Interesting idea. Just a thought on alternative materials if exhaust hose is cost prohibitive...may be able to do something similar with corrugated drain pipe. Did a little looking and Home depot carries a 3" 10' long around $7 here. And I'm wondering if you could cut up a cheap fat tire bike tire tube to cover it for noise/grip.
Skell as far as covering stuff another great idea that Jim had was using beverage Cozy's to cover stuff like the Ropeman, maybe it would work for that application as well.
Roger,