Just wondering if anyone has one of these Vista upgrade kits or knows where I can find one? Can anyone review this kit?
http://www.waldenstore.com/bulhatupkit.html
It might be hard to find
Walden is out of business, at least for now. Everything was sold at auction yesterday. The trade name and the molds were sold to a company in Michigan that’s not currently a kayak manufacturer, but my understanding is that they intend to put the boats back into production. IIRC, the unfinished boats and all the parts were bought by someone else, but I could be mistaken about that.
Expect to see a flood of Walden branded, low-end paddles and Waldees shoes on Ebay soon.
Vista Bulkhead Kit
Would flotation bags be a good alternative?
Walden Flood Started Today
Brian was correct Walden boats and gear hit eBay today.
not really
I want the hatch kit partially because it looks cool and then also for the lid. I’m not too concerned about flotation.
Do it yourself, save $
I went down this road about a year ago. You can pick up a round hatch for ~$15 at West Marine. Add a tube of 3M 5200 (or is it 5400?), and voila, hatch. If you want to get really crazy, add a bulkhead made of the 3" minicell foam (~$25 at REI). I wrote up a step-by-step and posted it. Try searching the archives.
You should be concerned…
…about floatation. Try swamping your Vista and getting back in sometime. It ain’t gonna’ happen without adequate floatation. Don’t believe for a second that the “foam” hull makes floatation unnecessary, as it’s a bad joke.