I am looking at under deck bags. Has anyone used either of the following…or do you have other suggestions. Also playing with the idea of making my own tube…will be for a Sirius.
Many thanks…
Bob
North Water Under Deck Bag:
http://www.northwater.com/html/deckbag_systems.html
Kayakfit.com Mini-bag
http://www.kayakfit.com/
North Water
Love it.
Search the archives for many great comments (or just see links below). I’ve posted mine too many times now to repeat.
I don’t care for the strap set up on the kayakfit bag. Loose tails, bag moving around, etc. I don’t need a sliding drawer, I just need a place for loose gear. Notrh Water bag is easy to click in and out and stays put.
Picture of mine in boat:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/147516858/147517218zCOsaz
Just the pads:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/147516858/147517107KwKvDS
Some related threads:
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=151015
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=206942#207062
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=160622
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=176702
North Water…
Love it, love it, love it…
pump
How’d you secure your pump?
Also, what did you secure your GPS mount with? I’ve got an Etrex and mount from ebay.
Thanks,
Ken (Q600X)
Many thanks Greyak…
Appreciate the thread to the threads. Now I recall where I saw the North Water and your discussion about it!
I am also curious as to how you attached the pump…with velcro?
About how many inches from the coaming edge is the first pad?
Will likely go with the North Water as well…as the other one does look to cumbersome…
Bob
Details
First - the pump. No Velcro. It just pops in and out. It used to ride loose over the bag. Then I foamed out the front of the cockpit and that made the distance from the foam to the coaming shorter than the pump. I cut a “U” out of the top of the foam about 4" deep (through 1/2" surface layer, thin part of angled layer, and one full 3" section) so there would be room for the pump to be back under the coaming. I made the bottom of the “U” slightly less than the diameter of the pump, which now fits snug enough in it’s hole to stay in place without the under deck bag even being there.
Now back to the bag. I’m not sure how far the front pads are from the coaming. The bag itself it just about flush (does not stick into keyhole area). Out of the way - still easy to reach into. I stuffed the bag with paper and just saw where the pads landed when the bag was where I wanted it. Then I marked a centerline and evened things up before gluing. How far apart the pads are matters as well. Too close - the bag sags more than needed (for pump/whatever above). Too far apart it would be hard to get the bag snapped into the buckles.
Bag installation tip: Get the boat upside down on saw horses or something. High enough up that you can pop up into the cockpit and be looking down onto the inside of the fore deck to work. Also get a good light in there. This will save you tons of frustration and let you get it really well placed quickly.
Ken, I assume you saw my GPS setup in my pictures. I have A Garmin GPSMAP 76 - and mount. The base came with two types of adhesive pads. The permanent one is really permanent. You need to decide just how badly you want it on your deck - as it will be a pain to get off. If you do similar be sure to measure a few times and place carefully. You will NOT get a chance to reposition! I had a temporary setup using the front bungees for several paddles to evaluate position before I glued this to my deck. If the mount’s too close you’ll whack it a lot. Too far and you can’t reach the GPS. Other options are to mount the base onto something else that can be slipped under the bungees or tied on somehow. Check out Garmin’s site and look at all the mounts for your GPS. Several options that may give you more ideas. Either that or carve a foam block for it to nest it and secure that. Someone has pictures of that too. Nice, but too bulky for me. I like how mine folds down and (cradle) comes off leaving just the small low profile rounded mount base.
Where do you buy the glue Northwater
recommends?? I saw some Loctite glue that is
labeled “vinyl adhesive”, but not the stuff in the
northwater instructions.
The glue…
I didn’t use the recommended glue and mine fell off on one hot day…
I ended up using System 3 epoxy and West micro fibers, because I had them… This really worked…
I haven’t heard of any problems with the recommended glue…
Note… the glue will only work on composite boats for RM North water recommends bolts thru the deck…
I used the northwater underdeck bag
but after a while the glue failed, i removed the bag, bought another kayak and consider it moot since the new kayak has a ‘glove-box’ or ‘emergency hatch’ immediately in front of the cockpit…see my review on the Lincoln Eggemoggin.
While the underdeckbag was in place it was used and held a surprising amount of gear…in retrospect I should have ‘glassed’ it, or at least its supports, in.
when I get back to paddling the Nordkapp I’ll probably do that.
The glue, pt. II
– Last Updated: Sep-29-04 1:23 PM EST –
I substituted a super vinyl glue I found at a hardware store, but it turned out not to adhere to the fiberglass very well. Next attempt was removing the vinyl disks and epoxying the webbing directly to the fiberglass. That ended up not holding either, they began breaking lose over the next several outings. Sort of surprised me since I thought epoxy was supposed to stick to resin well. I did rough the surface up, but perhaps not enough.
Third and hopefully final solution was to bend two lengths of aluminum 1/8 x 1/2 bar stock to conform to the underdeck contour, slide the buckles on, and stick the bar stock to the underside with old-reliable 3M doublestick foam tape. Then for good measure put some aluminum duct tape over everything. I'm pretty sure the bag is staying up there now. I load it down with camera and phone and trailer the boat with that stuff in there so it needs to resist some bouncing force. I suppose the tape adhesive may dry out over time but it should be a slow process and if it does it would be simple to redo it.
I think this solution should work for a plastic boat as well, better than drilling holes I would think.
Mike
E6000 is another option
I couldn’t find VYNABOND locally and didn’t want to wait to order ground (hazmat).
I got E6000 in the craft department at WalMart.
Worked VERY well. E6000 is now my preferred glue for many things. Handles sort of like Marine Goop - but more holding power.
I even have two pads on foam (thin paddling QCC puts in under foredeck), and two direct on the hull. Both are still sold after over a year.
Thank You! NT