Tag: DIY (Page 1 of 2)

MYOG – Pertex Hammock

20 August 2019 / Unsponsored / 1 Comment

Hammocks have got to be one of the most comfortable ways of spending night out on the trail. I own a number of hammocks from the very simple to the very complex. Around a year ago I decided to make my own.

I’m 6ft 1″ tall and decided to use 3.5m of olive green Pertex 4, (although it looks brown!). This made the Pertex Hammock 3.5m x 1.5m as a roll of cloth is usually 1.5m wide.

Pertex can be quite expensive, I have found eBay to be the best place to get hold of some relatively cheaply.

Don’t Leave Home Without It

1 May 2017 / Unsponsored / 0 Comments

Don’t Leave Home Without It – that is your breakdown (split) paddle.

Don't Leave Home Without It

Chris Wing from H20 Dreams shows us a great way to store your breakdown paddle system within your kayak. It’s pretty neat.

Dagger RPM Max Contour Outfitting

25 November 2015 / Unsponsored / 2 Comments

Some time ago we posted detail of a Contour outfitting modification that Pat Keller had carried out on a Dagger RPM. It looked pretty sweet. However Philip Middleton has gone one step further and not only has he fitted the seat and thigh braces but has also retrofitted the step out pillar and footrests. So this RPM Max now has a complete set of Contour outfitting installed.

GoPro Button Mod – Sugru

17 June 2015 / Unsponsored / 1 Comment

Have you ever got tired of not reaching your gopro on your kayak or want to place it further away to get more landscape shooting? I came up with this solution that works perfectly for me.

I came up with this idea because I got tired of killing the battery time using the gopro remote control or my smartphone. With this button I now easily can use my paddle as a remote simply by pressing the button with my paddle.

All you need is a good cleaning of the button, some Sugru that by the way also works great for making nose clips and drip edges on your paddle.

Liquidriot Duo Kayak – The Build

14 March 2015 / Unsponsored / 0 Comments

The Liquidriot Duo kayak seen in a previous post was photographed a few days ago. In the three days following the original post over 12k people have viewed it, which is quite simply incredible.

The Duo was hand crafted by Newcastle Uni paddlers – Jacob Collings, Matt Rose, Catherine Sanderson, and Angus Mackay. The guys behind the kayak have kindly sent some images of their creation being put together.

Alcohol Stoves

28 June 2014 / Unsponsored / 1 Comment

Alcohol stoves are great little bits of kit. I own a couple of Whitebox stoves that I purchased online and love them. The following set of instructions were taken from a post that was made on one of my other sites. It’s a great DIY guide on making an alcohol stove using an air freshener can. The whole process involves using a pressurised container and tools that could serious hurt or kill you. Attempt at your now risk neither this site, myself or the original author accept no responsibility if you were to hurt yourself (or worse) making/using a stove based on the one shown below.

WARNING … ensure pressurised can is COMPLETELY EMPTY and COMPLETELY DEPRESSURISED before starting !!!!

Silnylon Tarp

11 June 2013 / Unsponsored / 0 Comments

Silnylon is a super lightweight fabric that is used for many things including tarps and stuff sacks. The Silnylon Tarp shown here was created using a pretty standard home sewing machine. It can be a little tricky to sew as the fabric is impregnated with silicone which is fairly slippy.

However with a little patience you can produce some pretty nice kit. One of the hardest parts is actually getting hold of the material. In the UK this isn’t easy but many of the US suppliers will happily send fabric out.

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Stuff Sack Action

8 June 2013 / Unsponsored / 0 Comments

A few shots of some of my DIY Stuff Sacks.

The spinnaker stuff sacks weigh well under 5g each.

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6614495055_4caf1f9f13_z Continue reading

Spinnaker Tarp

8 June 2013 / Unsponsored / 0 Comments

This is one of the tarps I have made using superlight spinnaker material. I managed to get an end of a roll of fabric that would have cost over £70 per metre.

The choice of colour makes this a really light and airy spinnaker tarp.

Spinnaker Tarp

MYOG – Split Paddles Part I

31 March 2013 / Unsponsored / 18 Comments

If you ever need to call upon the set of spare (split) paddles stored in the back of your kayak the chances are that it must have got a bit fierce for you to lose/damage your normal set. If that is the case your spare set must me up to the job. Having an inferior set of spare paddles may not be the best idea. However shelling out hundreds of £’s on a fancy set of splits is quite painful on your wallet. Now and again you can find split paddles on ebay.

A couple of months ago I started a search for a suitable paddle to modify into a set of splits. The tools for the job were assembled. 1 x saw, 1 x tube clamp/cut guide, 1 x tape measure, 1 x Vernier gauge (everyone should have one these!).

Today I spent a few minutes taking the care of creating my own spare set of paddles. This started by cutting a perfectly good set of Werner Wenatchee in half. The Wenatchee design is a superb symmetrical blade made by Werner in the late 90’s/early 00’s. This set cost £40 a few weeks ago.

Double Glueing

10 March 2013 / Unsponsored / 0 Comments

In some respects the birth of uber flexible outfitting in kayaks has killed off the need for the many hours spent shaping and glueing foam together to get that perfect fit. However if you are not using a bean bag footrest or want some outfitting that is a little bit more bespoke then you do need to rely upon cutting/shaping and glueing foam.

MYOG

10 November 2012 / Unsponsored / 0 Comments

I thought I’d just post a few images of some of the MYOG (Make Your Own Gear) kit that I have made so far this year. My most recently made Pertex hammock still needs a photoshoot.