Okay, I finally got aaround to playing a little more with the Silent Traction System. I added a couple of pre cut pieces initially to get the Tarpon a little quieter. Just a couple of rectangles on top of the rails and circle pads in the paddle keeper as these are the two places I notice that I’m always banging my paddle.
Not a bad start, but over the past 2 weeks I’ve been paying more attention to noise and where it makes sense to put the rest of my kit.
First, you only need a couple of tools to work with the Silent Traction material. A measuring tape, pair of scissors, a straight edge, and a single edge razor blade are the necessities. A couple of extras that come in handy are a few different radius cans and a sharpie marker.
One place that begs for some padding are the bow where I slide the paddle under the bungee. The shape is totally up to you. I wanted rounded edges to reduce peeling and lines that complemented the deck and rigging.
The next spot serves double duty. I cut a pad just wide enough to fill the recess in the cockpit floor and long enough to extend to where I like to stand.
Now my small tackle box and boge grip don’t rattle around and I’m not going to slip while poling across a flat looking for reds.
I had plenty of material left so I decided to attack the Ride 135 as well. I took the lesson learned from the Tarpon and applied them to the Ride
First the nose to keep stowing the paddle quiet.
Then the rails to keep the paddle from making noise laid across my lap and a place fo