Counting them up, I realize I’ve owned ten (10) spray skirts
from various manufactures over the years
- from BushSport, Mountain Surf, Seals, Snapdragon, and Reed. Most have been the full-neoprene kind, which
are touted as the most water-tight for rough sea conditions. When I’ve sold my kayaks, I’ve tended to
“sweeten the deal” by including a sprayskirt, so have kept only a few. Recently I wanted a skirt that was more
comfortable for mellow conditions – so my latest is a touring spray skirt with
a neoprene deck and Goretex tunnel made by Snapdragon. Turns out it’s a great all-around spray skirt
and well worth a closer look by all sea kayakers.
My earliest spray skirt was a nylon “summer” conditions one that
came with the first sea kayak I bought. It had a comfortable, adjustable Velcro
collar –but leaked like a sieve. So, in
short order I switched to full-neoprene – and never looked back. BushSport was my first. It lasted a decade
but took a beating over the years – mostly from dragging boats over the deck
during rescues. I bought Snapdragon’s full-neoprene skirts for my next two
boats and was glad I made the change. The Snapdragon skirts are easier to
attach to the cockpit than other skirts because of the more stretchy
“Supratrex” neoprene fabric used for the deck material. Bill and Janice Lozano of Atlantic Kayak Tours
were early fans of Snapdragon who can take the credit for turning a lot of sea
kayakers on to this brand.  |
| Snapdragon Glacier Trek Sprayskirt - and others to compare |
Snapdragon Glacier Trek Breathable (4 Stars):
The reason I decided to go back to a non-neoprene tunnel
when purchasing Snapdragon's Glacier Trek was to eliminate some of the guess
work involved in picking the proper tunnel size (and to accommodate the size of
my mid-section which seems to vary in response to seasonal changes in diet….). I also wanted something that would be more
comfortable in calm conditions. Like most of their sea kayak line of skirts,
Snapdragon’s Glacier Trek has the Suptratex Neoprene deck so is easy to attach
to the coaming. And despite the Goretex/Velcro tunnel, I find it is as water
tight as a full-neoprene tunnel when you synch it down. Plus you can loosen it on flat water which
adds noticeably to comfort and torso rotation. I got a size bigger than my
waist (I think the biggest they make) to make it super loose when I want to.
Then I synch the Velcro and fold the fabric a bit to get a tight seal. To date this is my favorite spray skirt.
Reed Aquatherm (4 Stars):
After attending a UK kayaking event, I purchased the first
of my Reed Spray Skirts. I think every
kayaker should own a Reed skirt if they can at some point – especially if they
have a kayak with the smaller “ocean” cockpit (Greenland cockpit). The Reed skirts
are made with a thin, stretchy, rubberized fabric (Aquatherm) and thinner
bungee that is super easy to take on and off.
The ocean cockpit version is especially easy to put on because it has a
single strand of thin bungee versus the keyhole’s double-strand. The Reed skirts are comfortable, durable,
easy to pack, and dry more quickly than neoprene. After many years of use I
found my Reed skirts to be as durable as the thicker neoprene. Plus Reed will
send you some fabric repair tape which easily fixes holes or wear spots and
retains flexibility (unlike AquaSeal repair glue which does not stretch once
dried).
Seals (3 stars):
I purchased a custom-made skirt from Seals for a surf boat I owned. It works fine – the best feature to me is the added strap/buckle on the grab loop so you can easily clip it to a line for drying, a nice feature. Seals is a New York-based company and has good customer support I’ve found. Many whitewater paddlers prefer their whitewater-specific spray skirts, which have a thick rubber rand and fit well on plastic boats. However, for sea kayaking my preference has been for the Snapdragon skirts, which seem a little more durable to me and the stretchy Supratrex neoprene is a nice feature.
