Palm Orbit – First Look

We are big fans of rand decks at Unsponsored HQ. We have, in the past, gone to extreme measures to ensure that really good rand decks live on to fight another day.

It was therefore superb that we heard that Palm Equipment were going to bring out a brand new rand based deck. The Palm Orbit is a new take on a favourite and we are looking forward to trying this out over the next few months. Lets take a tour in the Palm Orbit – First Look.

Specs:

Materials: 4mm small diamond CR deck, KNytex and Powertex CR neoprene rim, Jersey and mesh neoprene waist.
Weight: 1005g (R4, M/L)
Waist: CR neoprene tunnel with O ring seal
Construction: Triped glued, blind stitched and taped seams
Rand: 11mm, 70 IRHD rubber rand, triple glued
Deck Features: 3 dimensional deck shape, sticky gripsil underneath
Other Features: 38mm webbing release loop with attachment clip

Each of the new decks in the Palm range have a different colour scheme. The Orbit has blue detailing.

The brightly coloured quick release webbing also has a narrowing piece of tape and a buckle in order to fasten the deck to your PFD and out of the way whilst portaging etc. The release strap is sewn and glue/taped to the deck. It’s a really nice and neat job.

Taping on the outside join is tough. It will last we have no doubt, we had a Palm Impact deck here at Unsponsored HQ with the same feature.

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. Again the Impact had this same feature. It works really well without any compromise in fit or comfort.

The rand has been really well designed. It has enough give that it’s not too difficult getting it onto a range of different boats. If it’s cold it is recommended to warm it up a bit, for example by stretching it. It fits even the worst cockpit rims really well. If you have been struggling to find a deck that fits your boat well it might be worth checking this one out. I can fully understand why the guys at Palm have been raving about this rand.

The Palm Orbit Rand deck is due to land at retailers very shortly (Feb 2016).