Perhaps a useful idea for someone reading this Post… It utilizes two cable ties and a small carabiner.
It is clipped in behind the Seat Back… and is readily accessible before ‘putting in’
and after ‘taking out’…
Nice idea!
Very creative!
I used to stash my dry-bagged car keys in my day hatch. Then one day I tossed the dry bag in the car and pushed a button thinking I was unlocking all doors, but it was the wrong button and I locked my keys in the car. That was an interesting afternoon.
My solution was to have a valet key made and tether it to the inside of my PFD pocket. First thing I now do after unlocking the door is to roll down one window. Insurance against additional duh moments…
My truck keys go inside a small Pelican box, the 1010 model. With the sea kayak, I just put it in the day hatch.
If I am using the WW kayak, I loop the tether around a cord that Jackson kayaks have in back of the seat.
When snorkeling, I put keys inside a Nalgene bottle and tether it to me with a narrow nylon strap and buckle.
How about sky diving?
@Rookie said:
Very creative!I used to stash my dry-bagged car keys in my day hatch. Then one day I tossed the dry bag in the car and pushed a button thinking I was unlocking all doors, but it was the wrong button and I locked my keys in the car. That was an interesting afternoon.
My solution was to have a valet key made and tether it to the inside of my PFD pocket. First thing I now do after unlocking the door is to roll down one window. Insurance against additional duh moments…
Ditto the plastic valet car key tethered to my pfd. I have it on a lanyard long enough that I can drive the car with the pfd on (helps when you need to bring the car to a ramp from a parking spot a way off). I like the idea of a wide-mouth bottle to carry the real key dry, I’ll have to look for one.
I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment: “The Duct Tape Kayak Seat.”
All kidding aside, not a bad idea. If you end up using it for a long time you’ll want to monitor the cable ties for UV embrittlement. In my experience the white ones break down very quickly in the sun. I don’t know if this holds true across all brands and colours though.
@Rookie said:
…and I locked my keys in the car. That was an interesting afternoon.My solution was to have a valet key made and tether it to the inside of my PFD pocket. First thing I now do after unlocking the door is to roll down one window. Insurance against additional duh moments…
Good plan with rolling the window down. I’ve done the same thing for years, even before I started kayaking.
Regarding the key on your person, just make sure it’s REALLY well attached. I had my own interesting afternoon/evening a few years ago after the key that was in my pants pocket, clipped to a sewn-in loop, somehow became unclipped and ended up in Georgian Bay. I had swim goggles with me and spent at least an hour swimming back and forth over the cold rocky beach to no avail.
I ended up breaking into my truck using the steel part of an old windshield wiper blade found nearby. This got me to my cell phone, which was locked in the truck rather than on my person, and then calling a friend to come get me, go home and get a spare key, and then come back and get the truck.
That evening is burned into my memory VERY well indeed.
… Apologies for the tangent
I’ve got one of those little oblong gasketed hard plastic locking containers (like the one linked below) that sporting goods stores sell, presumably designed to hold a pack of cigarettes or small wallet. Cost me $4.99 and is clear with a bright orange flower design and a long cord lanyard. I like that I can see what’s inside it plus it is bright enough to be easy to see. I put my keys in it and have one of my “un-business” cards taped inside with all my contact info. I wear it around my neck while prepping for launch and after landing while I load the boats. It’s easily secured around seat supports (or frame members in my skin on frame kayaks) while on the water. Can also be clipped to the PFD and tucked down though my sprayskirt. I’m most comfortable having it attached to me at all times for a number of reasons, including the potential on group outings to end up switching to another boat during an emergency or rescue situation… I used to just wear regular metal car keys on a cord around my neck and then secure them inside a pocket but now that I have the stupid electronic “clicker” key it’s just easier to put in a container than to extract the metal key from the housing. I find that once you start separating keys and their components you are leaving yourself open to loss and complications.
No matter what you choose to use for managing your keys, the biggest contributor to safety and efficiency in any exercise is routine habits. I have a consistent set of steps when I go paddling and one of the most important ones is always handling and stashing my keys the same way. Besides the car keys, I keep the keys for both my cable locks on the ring. I got to a launch site once only to realize that I had not brought along the key to unlock the boat from the roof rack! When I used to do more group outings which involved shuttles, somebody would announce “Key Check!” before leaving the launch site. Few things more miserable than getting 8 hours down a river, tired wet and cold in growing dark and discovering that the one key to the single shuttle car at the take out got left in the owner’s daypack back in another car at the put in.
I keep my wallet, phone, keys, and a few other essentials in a waist-pack drybag, so if I get separated from my boat, I still have them.
I sure miss the days when keys were keys - thin, not bothered by water, you know, just a key.
Several years ago, preparing for an early (about 2am) start to go around Cumberland Island, I locked the keys in the Outback (they were in the drybag, but the drybag somehow decided to stay in the car). Long walk into town (Fernandina), and another wait for the local locksmith to open.
(interestingly enough, the whole ordeal took about 6 hours, so, I was able to do the Cumberland trip - just the other direction (6 hours = 1/2 tide cycle) )
Since then I always carry the spare key in a small dry bag. This dry bag goes in my pants pocket prior to starting the car, and out of the pocket after the car is locked.