Improving A Freestyle Kayak

When [Andrea] was looking for a freestyle kayak, he bought the cheap version of a high-end kayak. The hull is exactly the same as the high-end model, but to differentiate between product lines, Pyranha chose to use less expensive fittings. [Andrea] decided to bring his new kayak up to spec (Italian, here’s a Google translation) by fixing the problems in the cheaper model by bringing it up to more professional standards.

When [Andrea] got a hold of his kayak, the back rest was held on by a piece of nylon webbing secured with a plastic clamp. This was bound to fail after just a few outings, so he fixed this with a few steel nuts and bolts. The eyelets used to tie ropes to the kayak were terrible, so with a little bit of nylon webbing and a pair of buckles these were replaced.

Now, [Andrea] has a very nice kayak indeed, for less than the price of the more expensive version. Good job, [Andrea].

10 thoughts on “Improving A Freestyle Kayak

  1. Nice hack. This is what this site is really for. It is why I started visiting it when I only needed to look at one article a day (ya know, because there was only 1 hack per day…).

  2. Grrr… as soon as I’ll back home I’ll move the article somewhere else.

    jwsmithc4, nice to know you started to kayak, but before modding a kayak wait to be confident in what you’re doing.
    If the outfitting breaks when you are in serious waters, it’s not fun.

    For instance I’ve tried my mod at the pool using it outside.

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