I’m looking for a sprayskirt for an NDK Explorer that would be appropriate for extended rolling sessions and extended open water paddling. All of the neoprene skirts I’ve seen locally seem to be more for whitewater. I want something that is going to be fit well on me and the kayak.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Differences? .
Whats the difference between a good whitewater spray skirt and a good sea kayak spray skirt?
I use the same spray skirt on both types of boats and they work great. A neoprene skirt that fits properly doesn’t care what kind of boat it is on.
snapdragon ocean tour NM
Mountain Surf makes great neoprene…
skirts…
Not sure what you’re getting at, but
WW tunnels may be thicker, higher, and tighter than necessary for a long day of ocean touring. But if you’re going to be out in heavy surf, possibly rolling, the same design requirements may apply.
My personal preference is for a tunnel that is almost loose, and a deck/rand that doesn’t require a committee to get it on. MountainSurf or Snapdragon could certainly help you on that. On the almost-loose tunnel issue, usually you’ll be wearing overgarments that keep slosh out of the top of the tunnel.
As Rusty 125 said, there isn’t any
difference between a white water spray skirt and a seakayak spray skirt except marketing. The important thing is does it fit you and your boat. And if you are going to do extensive rolling sessions, you want it to be tight in both places.
Rand versus bungee
– Last Updated: Jun-13-07 8:30 AM EST –
My best ww skirt has a heavy rubber rand. This might be quite difficult pulling off a composite coaming if one had to wet exit.
My touring and lighter ww neo skirts have bungees around the deck.
There are many good all neo skirts. I've seen more paddlers in Explorers using Snapdragon skirts than any other brand.
Actually the tightest most leakproof skirt on my Romany is my Valley skirt ;-)
Pain for the gain
As someone who is NOT of the male persuasion, so even with decent muscle I lack very strong wrists and have limited reach to pull the skirt forward, I tend to go with a bungie-edged skirt for the fiberglass sea kayaks and reserve any skirt with a rubber rand for the plastic WW boat. I do feel a distinct diff in releasing the two, at least until both are good and wet. Then it tends to equalize.
As to loose tunnel - I find that when I am really twisting around for stuff like static braces, water finds its way down my back despite tight PFD etc. I assume that I will get some water into my cockpit in the course of doing heavier work, but if someone wants to actually stay dry the looser tunnel could be unappealing. Unless they avoid being real flexible, I guess.
IR - Immersion Research
Not sure what the general feeling about them among pnetters is, but I like my IR neoprene skirt. It is the Navideck (no longer available, replaced by a new model this year) and has a bungee rand.
Good luck…