Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view
We haven’t had much Level Six gear in for review at Unsponsored but from the odd bits we’ve seen, got hold of, and used it has been pretty good stuff.
The Canadian company have updated their range and this includes double stitching the rand on the Ace and King spray skirts. Which we think look very interesting.
When Astral first launched their line of watershoes a few years back the sole was constructed from Five Ten Stealth rubber. However Five Ten were bought out by Adidas and the availability of the Stealth rubber sole for third parties dried up.
Knowing that they were onto something really special with their line up of shoes Astral went out and made a compound that was far better in terms of both grip and wear than the Stealth rubber they had previously used.
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.
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.
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After the huge success of the Brewer and Brewess, Astral have developed a new shoe called the Loyak.
The Loyak has a much lower profile than the Brewer. The upper of the Loyak is constructed from 1000 denier Cordura Nylon and the sole is made of G.15 rubber (The replacement for 5:10 stealth rubber).
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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