Looking for advice/recommendations on cockpit covers. Have recreational kayaks and need to cover them for (a) reduce wind issues during rooftop travel and (b) keep animals and debris out between outings.
Any pointers would be appreciated.
We have Wilderness Systems
ones and they have been good.
Before them we had others that prooved useless.
Make sure you attached them to your bungees or some other part of the yak, Just in case!
We have never had them blow off, but on other brands we have.
Cheers,
JackL
Fit!
regardless of the type, make sure the size you buy fits the cocpit it will cover…a Larger cover will fit a smaller cockpit, but that leads to the blow off problem as well as pooling of water.
I use a harmony cover, comes with loops fore and aft, to which I attach key ring carabiners…after I attach the cover, I clip the carabiners to the rigging. Additional protection against the cover coming off during transport is a sleeping bag strap wrapped around the beam of the boat across the cockpit.
Seals
I use a Seals cover that fits perfectly for my cockpit. It is heavy, ruberized material with beefier material around the bungee rand. It has a clip at the end of the front web loop for attaching to the deck rigging, and also comes with nylon webbing with a fastek buckle to wrap around the kayak and the cockpit cover to keep it from coming off in high winds. I think the thing would probably survive a hurricane (but your kayak might be in trouble!).
Seals
Ordered a pair today for our kayaks, the whole spider thing freaked me out a little. I hoist them up to the garage rafters for storage and it is spider heaven up there. We like our Seals spray skirts, its the same sizing on the cover so I new what to get, so I just got the seals because it was easiest. As long as I don’t find any spiders or wasps nests in my boat, its good enough for me.
I use a Wildwasser (Prijon)
cover. So far, it has been bombproof with the adjustabble rand and strap that goes around the boat. If it does pop loose (mine hasn’t at 75+ mph freeway speeds), at least it won’t be lost.
They make several sizes so you can get a good fit to your particular boat.
http://www.wildwasser.net/travelgear.asp?nam=nyloncover
That is THE best one I’ve seen
My husband bought one, at my urging. For only $5 more than my basic nylon cover, he gets a much heavier material, the grippy sticky edge material, AND a built-in strap retainer and strap. $30 from REI.
I am modifying my own cover to add a strap and retainer.
Snapdragon Neoprene
I use Snapdragon Neoprenen cockpit covers on all my boats and have loved them. Nylong covers always eventually popped off when car topping, but in over a year of 80 mph + drives, they have yet to even flap. They are pricey, but worth every penny.