Carolina Wild Photo (the blog)

It looks like Spring has finally slipped past Old Man Winter. I’m glad to see it… well, as soon as the worst of the pollen season gets gone anyway. I’ve been anxious to get out and do some kayaking, especially since back in February I bought myself a new kayak (well, new to me anyway). It’s a Native Watercraft Ultimate 12 Tegris. Yeah, that’s a mouthful, I know. I’ve been quietly wishing I could afford one of them for over two years, but could not justify the expense. They’re expensive because they’re made of Tegris, a competitor to Kevlar…. and you have all heard of Kevlar. Not only are they tough, but extremely light. So far as I know it’s the lightest 12-foot kayak ever made. Without the removable “class one” seat they come with, they weight only 29 pounds. Add the seat, and they’re 35 pounds… still extremely light.

Part of what makes them so light is they’re a hybrid kayak with no deck, much like a canoe, but far more stable. When I found a used one for sale at a good price, I began comparing used prices just to be sure it was as good as I thought. That’s when I happened to learn they had just been discontinued by the manufacturer, supposedly because the cost of the Tegris material had gone way up, making the manufacturing costs skyrocket. The result was that they would end up costing more than the manufacturer thought most people would pay. So, knowing that, I decided I’d best get one before the demand for used ones drove up the price on used ones too.

The first thing I did was have skid plates added to it, to protect my investment. Then I ordered bow and stern spray skirts while they were still available, as shown in the right photo. But the open design of these kayaks meant I would also need a center spray skirt to make the best of it for my wildlife photography from the kayak. It would help keep water off my equipment, and the sun off of me so I wouldn’t sunburn. The problem was, the company never made a center spray skirt for the Tegris. That left the task up to me to design and make one. I figured while I was at it, I may as well make a custom kayak cover for it too, so I got busy.

At left is the custom cover I made from 500 Denier coated waterproof Cordura. This was the easier project of the two. The hard part was designing and making the center spray skirt from the same waterproof Cordura. From design and planning through completion I spent the greater part of a month with the kayak cover and center skirt projects. I wrote a full article for each of these projects that can be found at these links –
Tegris Custom Kayak Cover
Tegris Custom Center Spray Skirt

The image at right shows the custom center spray skirt nearly finished. I have one additional piece to add … a “lap” skirt… and it will be finished. I have to find some 1/8-inch bungee cord before I can make the “lap” skirt, so that’s in a holding pattern.

The “cockpit” area of the skirt is zippered so it can be opened and rolled back out of the way for accessing equipment, and for ease of climbing into and out of the kayak, as shown in this image at right. It was a somewhat tedious process to work out how to make the skirt work like I wanted, but I finally figured it out. My problem now is solving the transportation issue. My existing kayak trailer is too small for a 12-foot kayak, so I’m trying to decide how I will handle that issue. No matter how that works out, it’ll mean more money spent… almost surely a lot more. I can only hope it will turn out to be worth it.