Gear! Advice

Hey Guys!

I am in need of some equipment now that I have bought a boat.

I am going to start bit by bit buying gear!

I need a roof rack - apparantly my inflatable jobby from Aldi is no good!!!!

Also an airbag, spray deck (not too tight), bouyancy aid, paddle and helmet!

Going to leave the dry suit till next winter!!!

Any advice?

M.

Maid K wrote:

Hey Guys!
Also an airbag, spray deck (not too tight), bouyancy aid, paddle and helmet!
M.

All the bits above you'll need straight away.
My nephew Cian got a good deal from Munster Dive a few months ago.
All club spec gear, no fancy stuff, but all good quality.

Roof rack wise. What kind of car do you have?

I have a set of fiberglass Roughstuff Kinetics. Well used but still a lot of life left in them. I'll bring them with me Sunday if your going and are interested.

Ok I'll start!
Roofbars - Thule are generally considered the best make. You can often pick them up 2nd hand on irishfreestyle, check out the buy and sell section. If you don't see a suitable set there, throw up a message, people often have old ones lying round. Failing that, MDAC (among others!) sell them.
The inflatable jobbies are ok, they're fine for 1 or 2 boats but they do scratch the roof, and I wouldn't trust them on long journeys or at high speeds.
Airbags - to be honest, just go into a shop and buy whichever ones look like they'll fit. I have peak ones, they do last well, but most ones you can buy now are solid enough so I wouldn't waste too much time wondering which are best to buy.
BA and helmet are two things I wouldn't buy 2nd hand, cos you don't know how the previous owner treated them, and your life could depend on them. You can spend as much or as little as you like on these things, it's up to you as to how much use you expect you'll get out of them vs. how much you want to spend vs. how bling you want to look.
The one I would put a bit of money into now is paddles. Not saying to get the top of the range fancy carbon crank shaft ones, but try to go one up from the club spec plastic blades. You'll find a slightly better paddle for e60-70 more much lighter and easier to use. Also, often 2nd hand on irishfreestyle. Try a load of different paddles over the next while to see what length and feather you like. They'll all feel weird to you coming from club paddles, but hopefully you'll be able to make some judgements. There's (unfortunately) no easy way someone else can tell you what length and angle is gonna work for you.
Hope that's of some help! Any more questions ask away
Muireann

If your looking for a good paddle go for something like a werner player, dont go all fancy and get the werner stikine as its harder to roll with them.
If you plan to get a drytop , make sure you buy good thermals as the drytop wont keep your core warm, and dont just rely on those skintight sports thermals as they dont really work on cold days, a fleece over the sports thermal works well for me.I generaly prefer to be too warm than to be freezing after a session.
Aramid or fiberglass helmets are my personal choice , i found that the happy2be helmets are way easier to roll with than the sweet rocker and wanderer but the fiberglass will scrath easy if you are planing on hitting a few rocks ( not advised) .

Call into Munster Dive and you will get a great deal.

with regard to roof racks try www.micksgarage.ie I got mine there saved me 90 euro and were delivered to my door in a few days.

Cheers Guys for all the advice I have a bit of research to do!


Maighread

PaddlingSully wrote:

Roof rack wise. What kind of car do you have?

I have a set of fiberglass Roughstuff Kinetics. Well used but still a lot of life left in them. I'll bring them with me Sunday if your going and are interested.

I have a peugeot 307 2004 model. Was not planning on the upper bandon trip as I thought it would be a bit advanced for me?

M.

if you try motorway near the kinsale road roundabout you might pick up a second hand roof rack (they rent them out during the summer) reasonable enough, i got mine there as regards the rest of the gear have a good look around on-line i bought most of my gear there got some great deals give me a shout i can send you the links

Maighread I'll have the Roughstuffs at the pool session if your there this week. If not no worries, if you want a go at them we can work something out. I know starting out getting all the gear together can be a bit costly so was thinking these might be a good solid cheap option to get you started. When I started out I got everything second hand except my helmet. Upgraded my gear as I went along then.

PaddlingSully wrote:

Maighread I'll have the Roughstuffs at the pool session if your there this week. If not no worries, if you want a go at them we can work something out. I know starting out getting all the gear together can be a bit costly so was thinking these might be a good solid cheap option to get you started. When I started out I got everything second hand except my helmet. Upgraded my gear as I went along then.

Will be at the pool session on Friday night and will try out the roof rack then. That would be great!

Cheers and see you Friday.

M.