Without a good set of well fitting hip pads you may find any advancement in your paddling skills impossible. Basically if your seat is wide enough to slide a hand between your hips and the seat walls, you’ll probably need to add hip pads to customise your boat’s fit.
Category: Outfitting (Page 7 of 11)
Keeping on top of kit repairs is pretty straight forward and a little bit of TLC could prevent the damage getting worse.
Holes in most stuff can be repaired with Stormseal which is a clear flexible glue. I’d avoid the larger tubes as this stuff will go-off once opened. Keeping it in the fridge will help but you can get packs of 3 x 5g tubes which are superb.
I few mates of mine have also had good success using the Stormseal instant patches to repair dry tops. For breathable fabric McNett patches may be worth considering.
Stormseal will work great on most things including neoprene but I have found that black witch works even better on wetsuits and decks.
Once in a while your kit gets to a point where it is no longer safe to use or it simply doesn’t do its job as well as it should. When it does it is time to get rid.
Below is a series of images courtesy of Nick Wright showing the repair of a set of VE paddles.
Welding kayaks isn’t that difficult once you get your eye in. However any boats made from cross linked plastic have additional issues as the the temperature difference between welding and blowing the plastic apart is a very narrow margin.
Quite often even the best welded repair will have some level of weakness and could fail. Some paddlers add wire mesh to strengthen the repair and I myself have found this to be very successful and almost bombproof depending on the location of the weld.
However there is an alternative that I have seen on a number of boats over the last few months. It looks rather industrial but seems to work really well. Below is a series of images from Nick Wright who used this alternative approach to repair a Jackson Kayak play boat.
Jason Cole has kindly agreed for his hip pad and footrest modifications to be included on Unsponsored.
Extended Hip Pads
I added a couple of 10x12x6cm blocks of PE foam to bolster the hip pads, and found a use for the old bungees (attached to the bottom of the seat) to retain them in place.
Jason Cole kindly agreed for his Jackson Kayak Backrest upgrade guide to be included on Unsponsored. It looks like it could be a very worth while upgrade for older Jackson boats.
On numerous occasions I’d been at Lee Valley, with the backrest pulled in tight, thinking, “wouldn’t it be nice if it was just a bit bigger?”. It also kept slipping down, which I’d mitigated by fitting toggles, but it was still not 100%.
The other day I visited WWTCC and sat in a new Jackson Karma, bloody huge boat! But I was really taken by the new-style backrest – which are sold as kits. They didn’t have any in stock at WWTCC so got one from Squarerock as I was in a hurry to get one.
One of my pet hates is folk who do not wear their helmets correctly. That goes for cyclists, climbers, paddlers, whoever. The main purpose of any helmet is to prevent the wearer being severly injured if they hit their head. Helmets and fit is an important concept.
They are one the bits of kit on a kayak that I have in the past paid little attention to. But I have found that if the design is right they are great for carrying and rescue duties.
Most manufacturers use either a metal bar or some sort of climbing tape arrangement. In all cases you should periodically check your boats outfitting to ensure that they do not have any sign of damage or excess wear. All manufacturers can supply replacement parts if required.
Overthrusters are plates of plastic designed by Immersion Research that cover the front of the cockpit and prevent your spraydeck from being pushed down by the water. Pyranha, Liquid Logic and Dagger have all used the IR system at one time or another. Since there introduction all similar systems have been given the term Overthruster.
The Playboater Troubleshooter Series is brought to you by Wave Sport Kayaks and H2o Dreams LLC. Wave Sport athlete/instructor Chris Wing discusses opinions on the benefits of play. This new series looks to tackle the freestyle discipline in the same approach as Chris did in the Whitewater Troubleshooter series, through typical pitfalls, as well as a description of why the physics work not just how.
Repairing a paddle shaft is very similar to creating a set of split paddles. I have a pair of Werner Players that were pretty much brand new but had snapped near the right hand blade. The technique I use here could be used to repair the shaft on pretty much any paddle and could even be used to shorten or adjust the feather on a sound paddle.
Daggers Contour Ergo Outfitting and Wavepsorts 2012 Whiteout Outfitting are essentially the same design. Below is a closer look at the elements that make up the Dagger Outfitting in a 2013 Dagger Jitsu. This will be the same system used in all non-creeking boats with the Contour system.
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