Anyone know how accurate their website is for proper sizing?
This may sound odd but the neo spray skirt I have now is a 2.2 (came with kayak) and it fits very, very well but there is a nylon one for sale really cheap locally that is a 1.7 and the website says it will fit my boat. I only want it because it is so cheap and I like having spare gear hanging all over my garage.
They are usually pretty accurate, and sometimes the nylon and neo sizes can differ. What kayak?
Stratos 14.5L
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You should be fine. I use a 1.7 Neo on my Stratos 12.5S, and it looks like all of the Stratoses (? Strati?) use the same size skirt. I have found that you can usually go up one size without the skirt getting too big - I use the same 1.7 skirt on my Valley Gemini which calls for a 1.4. A 1.4 on the Gemini is super tight, probably best for surfing or rock gardening but for the paddling I do the 1.7 works fine, and is tighter on the Stratos but not impossible to get on.
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Lol… awesome thanks. I was hoping that would be the case.
I’ve been battling the neoprene skirt issue for years and my experience with Seals, Immersion Research, NRS and PeakUK is that the sizes that they recommend for neoprene rand skirts are usually too small (unless you have arms like The Rock). Kokatat and Snapdragon (the later no longer in business) have been pretty accurate.
Even dealers I have talked to have admitted that they usually recommend paddlers jump one size if buying an all-neo rand skirt, especially if their coamings are at the larger end of the size range for a particular skirt size. I just tried to fit a PeakUK rand skirt on a cockpit that would be 1,7 on Seals chart. No freaking way it would go on, even sitting in the cockpit and having somebody help me. I exchanged it for the SAME SIZE PeakUK nulon bungee skirt which fits easily. And I have seen Seals fits where they suggest 1.7 for the whitewater skirt and 1.4 for the nylon for the same boat model.
I have an old 1.7 Seals all neo skirt that is supposed to fit 4 different boats models that I have owned (per Seals’ fit charts) and it never fit a single one (it came with a Dagger RPM I bought used and had for a couple of years.)
Another issue is the shape of the coaming, Some skirts are designed for a tapered keyhole shape and an egg or oval shaped coaming of the “right” maximum dimensions or circumference cans till fail to fit.
I’ve had to go by hit or miss and have passed along more skirts than I have kept in the end because they did not fit any of my boats. I realize that none of this information is particularly helpful, but don’t feel like you are doing anything wrong if you have trouble getting a good fit.
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I picked it up earlier. have not tried it yet but if it does not fit I can sell it for more than I paid for it. The 2.2 I got with the boat works so I won’t be overly upset if it doesn’t.
Funny thing is they guy who I bought it from was the same guy who bought my old rec boat some time ago.
NRS has or has had a measurement chart for the cockpit measurements. It has worked for me 4 or 5 rimes.
Update on this. The 1.7 nylon does fit but man-o-man is it a struggle to get on. The 2.2 neo I have is also a very secure fit but does require less strain and cursing.