Profile

The portability feature of this green and red bow light is the key thing for us paddlers. It has a clamping system that enables it to be used on either my hard-shell kayaks or my inflatable ones. It is quick and easy to install or remove and small enough to be handy for traveling. Uses 2 D-cell batteries.

This kit includes both the green/red bow light and the white stern light. It is perfect for paddlers. The lights have a clamping system the make them easy to install or removed. This kit is especially compact – both lights are very small, but fine on brightness. Even the 2-foot tall post for the stern light can be broken down into three ~8-inch section for ease of packing. Lights are water resistant. Each light uses three AAA batteries.

This is a rather basic model of Rayovac headlamp (I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even offer this model anymore) – I would choose a different Rayovac model for a couple reasons. The main drawback of this one is the way the light fastens to the plastic fixture on the headstrap: two little plastic pegs on the light pop into two plastic flanges to hold it to the headstrap. Over time, those two little flanges apparently loosen up enough that the light can pop out of the flanges and fall off the head strap! This is not ideal, especially for paddling! It also has only one bulb, which I believe is not LED, so it eats up batteries more quickly. I still do use it around home, but get tired of having to pop the light back into the headstrap.

This is a decent sized cargo bag that seems to be built pretty durable. It has the roll-over dry-bag type of opening and has a strong carry handle. I got this when I purchased a used Advanced Frame Expedition kayak package, but liked it enough that when I sold the Expedition kayak, I decided to keep the cargo bag. With its numerous straps and D-rings, it has a lot of flexibility to use it with any of my hardshell or inflatable kayaks.

This high-output pump seems to do OK. It doesn't give the impression that it is a real durable pump, but I have used it occasionally over a few years without any issues. I have used it mainly for various models of Advanced Elements Advanced Frame kayaks that I have had.

This carry bag is offered with Sea Eagle's Sport Kayak packages. It can handle their entire sport kayak package including the boat, the seats, the paddles, and the pump, so it has decent capacity. It can also be used for their FastTrack kayaks too if you fold them up efficiently. (I prefer to this bag over the one that comes w/ the FastTracks because that one is more of a hassle to close up w/ all its flaps and straps.) Two possible improvements: 1) it only has one carry strap, so it has to be slung over one shoulder as compared to two straps to allow you to carry it on your back like a back-pack, and, 2) one of our bags did eventually tear around the opening, so we bought a small strip of similar material and my wife (a seamstress) was able to repair it.

This could be on the top of my list for paddling PFD's. We often paddle in warm weather, so the open-sided design with back meshing is to our advantage. The high-backed feature of course is a good match for kayak seats. It is always nice to have a couple pockets too

This is a basic, low-cost bilge pump (this is NOT their "Deluxe" version, as that one costs about twice as much). It can achieve 8 gpm (gallon per minute) pumping capacity. Has a padded shaft for flotation. And you can get down within about an eighth of an inch of the surface you are pumping from. I cannot speak though for its durability; I would guess you may want a higher grade version if you are doing some serious kayaking where it could be critical.

This could be my favorite paddle. It is carbon-shafted and offers their "Smart-View" feathering adjustment. But the real reasons for a high rating are

1) how it feels to handle it and the firm, smooth control,
2) how light it is, and
3) the blade design seems to repel the water mostly outside the boat so that the drip rings don't even have much water drainage left to deal with. For this good of a paddle, the price is reasonable.

After another paddle in the Viper 10.4, I felt I should give an update to my 8-5-15 review with several key things to point out. First one is that I noticed that there is no flotation means inside the kayak, neither bow or stern. Second is that the stern storage, although it has a well-sealing lid, is not a sealed compartment, so the water on the floor of the kayak can run back into the stern chamber. (As long as you use a dry bag though, it does offer a lot of rear storage). Lastly, since this yak does not have a sharply-defined front or rear "keel" (like, for example, the Old Town Vapor 10), it has a little bit of a "wag" to it as you paddle, but the advantage is that you can turn very sharply – so this maneuverability makes it excellent for small, narrow streams that wind around a lot.