Dinghy Chaps

We already had lots of boat canvas to shade the Fox in sunny climes - an arrowhead-shaped foredeck cover, a mid-deck ShadeTree arched cover, and a cockpit cover;

but it was not until we arrived in Mexico that we heard tell of necessaries heretofore unknown to us.  Such as chaps to cover our dinghy's pontoons - the better to protect the dinghy from accelerated deterioration in the sun and heat, as well as to protect our tender gringo skin from frying on hot Hypalon as the dinghy is underway.

Construction of dinghy chaps is complicated by the A-frame shape of the dinkster, the spherical shape of its inflated pontoons, and the generally pointy aft ends of said pontoons.  Not to mention that most dinghies have sundry hand-holds and hard points that need to be kept uncovered when the dinghy is in use.  It's a challenge to sew one of these things.  It took me over three hours at anchor in Bahia de los Frailes, just to take all the necessary measurements.  And trying to correctly position the open spaces in the chaps to accomodate the hand holds and hard points?  Oy.  And vey.  But I solved the problem:  I paid a pro to do the job.

We docked in Mazatlan and within 24 hours were one of four different boats that ordered dinghy chaps from Pedro Moreno at Tapiceria Mazatlan ("Upholstery Mazatlan - English spoken - good prices").  Mr. Moreno and his people finished the job in a week.  How good was it?  Perfect fit, Sunbrella with suede trim around the hand holds and hard points, very good price...a girl can't ask for more than that.

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Comments

[Nick, Cindi & Nat S/V Baloo]

Great to see y'all are doing well down there. We'll catch up to you next year. For now, we're holed up in Maine training up our new crew! Baloo waits patiently in San Carlos.

Nick & Cindi