Please, share your experiences with various sprayskirts.
Currently I have IR Shockwave, but it is not performing as well as I hoped.
Mountain surf
For Rotomolded kayaks in general, I bet you’ll like the Mountain Surf skirts. I you want something really secure, they are great. They have two options. Easy On Duro Ring and Bombproof Duro Ring. Even the easy on is a very tight, secure fit. Some find that the Bombproof is overkill for a touring kayak.
They have a large rand that really fits well under the lip of the combing and you can order from there website and get one specifically designed for your make and model of kayak.
Just make sure you have enough room between the lip of of the combing and your rear deck to accommodate the thicker rand.
sizes sizes
What a mess! Most probably would have to do custom order.
What is the problem with the IR ?
I too have an Avocet and am looking for a good skirt. I am using an inexpensive Brooks model now with an adjustable bungee rand. It seals OK, but I find it hard to get on - it keeps slipping off the back as I try to attach the front. Also, the shallow coaming on the Avocet makes it extra hard to put it on while wearng gloves - at least with my fat American fingers.
I bought a Seals cockpit cover, size 1.2, which fits very well. The Seals 2005 version 2 fit book indicates size 1.2, but their website says 1.4 for the Avocet. Go with the 1.2. I haven’t tried any of their spayskirts on it yet, but I am leaning that direction (they are made locally and I have a breathable one for my other boat). It will be interesting to hear what others are using. Thanks for starting the thread.
~wetzool
Kokatat, Snapdragon and Valley (Seals)
Folks I know with RM Avocets use the above. Snapdragon and Kokatat have particularly good reputations and fit lists so you can get the right size skirt.
I have
a Snapdragon neo deck with the nylon tunel (glacier?) that goes on easy, but seems to leak a little around the coaming when on edge.
I also have a nylon Harmony skirt that is hard to get on but seals well.
Snap Dragon
Sea Tec, all neo, large deck fits my 2004 roto Avocet quite well.
Check the cockpit size
IF you have a 2005 model - the 2005 RM Avocets came out with a slightly smaller cockpit. We have a friend who had to send her skirt back to Snapdragon for them to resize it. But the good news is they did it. I’d just make sure you have the boat with you to try skirts in case Snapdragon isn’t the only one that missed the change.
Gotta love the Brits …
hadn’t heard this one! Man what a squirrely bunch - maybe someday they’ll figure it out! This may explain why Seals lists two different sizes for almost all of the Valley line - 1.4 on website and 1.2 in latest ‘The Book of Seals’. I contacted Joe to let him know the 1.2 fit my '04 and the 1.4 was too big, but would be wise to send him this post as well. And I understand he makes the Valley branded skirts?
Yup - Valley skirts are Seals
I use the Valley (Seals) all neo skirt on my Aquanaut. Does a better job than my Kokatat skirt of keeping out water.
clarification
– Last Updated: Nov-16-05 9:54 AM EST –
To answer a few questions:
0.5. I have 2005 Avocet RM.
1. IR Shockwave - I have medium, as was recommended by dealer.Was ~OK to start with - that is was reasonably tight to put on. After ~1 month of use got looser, which in turn made for a loose fit, with all consequences, including broaching in moderate surf. I expected better from all-neo skirt.
2. Yes, sizes are confusing. I looked at Seals website - they indicated 1.4 which I doubted. Once I started looking I noticed that a lot of manufacturers spec out Avo sprayskirt as medium when according to VCP specs it is usually smaller than minimum size for medium. I wish ( ... rant .. .) they speced out coaming dimensions and circumference instead of silly letter ( XXS M...), numbers (1.2, 1.4 what? ), or descriptors ( standard keyhole, medium keyhole, large keyhole ).
One of posters recommended MoutainSurf. Does anyone have personal experiences with choosing size/style from them?
Talk to GRO
I got my Valley (Seals) skirt directly from Great River Ooutfitters (GRO). They are the importer of Valley boats for North America. They are very responsive and should be able to help.
http://www.grokayaks.com/
Wildwasser (Prijon)
makes a decent skirt also.
Mountain surf
Per their chart they specify Large keyhole 200. From there you just need to decide on the tunnel size and type. If you have doubts or questions, call them.
Size?
Jim,
Does the Valley branded use the same sizing as Seals (i.e. Can you tell if it is a 1.4 or 1.2)? If not bring it to the pool Dec. 1 and maybe we can compare it to my 1.2 cockpit cover.
Harmony LC-1, my RM experience,
Hi,
My problem with the Avocet Rm combing wasn’t sealing as much as keeping the thing on. My Snapdragon skirt, a sorta hybrid thing with a neoprene type deck and nylon tube went on fine but pulled off on the first roll. Same with a Harmony tour , neo deck, fabric tube. I have had very little trouble though with the Harmony LC-1. It’s a tight fit to get on, as it is on my other boats. But it has stayed on in all but the more violent surf play incidents at the coast.
My take on it is that the Rm cockpit rim just sorta sucks at this task in general as there’s no lip, just smooth rounded taper. I did find it helpfull to also pull the tube down some so as to put as little “pull” on the land as possible while rolling around. I also foundthe suspenders on the fabric tube type skirts just guaranteed it would pull off ASAP due to the mechanical connection to your shoulders during rolls etc.
A j
skirt fit
My husband had problems with his spraydeck popping off his Hurricane while mine never gave me a problem.
We learned from our dealer that the seat back was different in relation to the rear of the cockpit. So the tunnel(?) of his skirt was not directly over the center of the seat as mine is. Our dealer says that although a spraydeck fits great on the showroom floor around the coaming rim, it may not fit when the paddler is wearing it for a number of reasons. He said he’d ordered Seals skirts custom with the tunnel moved back and that’s what we did since we didn’t want to move the seat forward. Worked great! So check out your spraydeck fit wearing it and getting in your own boat to be sure. Hope this helps others as I know there are more fit issues like the size of the tunnel, how far up it comes etc. I did like the Seals since they came with the option of suspenders which I don’t like but hubby does.
Don’t know
I will check, but I don’t think there is any indication of size. I will bring it to the Dec 1 pool session.
GRO response…
…
We usually recommend the {seals} 1.4 as well. Or if you want a Bushsport/Palm then you’d want either a “sea keyhole” or a “neo 4.” All of these are the same size
…
Valley boat–Valley skirt
Bought a new VCP neoprene skirt with my new Avocet RM from the shop (Backcountry Outfitters, Traverse City MI) and it seals very tightly with no problems.
I wasn’t aware of different cockpit sizes this year vs. last…