Has anyone found a cockpit cover that has lasted without leaks for four or five years and six or seven thousand road miles at high speeds.
As my wife is sitting here duct taping our two year old useles Wilderness System 70 dollar ones, I wonder if any exist?
We are on our third ones.
I don’t want to here about ones that you bought last year that you think are great, since they will probably be leaking within the next year.
So let me hear about it if you have one that has provn itself for a long time.
Cheers,
jackL
why bother?
I have never really found the need to cover my cockpit when traveling. the wind just beats the crap outta them on the car and/or they blow off.
In camp, ok, I guess they keep stuff outta the boat at night but…
I don’t bother.
steve
I think the covers…
…help keep road debris out of them and pro-
tects the backband from rocks, glass, etc.
My Wildwasser cockpit cover still looks like
new after 6 years, and it has a “belly” strap
that holds it on.
I’ve never had it blow off.
But does it leak ???
Be truthful now !!
Cheers,
JackL
Seals covers
Cockpit covers seem to hold up strong. They have a leash and a adjustable strap around the hull. Just add the 303 and they should last for a long time.
Damon
But, but, but…
– Last Updated: Dec-28-05 10:54 AM EST –
thats all I have, a year old one.
I did make sheets yesterday to go between the cover and the cockpit to prevent the cover from filling with water, (and ice a couple of mornings). I cut out a pieces of cardboard the size of the cockpit and painted them with resin. I glued a piece of old 1/4 in hose slit along its lenght to the perimeter of the disk. I think it will work well.
Happy Padding, and my 1 year old cover works well, Ha Ha
Mark
Nylon or neo? NM
No. No leaks.
Nylon Seals…
And it doesn’t blow off because I use a nylon strap over the top of the cover to keep the wind from flapping it until it blows off; added benifit is that less flapping means the rubbing around the cockpit rim is lessened so it doesn’t leak…(Yet).
Agree flatpick!
Happy new year.
"Why bother?"
Two yaks sitting on the roof of the vehicle - It’s a mix of rain and snow with the temperature forcast to go down into the teens through the night.
I don’t know about you, but I would rather not sit on a block of ice when I am paddling.
It’s much easier with a cockpit cover than undoing the straps and turning the yaks over.
Good enough reason?
Cheers,
jackL
Good enough!
Jack, I know that we don’t agree on a few things. I think this stems from very different backgrounds. You’ll never hear me say that you are wrong, rather you’ll hear what works for me. As you know I carry boats upside down and as such have no need for covers. I live in the wettest part of the country. I stand by my methods, but realise they are not for all. As I’ve said before, I think people should weigh all the information they get, think about their situation, their style etc., and do what’s best for them. Good day!
YMMV
but I have been using a NRS nylon cover on my QCC for at least four years. Originally I hauled the boat horizontally, but now on edge. Pooling water was a problem before conversion to J-cradles, but leakage was minimal. A coat of 303 each year and while it has faded a bit, it seems to be in good condition.
The vinyl Perception covers would always crack and split, apparently due to vibration at 70mph.
Jim
Seals cockpit covers–thumbs UP
They are thick nylon or poly, with a textured rubber-coated edge to help grip the coaming better. They also come with a stout strap fixture attached to the cover; you run the strap around the hull, through the fixture, and snug it up. REI sells them for about $30.
My husband finally went shopping for a cockpit cover last summer, and when I saw the Seals piece I wished that I hadn’t already bought a plain nylon SnapDragon one for $25.
I modified the SnapDragon cover to include a strap fixture. Works great, but for only $5 more I could have had a sturdier, stickier cover without any need to “upgrade” it. Next one I buy WILL be the Seals!
Neither of our covers has shown any wear yet. His Seals cover is still quite new, but mine was used every day on the 5000-mile road trip to and from Prince Rupert, BC, plus every night of a one-month kayak-camping trip. No leaks whatsoever, even after some hard downpours. Even if it begins leaking next season, it didn’t cost that much.
Try Neoprene?
Can’t say that we’ve had our neo covers (Snapdragon) for more than three seasons, but they don’t loosen or leak. And there are some less evident reasons to need to carry a kayak right side up, like when I occassionally need to handle mine alone. The only way I can get a 16 to 17.5 ft boat onto a car alone is with the older style U shaped stackers for plastic or rollers for glass boats. Neither leaves it logistically possible to flip the boat over onto its deck once up there, even if I favored the idea.
same to ya!
Happy New Year to you too. Crazy it’s already '06, eh?
steve
gotta agree
I travel way too often with way too many boat to ever consider tavel covers. like Salty, I live at the coast where it’s a rain forest. I either live with the junk that ends up in the seat or I flip 'em over.
The 18 oz PVC ones from SnapDragon seem to be the burliest I know of. If they were well sized, i would imagine the waerr and tear would be minimal.
steve
Thanks all…
Who answered the question.
I’ll look into the Seals and the Snapdragon.
We have Snapdragon skirts and they are absolutely waterproof, but I didn’t realize that they also sold cockpit covers.
Cheers,
JackL
I Have Snapdraggon
cockpit covers that I got from Phil. They are the vinyl kind. So far they don’t leak, they stay on fine. They have discolored. They are only a year and two months old.
Mark
Option
This option is a bit of a challenge to put on but makes your cockpit opening covered tight as a drum. A Supra Cockpit Cover by Wildwasser. Think of a heavy duty whitewater sprayskirt that the manufacturer forgot to cut a hole for the tunnel. Definitely takes some practice to put on smoothly but seals things up neatly and makes a nice seal on composite rims.
See you on the water,
Marshall
www.the-river-connection.com