How is everyone mounting a GoPro to the deck of a sit in kayak?
Suction cup?
The suction cup will stick to a composite kayak but won’t work very well on a plastic one, especially if the plastic surface is textured. You also need a fairly large area that is mostly flat. There are adhesive mounts that are more or less permanent (you can take them off but not restick it) which should stick to most clean surfaces. I would always tether the camera regardless of the mount used.
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Suction cup and bungee to a deck lol me in case it fails.
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Like PDog52, I use a suction cup and tether. It’s secure on my thermoform and kevlar kayaks.
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Adhesive mount and tether for me.
If your kayak has a gear track, use a RailBlaza camera mount.
Wife used
…head mount…and looked around too much.
…chest mount …and got strange framing of things
… suction cup to kayak…and was lucky she put a tether on it when it fell off.
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If you are not using a skirt and have room a clamp on could work, like the jaws mount. I am considering doing a magnet setup down the road for something else, they have a really good magnet mount that came out with the Hero 9, would it be possible to do two magnets above and below the deck, or a piece of metal below with magnet mount? On the sit on top I’ve used a small tripod and ran two anchor lines to the rigging anchor points it worked well.
I have used the adhesive mounts Gopro makes, these have some problems though. They are not as permanent as they may appear. I have had them break off when hit by branches, luckily the gopro fell in the boat. I would suggest tethering the gopro to the boat if you are using one of these or a suction cup.
I have a suction mount for my GoPro that I have been wanting to use, but like others previously mentioned it doesn’t stick well to plastic kayaks because of the rough surface. I had an old piece of 1/8" thick Kydex laying around, one side of it is glossy smooth, so I did a quick hatchet job of cutting a piece and making some slots to run straps through, and I used short length cam straps to secure it to my deck lines. The suction mount held when submerged in water, hitting it (not hard) with my paddle, and even on the ride home getting up to 55 mph. Small Kydex sheets are cheap online and easy to cut to size. Just make sure you get some that have a smooth surface on one side. And as always, tether your camera, just in case.
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Good DIY. Love kydex.
sing
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I’ve never personally mounted a GoPro to a kayak deck, but based on my paddleboarding setup, I’d suggest using a tether no matter what mount you choose. For my board, I tried a suction cup mount which worked fine on smoother surfaces, but if there’s even a slight texture or curve, it tends to pop off. For a more secure and semi-permanent option, adhesive mounts have worked well for me, just be prepared to lose the stickiness if the mount gets knocked or dirt builds up underneath. A DIY solution like using smooth Kydex, as someone mentioned, sounds both creative and practical.
Speaking of DIY fixes, I’ve also found guides online for converting and managing media like video footage from cameras. This one on converting WMA files to different audio formats has been surprisingly useful for my editing projects. It will be great for your GoPro plan. Check it on Convert WMA Files Online for Free – Movavi.
Always, always, always tether! I have seen a lot of folks lose gopros, and warm the sticky mount surface with a hair dryer before installing.