Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I am looking for a new skirt for my kayak. My current skirt fits great but it lets water in between the skirt and boat. It is a Immersion Research Shockwave Bungee and I want to get a tighter sealing rubber with the extra flap to keep water out. What should I be looking for, brand/model, and where to not break the bank?

Thanks,
-Trevor

Bob had some good input on skirts in this thread: http://forums.arkansascanoeclub.com/vie ... =3&t=23608" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All skirts leak some. Some kayak cockpits are shaped in a way that they will leak more than others, no matter what skirt you put on it. I don't know how much your skirt is leaking, or even if it is leaking past the rand, through a weak spot in the neoprene, or down the tunnel, but, I just didn't want you to spend a bunch of money trying or hoping for near zero leakage. You might improve on your current skirt some, but how much is sort of guess work and may cost you a skirt to find out!

On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with getting a good "new" skirt for the river, and then retiring the old one to take the abuse of pool chemicals. I routinely rotate older skirts to "pool duty".

Look at the bomber gear skirts!! I have had mine for 3-4 yrs and am very happy with the dryness. It's a rand and alite hard to get on the first time if u don't wet it. I can play at Rockport for hrs at a time and never have to empty. If u think the water is getin in around where the skirt and boat meet..... U can get some window/ door foam. Run it where the the boat and skirt meet!! Works great!

Don't want to get this thread off subject but I figured this question somewhat fit this post. Is there anything a person needs to do to properly maintain there skirt?

runandjump2014 wrote:I am looking for a new skirt for my kayak. My current skirt fits great but it lets water in between the skirt and boat. It is a Immersion Research Shockwave Bungee and I want to get a tighter sealing rubber with the extra flap to keep water out. What should I be looking for, brand/model, and where to not break the bank?

I've heard the IR Klingons are super dry, but a pain to put on. They're also a bungee skirt, so there's more of a risk of implosion. Take a look at your cockpit and see if there's anything you may be able to do to cut down on leakage. For instance, I put some strips of self adhesive foam over some screws on one of my boats that were causing leakage.

TrentF wrote:Don't want to get this thread off subject but I figured this question somewhat fit this post. Is there anything a person needs to do to properly maintain there skirt?

I just rinse mine after using them in the pool or saltwater. The pool is pretty rough on them and will fade them out fast.

For a rand skirt, I'd go with skirtworks or Immers Research Lucky Charm.

We've been happy with our Luck Charm's.

Thanks for all the replies. With the foam tape would it interfere with a rubber rand skirt? Can it be taken off without tediously working it with a knife? Also where can I get it?

Bombergear made a cockpit seal at one time, but I didn't see it on their web site. It looks similar to the self adhesive caulking you'd buy at a hardware store though. You can also buy sheets of foam and cut strips to cover problem spots from a local dealer or companies like...
http://salamanderpaddlegear.com/product ... icell-foam

I would say that it would be easy to remove, but I guess that all depends. I know the sheets Pyranha includes with their boats is a mess if you try to remove it. I'm sure it just depends on who makes it.

In bought the foam at lowes. Think it was window seal or something. 3/4 wide by 1/2 thick maybe. It works best with a rand IMO. It will pull of if u pull... May leave light adhesive but can be removed with alcohol!