AVON Alert

[Ken Coit]

For those of you who own an Avon inflatable: take a close look at the handlines on the tubes to make certain they are securely fastened. On my '99 roll up one end of a handline came loose because the 1/2 inch line was not adequately fastened to itself after being looped around its anchor. Cable ties and glue were used instead of an eye slice or a knot. This was discovered simply by hefting on the line to move the dinghy; fortunately it wasn't a life-threatening situation.

Solution? One would be to not take advantage of the anchor loop and simply tie a stopper knot, not a figure eight, at each end. I think this might concentrate the load on a small portion of the anchor patch, which would not be good. Another solution might be to use the anchor loop and then tie two half hitches or a bowline beyond the exit hole of the fairlead on the anchor patch. There is not room to pass through the fairlead twice. Avon used glue between the line and the anchor patch; it wasn't hard to remove the line once the cable tie was removed.

If anyone has additional ideas about solving this problem, please post them.

Thanks,

Ken Coit
S/V Parfait
Raleigh, NC



parfait@nc.rr.com

[Ken Coit]

Have you been anxiously awaiting all the suggestions I hoped to get? Well, I have an answer that ought to work, looks OK, and is a major improvement over the Avon solution (see below if you missed it earlier). Get some 1/2 inch three-strand nylon, or if you want a slight easier task, buy 7/16ths line. I threaded the line through the fairlead of the anchor patch and then over the top and around the anchor patch, completing the loop with a splice where the line first enters the fairlead. With the dinghy deflated, it isn't hard to get a fairly tight wrap of the anchor patch and still be able to do the splicing.

Ken
S/V Parfait
Raleigh, NC

For those of you who own an Avon inflatable: take a close look at the handlines on the tubes to make certain they are securely fastened. On my '99 roll up one end of a handline came loose because the 1/2 inch line was not adequately fastened to itself after being looped around its anchor. Cable ties and glue were used instead of an eye slice or a knot. This was discovered simply by hefting on the line to move the dinghy; fortunately it wasn't a life-threatening situation.

Solution? One would be to not take advantage of the anchor loop and simply tie a stopper knot, not a figure eight, at each end. I think this might concentrate the load on a small portion of the anchor patch, which would not be good. Another solution might be to use the anchor loop and then tie two half hitches or a bowline beyond the exit hole of the fairlead on the anchor patch. There is not room to pass through the fairlead twice. Avon used glue between the line and the anchor patch; it wasn't hard to remove the line once the cable tie was removed.

If anyone has additional ideas about solving this problem, please post them.

Thanks,

Ken Coit
S/V Parfait
Raleigh, NC

parfait@nc.rr.com