Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view
After reading through some old threads on liquid latex, I found some good reviews on the stuff but no pictures of how people got on, so I thought I’d share with you the pics of my repaired spray deck. Time for a little spray deck modification.
My spray deck had always been fairly loose fitting so I could get it off easier in a panic, but now as my confidence has built up, I wanted a tighter fitting deck to keep me drier in pushier water or waves.
At the start of 2014 I managed to put a cut in my Arc’teryx Fission SL jacket. The Fission SL is a super light weight Goretex pro jacket that is insulated. It’s a great jacket that is both light and warm and it has served me well through the British winters for the last couple of years. Unfortunately I managed to brush past a wall (bricks had sharp edges) and put a 5 to 6cm straight cut in the front of the jacket.
To say I was gutted would be an understatement. I looked at possible solutions for repair – tape, glue, patch etc. All were viable but to be honest if it’s less than perfect it would simply annoy me. So the only option was to contact Arc’teryx direct. To be honest I didn’t hold out much hope as I expected the repair to be hugely expensive and therefore not cost effective. But is was worth a go. Continue reading
This is a very personal account of the last 6 months and my time spent recovering from injury. It features a few dark moments before the positive outcomes so please bare with it…
This winter has been pretty tough with very limited amounts of kayaking. Back in September I dislocated my ankle wake boarding breaking both my Tibia and Fibular. As a result I was in hospital for 5 nights requiring extensive surgery to fix my ankle back together.
When you have a major injury, whilst it’s extremely painful, you do not think of the pain. As soon as it happened straight away I knew I was going to be off the water for a long time, and that feeling is a lot worse than any pain, and don’t get me wrong the pain is massive!
In hospital you are dosed up on pain killers and put in a ward with other sick and injured patients. You are left waiting for when you will go in to surgery with little knowledge whether it will be a few hours or a few days.
A common problem faced by paddlers each time they buy a new boat so the issue of water finding its way in. Reasons for such problems can be placed into 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.
In most cases water getting in tends to be com a deck that isn’t a great fit on the cockpit or on the body tube.
I spent lunch time today carrying out a few kayak repairs by welding up a couple of boats. The first was a 6 month old Pyranha Karnali which had been damaged after its pilot left it to run the Morriston River Race by itself. First impressions indicated that the nose of the boat has been turned up, however the hull shows no sign of deformation.
Keeping on top of kit repairs is pretty straight forward and a little bit of TLC could prevent the damage getting worse.
Holes in most stuff can be repaired with Stormseal which is a clear flexible glue. I’d avoid the larger tubes as this stuff will go-off once opened. Keeping it in the fridge will help but you can get packs of 3 x 5g tubes which are superb.
I few mates of mine have also had good success using the Stormseal instant patches to repair dry tops. For breathable fabric McNett patches may be worth considering.
Stormseal will work great on most things including neoprene but I have found that black witch works even better on wetsuits and decks.
Once in a while your kit gets to a point where it is no longer safe to use or it simply doesn’t do its job as well as it should. When it does it is time to get rid.
Welding kayaks isn’t that difficult once you get your eye in. However any boats made from cross linked plastic have additional issues as the the temperature difference between welding and blowing the plastic apart is a very narrow margin.
Quite often even the best welded repair will have some level of weakness and could fail. Some paddlers add wire mesh to strengthen the repair and I myself have found this to be very successful and almost bombproof depending on the location of the weld.
However there is an alternative that I have seen on a number of boats over the last few months. It looks rather industrial but seems to work really well. Below is a series of images from Nick Wright who used this alternative approach to repair a Jackson Kayak play boat.
Repairing a paddle shaft is very similar to creating a set of split paddles. I have a pair of Werner Players that were pretty much brand new but had snapped near the right hand blade. The technique I use here could be used to repair the shaft on pretty much any paddle and could even be used to shorten or adjust the feather on a sound paddle.
The Leatherman Wave is solid piece of kit. As a river knife this bit of kit isn’t upto the job, but as a tool to carry in the boat, car or PFD for getting out of a fix then this is the daddy.
This made in the USA tool is 100% stainless steel (also available in titanium) and comes with a load of features including: needlenose pliers; five screwdrivers, including Phillips head; two knives, one serrated; a wire cutter/splicer; a saw; file; can/bottle opener; and scissors. Newer versions also come supplied with a bit driver.
Buying new kit is an expensive business. But by following a few easy guidelines you can help keep your kit in good condition which will keep you dry and save you some cash along the way.
A number of simple things can be done that are’t difficult or expensive but can add years onto the life of your kit.
I have owned numerous cags, semi-dry cags, dry cags and dry suits over the years. Neoprene seals, latex seals – all have been tried and tested for years and in reality none have ever been 100% dry.
At the end of the day I believe that it’s all relative, if the cag fits right and the seals are constructed or even trimmed to give a good water tight seal you will only ever minimise the chance of water finding its way inside. In some cases the amount of water entering the cag is so small it is virtually dry, but will never be totally dry.
Continue reading
© 2024 Unsponsored
Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑
Recent Comments