I’ve been using Palm’s Impact spraydeck for a few months now and am ready to feedback on its performance to date. Thanks to Palm Equipment and Northshore Watersports (for piggy backing delivery) I have a Palm Impact that 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 brightly coloured quick release webbing also has a narrowing piece of tape and a buckle so that you deck can be fastened to your PFD and out of the way whilst portaging etc.
The 9.5mm bungee shock cord and latex Palm print on the underside of deck to aid the deck staying put on the cockpit. The print is nice and wide and provides good purchase on the cockpit edge.
Taping on the outside join also looks pretty tough. I have had a similar tape on a Mountain Hardware softshell that has been battered and it is still holding up well so this addition looks promising.
The reflective Palm logo is a nice touch.
One of the big features on the deck is on the body tube. The bulk of the tube is pretty standard but at the top edge the neoprene cinches in, Palm call this the O ring. This helps create a really good seal between your body and the deck. It’s a simple feature but it works really well without feeling restrictive in any way.
Ok so how has the Palm impact spraydeck performed over the last few month. Well the short answer is very well. It is a very dry deck that is easy to get on arrange of boats.
The bungee is pretty tough and relatively short. It provides a good tight seal without being crazy to either get on or off.
Although not as heavy weight as some decks the Impact does feel that it will last a fair while even if it has a bit of beating.
Although mine hasn’t seen super heavy use I know a couple of paddlers who have really punished their Palm Impacts on multi day expeditions in far flung corners of the globe and the decks are still performing as well as the day they first bought them.
At just over £80 I think the Palm Impact spray deck offers good value and is well worth checking out.
Specs:
4mm Small Diamond neoprene deck / 4mm waist
9.5mm elastic shockcord
3D deck shape
4mm ArmorTex reinforcement
Sticky Latex ink on cockpit lining
Tape protected seams
38mm webbing release loop with attachment clip.
4mm neoprene tunnel with O-ring seal
Deck Size: R4 & R5.
Waist Size: XS, M/L, XL/XXL.
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