Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Tag: repair (Page 1 of 3)

Leaking Kayak?

Leaking Kayak?
Leaking Kayak?

A common problem faced by paddlers each time they buy a new boat. Reasons for such problems can be placed in to one of two categories;

* The paddlers kit is letting the water in.
* The boat is really leaking.

If your paddling kit doesn’t fit correctly it will leak and yes the boat will fill with water. If it’s a simple case of ill fitting dry top or deck then the solution may be easy but expensive – get some kit that fits. On the other hand your kit may need a little TLC – check seals/seams and repair or replace as necessary.

Continue reading

Wahoo Kickr – Removing The Pulley Wheel

After a repair almost two years ago my Kickr has started to make a click every few rotations. This seems to start once the trainer is warmed up.

When I took the trainer apart to check out the potential issue I found that the pulley wheel was not going to be removed as easily before. This has been mentioned a few times in the comment section of my repair guide – Wahoo Kickr Repair Guide.

Disappointingly this component has been created from the softest alloy in the world and isn’t available as a spare. Therefore using any metal based tool to pry the part away would result in serious damage.

Wahoo Kickr - Removing The Pulley Wheel
Wahoo Kickr – Removing The Pulley Wheel

Thankfully some years ago I purchased a set of car trim removal tools from Amazon. They were originally bought for a car job but they have been invaluable for bike work as well.

Continue reading

Plastic Welding Skills

We love Ninja type plastics welding skills at Unsponsored and this example from Benjamin Ghertner is A1.

Plastic Welding Skills
Plastic Welding Skills

The kayak fell off a raft stack last year and got dragged on the freeway for a bit. I used a plastic soldering iron and a square of plastic from an old kayak to patch it

Benjamin Ghertner
Continue reading

Latex Gasket Repair

There is always a chance that every time you put on piece of gear that has latex gaskets that the gasket could split. This recently happened to Dave Kersey. The choice of not paddling, getting wet/cold or carrying out an emergency latex gasket repair was an easy one to make.

Dave managed to use some woven medical tape to quickly and effectively repair the split.

Latex Gasket Repair

Continue reading

Spray Skirt Rescue

Spray skirts/decks have a pretty tough life but do an incredibly important job. I’d been on the look out for a spray skirt to rescue from an inevitable trip to the bin and found one close to home.

Unsponsored’s little brother River (Militia) has a Palm Kevlar RT rand deck that has seen better days. I had offered to repair it for this post without seeing the total extent of the damage.

In fairness the skirt should have been consigned to the bin years ago or at least set on fire and given a grand send off. However the skirt was in such a bad state that it made the perfect subject for this post as most types of repair were required to bring it back to life.

unsponsored_Neoprene_Repair 023

To put the repair into context most joints on the skirt were compromised and in other areas the skirt had separated from the rand. In two key places the kevlar/neoprene had worn out/through and large holes had appeared. Even the top part of the tunnel had separated from the skirt and was also torn in a couple of places. All in all it was in a sorry state.

Continue reading

GoPro Hero 4 Warranty

Given the number of GoPro related posts on this site it is pretty obvious that I am a huge GoPro fan and always have a couple of cameras on the go.

My latest camera, purchased just after release, is a GoPro Hero 4 black edition. Lats week I noticed that the silver fascia of the camera was cracked. The camera is only used in its housing and I can’t recall ever dropping the camera.

gopro-hero-4-warranty

Continue reading

Welding – A Review

Over the last two weeks I have welded up a number of boats here at Unsponsored HQ. So I thought I would share some of the work carried out “Welding – A Review” if you like.

The first boat a Dagger Mamba was welded twice. Once on the nose which also included getting a huge dent out and again on the hull under the seat.

Kayak welding A Review

Continue reading

Dagger Contour Outfitting – Seat

Over the course of the last few weeks I have welded up a Dagger Mamba (twice – two different splits). The last split was located in the centre of the kayak right underneath the seat.

To get a good weld both inside and out I removed the seat. Given the size of the unit I thought that it would be a fairly difficult exercise but it turned out to be very easy.

Dagger Contour Outfitting - Seat
Dagger Contour Outfitting

The back band was removed so that access was a little easier, then all bolts were removed. Four were located on the seat posts and the fifth on the central pillar/storage area. The seat was then lifted and twisted straight out.

I took a few images of the Dagger Contour outfitting along the way and thought a close up of the seat out of the boat may be of interest to some. So here they are!

Continue reading

IR Arch Rival Drysuit (2014 Edition, OX Fabric) – Review

I bought myself an IR (Immersion Research) Arch Rival drysuit for a trip to South America, and it got some pretty heavy use over the 6 months I was there as it’s not always as warm as it looks!

It’s had some long multi-days and endless hikes through forests full of spikes, been in strong sunlight pretty much the entire time and all the abuse you’d expect from a long paddling trip. I’d guess I used it around 3-4 times a week (as my cag had no neck seal) and the river water is usually really cold!

IR Arch Rival Drysuit Rio Cochamo

Continue reading

Liquidriot Duo Kayak

Somethings shouldn’t work but they just do. How about creating a Duo kayak from a couple of damaged creek boats that you might have lying around? Sounds pretty good, a nice little weekend project.

The kayak below was spotted at the 2015 National Student Rodeo here in the UK.

Liquidriot Duo Kayak

Here’s some inspiration from the UK, the home of 19th century industrial dominance – the LiquidRiot Duo kayak.

Continue reading

Dry Suit – Zipper Repair

A great little edit from Kokatat that will be useful to any paddler who owns a dry suit.

Screen Shot 2015-02-11 at 07.26.55

Kokatat dry suit care and maintenance. For more information go to kokatat.com/customer-service. Continue reading

Composite Kayak/Canoe Repair

How to patch a canoe slalom boat – the video below is a time lapse of how to patch a canoe slalom boat. To help you out I have made a detailed written description of the process I went through of how to patch a canoe slalom boat. I would like to say a special thanks to Easy Composites who provided me with the repairs equipment for this video, if you need any resources to do your repair make sure to head over to their website www.easycomposites.co.uk.


Boat Repair Time Lapse

To complete this repair I only used the equipment and products I have in my canoe slalom repair kit. This step by step guide on how to patch a canoe slalom boat, I hope you are able to repair your boat.

Continue reading

« Older posts

© 2024 Unsponsored

Theme by Anders NorĂ©nUp ↑