Warning to Hobie Island users with trailers

Though not commonly reported by users Shep and I learned a valuable lesson last week about trailering Adventure Islands in muddy and or dusty roads. To summarise the issue at hand Adventure Island cradles on trailers place the amas and hulls precariously close together and this can cause rubbing. That part we already new and for the most part is generally not so much of a problem (causing scuffing) and typically no problem at all if padded out with something, which I often do. But muddy and dusty roads will coat both hull and amas with raw-sandpapering-horse-power dust and small stones that magnify the wear.

This is what 400km of driving across muddy, rocky and dusty backroads did to Sheps yak. Mine had suffered similar but more minor damage prior (thanks to Sandon river road) but also endured significantly more damage on this trip from a mere 100km of rough road - even after placing foam protectors between amas and hull.

The morale of this story is to be careful about how your AI is strapped to your trailer, especially if long trips over dirt roads are involved. One solution may be to use a kayak cover (make sure it's tightly secured, please). Another might be to adjust the position of the AI on the trailer when on dirt to seperate amas from the hull, and strap hull and amas individually to prevent them from moving around and prevent from making contact. 

I'll be doing a sanding job on mine to smooth it out though I've filled in most of the gouges in Shep's hull and amas with plastic, which he's going to sand and buff down. It'll leave a bit of a cosmetic scar (barely noticable on the dune hull I'm hoping) but stucturally it's going to pull through OK. Will follow up with pictures and description on the job once complete.

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