Seals Sea Sprite Vs. Extreme Tour

Anyone know the difference between the Seals Sea Sprite and the Seals Extreme Tour? $30 is all I can see.http://www.sealsskirts.com/seals_catalog_2007.pdf

Have the Extreme
But it is a two year old one so may be a leetle different than the newest. I see one big diff between the two, the Extreme has extra protection around the edge and the Sprite doesn’t. That may matter when you start hauling boats over the top of yours for rescue practice - it’s the edge of the skirt over the coaming that’ll take the biggest hit.



As to the EZ versus regular grip - I have the heavier 3/8 inch bungie on most of my skirts that are in regular use these days, and like it as a good compromise between a skirt that is tight enough to keep things reasonably dry and loose enough that I don’t need help getting it on and can pull it easily. Unless you are concerned about being able to do a wet exit and need a little extra easiness to feel comfortable, I’m not sure I see any reason to go for the EZ release form of it.

Deck reinforcement
I think the reinforcement around the edges of the deck are the biggest difference. The shock cord might be a bit stiffer in the Extreme.



I strongly recommend the reinforced deck if you have a glass boat or will be doing any T-rescues. My Valley skirt does not have a reinforced deck and I’ve repaired 4 holes/rips in the last 1-2 years.

hmmm…
Good points. I guess the reinforcement would make sense. It’s for a plastic Necky Chatham so at least the coaming edges aren’t that sharp.



Does anyone have this in the Haiwaiian Print?? I think I will special order it, more fun than just plain black neoprene.

That’s not what I’ve seen
While there are some reinforcement differences between the Sea Sprite and the Extreme Tour the real difference is in the Tube height. The Extreme Tour is what I would call a normal height. The Sea SPRITE has a short tube. Sprite, a fairy like creature. The Sprite is great for children, teenagers or women with short torsos and do not want their spray skirt tube to come all the way up to their armpits.

tunnels
huh… that’s good to know. From the pictures and the description the tunnels look exactly the same size and material.

Catalogue
Would be nice if the catalogue made the slightest mention of that… perhaps an improvement opportunity for Seals.

With the supplex type top and velcro closure the height thing is probably less of an issue than it would be with a neoprene tube. It’s easier to just set the velcro closure lower on your torso than to wrangle a neo tunnel to a different height.

emailed
I just emailed Seals with the question about the tunnels. I’ll post when I get a response on if they are the same or not.

Info
Tunnels on the Sea Sprite and Extreme Tour are identical.



Here is some additional info: The Extreme Tour is a little more “Extreme” than the Sea Sprite. The bungee on the Extreme Tour is a little tighter than the EZ stretch bungee that is on the Sea Sprite. The Extreme Tour also has the topside Sealtex edge guard on the deck and the Sea Sprite does not. All in all the Extreme Tour is just a more durable skirt more for the experienced paddler with a little extra upper body strength due to the bungee. The Sea Sprite is a little more forgiving. The MSRP for the Extreme Tour in a custom Black Hibiscus print would be about $150.00. A custom Sea Sprite in that same print would be about $117.00.



Seals has great and really fast customer support!

returned Sprites
I was basing my observation on a pair of skirts that were returned to the store. they definitely were short tunnels so they must have been custom orders that I didn’t know about.

custom
yeah, that could be, Seals does quite a bit of custom work at 10% of the original price.

In other lines
The newer Snapdragon Flirt has a shorter tunnel, know because I have one, and I think at least Immersion Research has a similar one for women with easy fit etc. So these skirts are out there - it just doesn’t happen to be the stock Sea Sprite.