted two whole seasons before I went ahead and bought a new tramp. Great stuff! It is sold to repair tents and tarps and such. It did turn a little yellow though after two seasons in the sun.
Vinny,
I've been out of touch for awhile. Are the older vinyl tramps not race legal for the 16 class?
Thanks.
I think he meant instead of buying an aftermarket tramp.....At least I think. I think the new boats still have white vinyle tramps.
yeah sorry about the confusion there, i meant that instead of buying a tramp from an aftermarket supplier. Those are not class legal, however much much much cheaper. New hobie tramps cost 475 i think and ive seen aftermarket ones for around 200
But aren't the cheaper tramps sewn and the Hobie tramps heat welded? I would think the stitching would give way much sooner. I have read other post attesting to this. I do not know by experience.
The stitching is certainly more prone to UV damage. I cheaped out and bought a non class legal tramp for $190. I'll let you know how it works in a few years.
475 is 2/3 of what I paid for the boat.
Yeah in the new 08-09 edition of the HObie Parts Catalogue, there is a little blurb on the trampoline page that talks about how Hobie heat welds the tramps and that this has a huge affect on the tramp's life compared to the stitched tramps. I dont know the page number off the top of my head but what they said made sense to me.