Your Gunwale Bag is designed to securely hold your paddling sundries, even during portages. To ensure a secure and long lasting installation, please take a moment to read and follow these instructions.
Installation
1. To install your Gunwale Bag, position it on the interior of the hull in the location you want to place it. It can be helpful to use painter's tape to temporarily tape the Gunwale Bag in place.
2. Once you have determined the location of the Gunwale Bag, use a pencil or painter's tape to mark the location of the Velcro strips and SNAD adhesive snaps. Remove the Gunwale Bag from the hull.
3. Next, lightly sand the Velcro and SNAD attachment locations on the inside of the hull with 120 or 220 grit sand paper. You just need to scuff the surface; do not aggressively sand into the hull material.
4. Clean the area with acetone (composite fiberglass, Kevlar, and carbon hulls) or denatured alcohol (Royalex, T-Formex, and other thermo-formed hulls).
5. Place the adhesive Velcro strips and SNAD Snaps on the back side of the Gunwale Bag. Remove the backing from the top Velcro strip, position the Gunwale Bag in place, and firmly press the Velcro strip onto the inside of the boat hull, using your fingers to press the Velcro along its entire length through the fabric of the Gunwale Bag. Remove the backing from the bottom Velcro strip with the strip still attached to the Gunwale Bag and repeat this process.
6. Now, with the Gunwale Bag held in place by the Velcro, remove the backing from the top SNAD snaps. Gently pull the SNAD snaps to the sides of the Gunwale Bag and firmly press the adhesive SNADs onto the hull, holding pressure for 30 seconds and using your fingers to press the perimeter of the SNADs. The SNADs should not be under sideways tension, placed so that you have just removed the slack in the bag's fabric and the webbing tabs.
If you have a large Gunwale Bag with upper and lower SNADs, repeat this process with the lower SNADs.
7. Let the Gunwale Bag sit in the boat for at least 24 hours without removing it or exposing it to moisture. The 3M acrylic adhesive takes 24 hours to reach 80% of it's bond strength at 72 degrees F and 72 hours to reach 100% bond strength. Avoid getting it wet for at least 24 hours.
Care, Cleaning, and Maintenance
Please note that the Gunwale Bags are NOT WATERPROOF. Do not place water-sensitive items in them without appropriate protection.
Your Gunwale Bag should be virtually maintenance free. If it gets exceptionally dirty, you can hand wash it in cold water. Do not machine wash it or wash it in hot water. Never place it in a dryer.
Always remove the Gunwale Bag from your boat during transportation.
Installation kits with Velcro and SNADs are available here if you need to replace or reposition them in your boat, or if you would like to use one Paddle Pocket in multiple boats. You can also get single SNADs (here) and Velcro strips (here) if you need to replace them individually.