So very recently I loan my cag to a client and we had a bit of an oopsie with the neck seal when it was being taken off. This happens loads of folks & and I know people panic and think it will cost a fortune to send it away to be fixed. With a little bit of concentration and less that 20mins you can have the job done and ready to rock and roll for full use 24hrs later.

Now to be fair I have done a bunch of these back in the days when I worked in an outdoor shop many many moons ago but its seems more daunting that it actually is. The folks in i-canoe hooked me up with a Kokatat neck seal repair kit which has everything you need to do the job, the seals come in two sizes so everyone is covered.

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So as you can see in the kit you get:

• The replacement seal
• Small section of sandpaper
• UV protection solution
• Aquasure glue
• Instructions

There a a bunch of different ways to go about this and I chose not to follow the instructions provided by Kokatat as I had my own way of doing it. So in addition to the kit I also need a craft knife ( or in my cast my NRS wingman) and a method of stretching out the neck of your cag. I have always favoured the use of this specialist bit of kit.

I’ve always used a traffic cone in the past to stretch out the neck of my cag and make the repair easier for me, sadly when the way the Peak creek Cag is made it doesn’t allow it to slide far enough down the cone to get enough of a stretch. I could have resolved this by padding out the cone higher up with some towels but I was feeling kinda lazy& there happened to be a small bucket right beside me that looked like it would do the job just fine.

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So as you can see from the photo I slid the cag over the bucket and using a sharp craft knife I trimmed away the damaged neck seal while still leaving about 35mm of the existing seal. All you have to do now is slide the new seal over your cone/ bucket so it rests pretty close to its finial position. And then lift back the edge as per photo ready for sanding / gluing.

The Next step is just to take the small piece of sand paper you got in your repair kit and give the part of the latex you intend on gluing a very light sand just enough to create a key for the glue to adhere to. Now we are ready to get with the gluing, so open up the tube of Aquasure and apply an even bead around the existing next seal. Be careful no to go to close to the edge or you will stick your cag to the bucket when you pair the new seal.

So once you have applied glue the whole way around the seal it should look kinda like this, the next bit is super easy as all you have to do is fold the new seal on to the now glued section. The trick here is not to be afraid of it and just do it, once it sitting on it rub around the joining with your thumb to make sure you get a good seal and press out all of the air bubbles.

Now were are almost done the new seal is sitting perfect and we have no glue seeping out on our cag. I always like to add an extra bead of aquasure around the seam as it just a nice bit of reassurance and can’t hurt.

Right that’s the job done. The glue sets in 6ish hours but I always like to leave it a little longer before I take it off the cone/ bucket and then give it  an additional 24 hours to to make sure the glue is fully cured. Your cag will now be ready to rock and roll and be 100% dry again.

This is one of those things I reckon every one should try as its pretty easy and only takes 20minutes max, I think it took me longer to write this post that to fix the seal.

If you have any questions fire away.

Laters,

Adrian

EDIT: I have written another guide for a different method which you can find here

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Wow….where do I start!

After nearly 3 months of solid boating I am super impressed!

I have been using Peak UK kit now for a numbe of years so when I decided to up grade early this year I was always going to lean more towards Peak UK over other manfacturers.

For a long time now Peak UK kit has always looked a little on the basic when compaired with some of the offerings from Palm and other such makers that come with all the “bells and whistles”. This time round Peak have not decided to play sheep and make a dry top that is just a copy of what everone elso has on the market. They went away and came back with what I think is the best engineered “creek” dry top available on the market today! I realise that is a bold statement but I honestly think it’s true.

I bought this dry top, sight onseen but I knew from the previous Peak stuff I had before and that this was there top of the range offering I wouldn’t be going too far wrong.

The material (X4) is bomber, from the first time you feel it and wear it on the water you will know just what I mean by saying this. The fit and finish of the top is just what you would expect from any manfacture who are selling kit at this price. You can feel the quality of the garment the monent you pick it up.

The cut of the top feels just right, when you are boating no matter what kind of position you twist yourself into it never feels restrictive at all.

Most important it does what it is  ment to do it is 100% dry and breathable!!!! This is a piece of kit I can see lasting the average weekend paddler for years and years to come! It just feels solid.

I would say this is prob the best bit of kit I have ever owned.