I might try it too. For $15 and 10 minutes of modification work it seems worth a try. I’m short, so I bet that huge “one size fits all” poncho will have sleeves that fit me pretty much like normal sleeves anyway, if I put an elastic at the end.
If you do, keep in mind that you don’t need to use a second fabric for the hem like she did. There are ways to do circular hems. I’ll probably try an eased hem technique. It doesn’t have to be beautiful.
As someone who has been sewing for 60 years (almost all on a 1909 Singer treadle) and has made a lot of my own outdoor gear using kits, patterns and my own designs, I can tell you it is not easy to fabricate an effective, good fitting hood that allows weather protection plus decent visibility without using a pattern. The Green Pepper patterns are only $8 and well worth it.
Also, on Ebay it is often easy to find cheap used anoraks, even from Kokatat, that could be readily modified to make a storm cag like garment. Kokatat used to make non-breathable rain jackets and anoraks that were well designed but dropped from their line once they switched to GoreTex and other breathable materials. I got one, brand new old stock, at a small town sporting goods store sidewalk sale about 8 years ago for $5 (gave it to my boyfriend to use around his farm) and have spotted some on Ebay since then, usually for under $20. One could easily be spliced from the chest down to a cheap tunnel bungee nylon sprayskirt.
Now that I think about it, I have an otherwise nice vintage Feathercraft oxford nylon sprayskirt that the waterproof coating failed on. A storm cag need not have a waterproof deck since it goes over your regular skirt – I may repurpose that skirt for the cag.
Canadian kayaking coach Paulo Oullet designed and used to make to order a really nice Goretex tuilik which had an optional tunnel that could be rolled with dry pants. I kept meaning to order one from him but he stopped making them a couple years ago before I got around to doing so. He does have a couple of videos that demonstrate the design. The wide band of neoprene that seals around the face looks like a nice feature.
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The hood on the poncho will serve my purpose just fine - that purpose being something cheap and moderately effective that I can carry and use to see if I have an actual need to invest in a good quality cag. I think just having that extra lightweight windproof layer to put over my regular gear would be handy, but I’m not sure how often I’d actually need and use it.
I’ve ordered the poncho and some bungee (rather than elastic) and am going to make my $20 cag after I have the new kayak.
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Another option for use in a DIY Cag:
A decent mid point in price. Not as cheap as Frogg Togg but not Goretex either.
Only one color. But for emergency use who cares.
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I have a tarp and some stuff sacks made with that fabric. I might be wrong, but I don’t think it would be a good match for this use.
Just throwing another option out there for a DIYer…
If it was against my skin I’d find it clammy, but as an over-everything-else-garment it certainly would fit the lightweight & compact needs. There’s some use of the stuff by ultra-lite outdoor product makers for jackets/rain jackets.
Personally, due to a knee replacement with some range-of-motion loss, I don’t use a “normal” sized cockpit anymore. Not much use for a Cag, although I think it’s a great concept. For now with a Pack boat, canoe, Sawyer Loon and a Clipper Sea-1 (decked-canoes - think big open cockpits) a rain coat is perfect. Columbia sells a “Watertight 2” model - decent price-point, sizes to 6x and talls (should find a size to fit over just about anybody’s pfd) and over a dozen colors. I’ve found it works quite well. The mesh lining does keep it from packing up micro-sized but it still balls or stuffs up nicely. Plus in camp/out of the pfd the mesh really helps with that humid/damp clammy feeling you’d get from an unlined jacket. Can’t say it would win any contests for breath-ability, it’s not GTX, but I’ve never expected anything to “breath” to well in the rain anyway.
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I will keep that in mind since I am seriously considering getting a lightweight canoe.
Kokatat Cag in gortex 3 years ago was 400. No longer available I guess they couldn’t sell them at that price to most. Even their gortex hats are gone. I’d rather have gortex.
I bid on a gortex Cag on eBay it went for over my max bid of 210. Wasn’t going any higher for used. I did make the guy add pictures of it inside out to seen the seams which looked great.
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Thank you very much.
I’m a big fan of the Riot kayaks. Quality materials… very sturdy, and unique design features. The Edge would be my vote.
I had previously posted that I thought Green Pepper Designs had discontinued a cagoule sewing pattern. I located the one I bought from Seattle Fabrics and it was a different brand and they still sell the pattern for $8.00. As you can see, this could be easily modified to enlarge the portion below the waist hem to create a kayak cag:
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Very cool. If I find myself using my cheapo version more than a couple of times a year, I think it’d be fun to make one with this pattern.
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I noticed that Seattle Fabrics has some ultra-light breathable micropore nylon fabric (only in red) on sale at the moment for under $11 a yard so I ordered 5 yards of it. The cagoule in large takes 4 yards of wide material so I figure an extra yard would cover extending the deck. And any leftover fabric I could use to make a cockpit cover or two (to keep the spiders and squirrels out during storage).
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I probably shouldn’t bury this question in this unrelated thread, but I have cag questions and we were discussing it here so…
I am not happy with my skirt options at this time. The idea of an adjustable tunnel with suspenders just does not appeal to me at all (the suggested Seals Odyssey). I definitely want to go with neoprene, but not a totally bomb proof style. I want to get a J-Lo, which I’ve had in the past. In theory, IR will have these available “in the new year.”
So in the meantime, I want to paddle anyway. Since I’ll be without a skirt, I will stick to easy water. This made me think about cags again. I realize they are not a substitute for a skirt, but would a cag work okay enough to keep water out of my cockpit this Winter? Assuming I don’t capsize of course.
I’ve decided the homemade cheapo cag is not going to be adequate for a temporary skirt substitute. I’m looking at Kokatat. They have the $250 Hyrdus and also the $379 Goretex (through KA). Is there any compelling reason to go with the spendier version? I’m thinking not. Especially since my dry suit is Goretex.
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Pru, can you just wrap thin rubber around your cockpit rim so your current skirt doesn’t slip off? Think bicycle tube; stretch it around the cockpit rim so it’s tight and seats inside. Your skirt will sit on the rubber instead of the slick plastic.
My current skirt doesn’t come close to fitting at all. Too small. I even soaked it and got help to try to pull it on - no dice. So I basically have no skirt at all.
I got to a local pond one day w/o my skirt. I messed around w some wet work just using the Kokatat cag.
Happily it was a warm day. It was decidedly not as dry as a neo skirt. But within loose bounds, it did the job.
It would keep out simple water, splash and minor chop.
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