I managed to tear 2 (of the 3 on my AI) Hobie rubber mesh pockets yesterday. It would cost nearly $50 to replace them, which seems crazy expensive, even by Hobie standards. Has anybody found an alternative (cheaper) material that works well? On the Hobie forum, somebody cut up a rubber landing net, and I'm sure that would work, but I don't have one to cut up...

I launch my AI from the SC harbor all the time. Sometimes I get a yearly launch pass, but this year, I did not (the pass is attached to a trailer, and I've been using 2 different trailers). I usually don't pay before I launch, and the attendant puts a ticket under my windshield wiper after 9:00am. I always pay that at the harbormaster office before I leave.

In the mail, I received an "Official Courtesy Notice Unpaid Parking Citation(s)", which says that I owe $49 for an unpaid ticket that was issued 06/07/2024 at 9:25am. I was not at the harbor on June 7, so I'm going to dispute it, but it seems difficult to prove that I wasn't there. I was at the harbor on June 5, June 8, June 12, etc., and I never go 2 days in a row. In fact, I covered nearly 19 miles on June 8, and there is no way I'd have enough energy to do that if I'd been on the water the day before (I'm not Mr. X!). However, I don't think that would be a persuasive argument.

Any suggestions on how to proceed?

In any case, I'd suggest keeping all of your receipts when you launch at the SC harbor, as this happened to me once before. That previous one was relatively easy to dispute, as I was there and had paid.

I bought an Icom IC-M37 from West Marine about a year ago, and as of Friday, it seems to be seriously malfunctioning. I can power it up, and it shows channel 11. It seems to actually work on that channel, and I can even adjust the volume/squelch and set the hi/low. However, I cannot get it to switch to any other channel, and even the dedicated button that is suppose to switch to channel 16 does nothing.

Anybody else ever have a similar problem, preferably, that you were able to resolve?

Barring that, do you have a recommendation for a VHF, preferably one that is available at West Marine that I can get today?

I posted something about my DIY-PVC seat in a different thread, but now that it's been through several revisions, and I think I've more-or-less perfected it, I thought I'd start a separate thread.

The backstory is that on a pre-2015 AI/TI, the seat area is sure to get flooded with water, and I got tired of sitting in a puddle of water all day. So, I made a frame out of PVC pipe, and strung bungee cord over it as tight as possible. The first version worked OK, but was a bit too low in front. The second version was very comfy, but it was a bit too high. The 3rd version ended up in the trash (lots of swearing involved) as the glue set on the very last piece before the pipe was fully inserted into its fitting.

Finally, the fourth version seems to be exactly what I was looking for. The only down side is that the bottom of the main sail is now below head-height, but that's a lot less annoying than a wet butt. Some pictures are attached.

It's all 3/4" regular white PVC pipe. I glued it together (the usual PVC cement, no primer), and I'd recommend glueing it. It is possible to just put in screws to hold it together, making it easier to modify, but then it might squeak. It is a bit challenging to get everything square when gluing. Believe it or not, I found that the secret to squareness is to buy PVC pipe from Lowe's rather than Home Depot, as the pipe from Lowe's can be fully inserted into fittings and taken apart, while the pipe from Home Depot could only be inserted about half way into fittings. Being able to completely pre-assemble everything is a huge plus, as then you can square everything, and mark exactly how the pipe and fitting need to join.

Also, the extra brace across the underside is worth including, as without that, the pipe tends to bow in quite a bit under the pressure of the bungee cord (not to mention the weight of the butt). Adding a second brace would not be unreasonable. The brace was a bit tricky, as part of the inside of the fittings needs to be filed off (pipe is not supposed to slide through the middle third of a T fitting). I did that modification with a sanding pad on an angle grinder (gotta be very careful not to melt/burn the PVC too much). I didn't bother to glue the modified T onto the pipe as the bungee cord should hold it in place. Finally, the curvy piece on the front is not necessary--it's just something I happened to have lying around (or, possibly, laying around) that was the right length. Finally finally, I also plan to put some rubber feet under the bottom front pipe, since it doesn't exactly match up with the shape of the kayak. If you are really good at bending PVC pipe, it might be possible to make the pipe lay flat against the kayak, but that would be tricky, as the hull is not perfectly symmetric.

If anybody wants precise lengths of the pipes used, LMK.

When I saw this article, the first thing I thought of was the Far Side comic below...

https://www.ktvu.com/news/kite-surfer-spells-help-sand-prompts-santa-cruz-rescue

I've got a pre-2015 Hobie AI, which means that I sit in a puddle of water, except on the days where it's no fun to have an AI. I finally decided to do something about it. I made a PVC frame that will keep my butt out of the water--see the pictures below. I've already got a seat back that works well (it's made out of PVC pipe and lots of bungee cord), so, it's just the seat bottom that is needed.

I'm thinking that there must be some sort of mesh that would work well for this, but (butt?) I seem to be having trouble Googling up anything that looks like a good fit. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Enquiring minds want to know...

May be a good price, if it doesn't have any serious problems:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/spo/d/san-francisco-hobie-revolution-13/7721281663.html