the man just asked for help
with a spray skirt, Celia. For spray skirt advice.
True he did
But Celia always assumes and suggests that people will “progress” to a longer narrower kayak with a smaller cockpit hole.
warm clothes are good
I like Celia’s advice about investing in some versatile water-repellent/warm clothes. I do a lot of kayaking in the Hudson River in winter, whenever it’s not iced up.
I don’t use a spray skirt, just breathable warm layers combined with an outer water proof shell and water-repellent pants. These handle any drip just fine.
Why no spray skirt in winter? Because I only go out in extremely calm conditions when the water is that cold. I don’t even want to think about the (extremely remote) possibility of capsizing and having to deal with getting out of a spray skirt.
But if you want a spray skirt, by all means get one. Treating a nylon spray skirt with a waterproof spray is a great idea. You’ll be glad you have it if you get caught in the rain.
Where I disagree with Celia is: I have over 350 trips in my rec boat, a 10 foot Walden Experience. I love my boat. I can afford a sleek, bigger yak; but I said goodbye long ago to buying stuff I didn’t need.
It’s all about getting out there.
Exiting the boat
– Last Updated: Dec-07-09 8:59 PM EST –
As to the issues of getting out of a spray skirt, if it is the same boats that I found and had the link to, there should not be any issue at all with getting out of the boat in case of a capsize with a nylon skirt. In fact with a plastic boat like those, the bigger challenge is keeping it on. Between the plastic coaming having a pretty round edge, the relative lightness of the bungies that are used in skirts for rec boats and the tendency of the nylon to pull rather than stretch, it is usually difficult to get into trouble with the exit part in a rec boat with a nylon skirt.
Yes winter water temps are another matter entirely...
As to the rest of it, my comment on a maybe short hold time on this boat was based entirely on what the OPer said in their post and the environments listed in their profile. Those included anything but flat calm water where this type of boat is best suited. But at least any diff of opinion here is coming from someone who actually does more major paddles in a shorter rec boat.
he said "10-20 mile trips on the river"
and somehow that turned into “ocean surf”. For a large number of local rivers and creeks, especially those with portages, strainers, cobbles, rock gardens etc., I’d take a shorter hull any day. Not all waters are alike and not every boat is purchased with the mind of going out into the open ocean… he may be planning to “graduate” to a sea kayak for bigger stuff, and keep the rec boat for messing around in the home waters.
With a good paddler those shorties are pretty capable. My son’s first real kayak outing was a 26-mile day paddle in a 10’ Pamlico. Not in a local pond, but traversing Chincoteague Bay from north to south, where you often have to stay at least 1/2 mile off shore to avoid getting lost in the mud flats of Assateague Island. Granted we aren’t totally stupid… the bay stays fairly shallow pretty far out, it was a warm October day, and he was carrying overnight gear & supplies. Yes he has a longer boat now as we’ve stepped up to more challenging trips, but that doesn’t make the pumpkinseed any less fun!
practice
You really do need to practice removing the skirt, preferably upsidedown. While the sides of the skirt will definately tend to roll off long coamings on poly boats the front often gets stuck and needs to be pulled forward first to get it to release. Bad time though in cold weather/water to practice. Might see if one of the local clubs is having pool sessions where you can get cheap training in a warm pool.
Bill H.