Napali Kayak Assembly Instruction Manual
CAUTION Paddlesports can be dangerous and physically demanding. The user of this product should understand that participation in paddlesports may involve serious injury or death.
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS Please read these instructions carefully: some changes have been made to the process for assembly of the coaming (steps 41-46, pages 7-8). 1. Remove and identify all the components. See Figure 1. 2. Unfold each of the 8 longitudinal rods and 2 deck rods. These rods are shock-corded for easy assembly. Ensure the joints on each rod are properly engaged with each other. 3. Each of the 8 longitudinal rods (part 4) has a color-coded tip at the bow end.
8. Attach the second end-unit frame (part 3, with stainless rings) to the stern end of the longitudinal rods by bending the rods around and inserting them into their respective positions in the stern end frame (Fig 3). Lock the rods in place by rotating 90 degrees. Check that no rods have become entwined with each other during the process and that each tube is locked in the correct position at both bow and stern ends. 9.
• By pulling outwards and/or upwards with the hand closest to the bow, open the expansion joints as wide as possible. This will usually involve part of the rod bending outside the skin, so you need to ensure that the rod does not become caught in the skin. See Figure 8: the outermost two tubes in this image have been forced out wide and the expansion junction has opened up. Make sure that the expansion join is opening up and not one of the other tube junctions.
21. Slide the seat backwards to the middle of the cockpit. 22. Unravel the tensioning webbing (part 12) and lay it alongside the kayak with the karabiner at the bow end. 23. Attach the karabiner to the bow end-frame. The correct position of this is shown in figure 5. Hold the karabiner with the opening facing down. Open the karabiner and hold it open with one finger. Reach into the bow and clip it over the horizontal strut in the middle of the bow end frame. This is done “blind” but is not difficult. 24.
33. Insert the rear deck rod (part 5, with blue bands) into the pivot unit on the stern end frame. Rotate the rod 90 degrees to lock in place and snap the tube into the upper recesses in the small cross rib. Note that the upper recess on the small cross ribs are very flexible and are designed to flex to the required angle to accommodate the deck rods. 34.
41. The short Kevlar compression struts (parts 17) can now be inserted behind the cockpit and forward of the foot rests (Fig 18, Fig 19). These struts increase the rigidity of the hull by maintaining skin tension as the hull flexes. The compression struts snap onto the central deck tubes and the two lower keel tubes. Each pair of struts are colour coded, the blue ones sit about 30cm behind the cockpit (Fig 18). The red ones sit forward of the footrest (Fig 19).
46. Pull the front flap around the side of the cockpit capturing the front coaming connector (Fig 21). On the end of the front flap there is a strap with a side release buckle. The male end of the buckle should be fed through the D ring on the end of the rear flap and clipped into the female part of the buckle. This 2:1 webbing system enables you to tension the flaps against the pressure of the coaming rods.
5) Remove the foam caps from the skin. Wash and dry the skin. Leave the zippers unzipped when the canopy is to be folded or rolled up. 6) All parts should periodically be washed in tap water with detergent and then dried before storage to maintain condition. It is advisable to frequently wash out the composite tubes to remove sand and salt within. The composite tube joins should periodically be lubricated using a silicon spray. 7) The webbings should be replaced if they are showing signs of wear.
