: Spidey,
: I have talked to Joe recently about the loops you describe and I think he has
: gone to heat welding the webbing. Into a double thickness or more that
: won't pull thru the slot. I should have asked him how to heat it properly
: but didn't.
: He also cuts the slot by drilling several holes and filing to finish, it must
: have taken courage to cut your beautiful deck with slots big enough for
: 1" webbing!
: I plan to use 1/2" webbing but have been experimenting with different
: methods of cutting the slots with a router or roto-zip. It would take some
: kind of jig set-up to properly align-and-confine the slot. I wonder if
: anyone has done this kind of thing and can suggest some ways to get the
: slot cut without boo-boos.

: Great web page!
: Ray

I just cut 9 slots for tubular webbing (bought at a local mountain outfitter), basically the same as Spidey but using 1/2" rather than 1" width. I made a simple jig using a small piece of 1x4 with 1x2 rails on 3 sides set so that I had a bit more than 1/2" width plus the base of the dremel router (my cutting tool) between the right and left rails. I used several layers duct tape on one rail to edge up to the exact width. The front rail was just nailed square with the 2 sides. The rails had to be fairly tall to allow contact starting at the corner while lowering the tool to make the cut.

I used blue masking tape on the deck to draw the slots and then lined them up through the slot on the jig. I duct taped the jig to the deck and did the deed. It work well and I feel the 1/2" webbing is very adequate. I used 5 minute epoxy to glue the webbing to the wood 1"x2" pieces of extra bulkhead material. I put one piece in place and picked up the back half of the boat with it, so they're plenty strong.

I had one slot next to a day hatch which was positioned in such a way that I couldn't use the jig. I just drilled a careful line of 1/8" holes with a drill and used a small file to smooth it out. That worked quite well also, so either technique will work. Just do your layout carefully. It's tough to move a misplaced slot!

Mitch