For the past few years I have been using Immersion Research decks for both playboating and creek duties.
Thanks to the guys at Immersion Research I was hooked up with one of the brand new Immersion Research The Royale spray skirts.
Category: Spray Decks/Skirts (Page 3 of 3)
Thanks to Palm Equipment and Northshore Watersports (for piggy backing delivery) I have a Palm Impact Spraydeck in for review. The Palm Impact replaces the Extreme as Palm’s top end neoprene bungee deck. First impressions are good. The deck looks and feels solid. It is well made and the black/lime colour scheme is bang on trend!
On the outside there is a protective 4mm Armortex reinforcement to increase the robustness of the deck. This should make the Impact of interest to those who put their decks through a rough time.
The Immersion Research Royale is a rand based spraydeck with a lip that sits on the outside of the rand.
Over the last couple of years I have been using spraydecks using a bungee cord system. However a couple of decks using a rand system have found there way into my kit bag. So how do they compare? Who would win in a Bungee Vs Rand contest.
Thanks to the guys at Immersion Research I was hooked up with one of the brand new Immersion Research The Royale spray skirts.
Now I have have said this before but will say it again – for most of my paddling career (28yrs+) I have used Playboater decks and it has only been Immersion Research who have been able to tempt me away from the brand. At present I own a couple of IR skirts. The first is a rand based (more on that later) skirt the Special K and the bungee based Klingon Empire. The latter has been my go to deck for over a year – I love it!
Those of you who have followed the site for many years will know that I usually only ever use Playboater spraydecks. I have owned a few and they are always superb. When I initially tried my Immersion Research Klingon Empire Spraydeck I was simply blown away. But how is it 1 year on?
Getting a spraydeck that fits you and your boat is crucial if you want to keep the water out. All boats are different and all decks are different, so it’s important to do a little research on what deck fits your boat the best.
One of my favourite resources is Skirt Fit. It is an online database that contains most of the popular boats and decks that are currently on the market. It is well worth checking out.
What happens when you take a Playboater Workdeck design but make it a little heavier duty, add a dry lip and make the fit just a little snugger? You get the Pro Team Deck.
Those of you who have followed the site for many years will know that I usually only ever use Playboater spraydecks. I have owned a few and they are always superb. Well today I tried my new Immersion Research Klingon Empire Spraydeck and have been simply blown away.
This is what IR say about the deck:
The Klingon Empire is the same skirt as the Klingon with one major difference- the front casing (the high wear area going over the front portion of the cockpit rim) is laminated with a high thread-count Kevlar™. This very costly strip of woven gold is simply the best possible fabric when it comes to flexible abrasion resistance, making it the perfect choice for people who are exceptionally hard on spray skirts.
The Klingon skirt, with it’s high-tension bungee and extra neoprene extending out past the bungee make it a perfect choice for keeping even the most difficult rims dry. Typical use would include high-end playboating and on creek boats where all other skirt designs seem to leak.
The Klingon Empire had been bought for my new Pyranha Jed as I wanted something with a dry lip and bungee. An order to IR in the States and a couple of weeks later it landed. The deck arrived early last week and despite opening it up it has sat unloved in corner of the dining room. Work has been getting in the way of fun out on the water. So today was my first chance to get the deck onto a boat and get it wet.
For the past 15 years I have been exclusively using playboater spraydecks. However as I was buying a new Immersion Research (IR) Double D Drysuit I thought I’d take the opportunity of ordering an IR deck for my LL Stomper at the same time.
The model I chose was the Immersion Research Special K spray deck. This is IRs top of the line rand deck. The deck is a rand deck which means that rather than using thick bungee cord to seal the deck onto the boat the deck has a strip of rubber. In this case the rand has a couple of ridges/fins that help improve the seal. The first couple of times I used it I did need assistance with putting it on. A bit of time on the boat helped sort that out – I expect to do this with all well fitting decks.
Since the production of the I.T.S deck Playboater has long been established as one of the best spraydeck manufacturers in the UK if not the world. Over the years I have owned three Playboater decks. The first being an I.T.S deck followed by two workdecks. I still have all three and all three are in A1 condition. Even the I.T.S deck which by now must be an antique. None have been replaced through damage of any sort and have only been retired when new boats have come along.
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