Either can work well, either can be donned solo (although you'll need a bit of pull-cord tied to a back zip) but either can also be very difficult to get in/out of depending on how flexible you are and how the suit fits you. Your only way to be sure is to try before you buy.

Water on the lens is frequently an issue. I did try some RainX on it, which people said helped. I'm not convinced it made much, if any, difference. I bought a little chamois leather sponge thing from Lidl, then unpicked the stitching at one end, took the sponge out, leaving me with a chamois leathe...

Like Owen, I've found just filling up the various compartments and cockpit with water and then searching for leaks (with a tea-towel, a torch and a marker pen) works fine most of the time. The only time it didn't work was when I was trying to locate a leak in my skeg box - I ended up sealing the hat...

On all of my kayaks - sea and whitewater - I've swapped over from back-band to a simple shaped foam block. This gives me much greater freedom to lay back, which helps with aft-finishing rolls. I think you still need something back there to keep your butt in the right position forward/aft as that's k...

Yep, I've swapped between latex and neoprene on a few suits. There's plenty of instructions on how to do it online, but a few tips: 1. Try and fully remove the neoprene seal either by completely cutting the end off your sleeves or by cutting as much of the seal as possible away with a stanley knife ...

I didn't know there was such a thing, but Google throws up the following one that appears to be working, although I haven't yet actually heard anyone talking on it: https://www.dxzone.com/dx20989/marine-vhf-radio-live-streaming-audio.html I don't think you'll learn much from listening in though. Whe...

I've tried a few. My experience with Peak "storm pants" is similar to yours - they just aren't dry and water always seems to seep in through the butt where you're sitting on a wet seat. I also bought some Chinese things off ebay which were never really dry. The only ones which have done the job over...

I don't have any personal experience of that boat, but it's common for skegs to be deployed down by being pushed by the skeg wire. I've never heard of any being deployed by gravity and I can't believe it would work as it would be opposed by the pressure from the moving water. However, if that really...

I don't know much about wild-camping in Scotland, so maybe there's a background to this story that I'm unaware of? E.g. was the law being subverted here to bring the police in to deal with a non-criminal trespass offence? However, my general reaction to this story stands: the police, social workers,...

I don't think I'd be quite as civil about it if it had happened to me. The police were in the same "damned if you do - damned if you don't" position that social workers often end up in. Presumably, it was an easily-excitable member of the public that reported their far-fetched suspicions of a cult ...

D'oh! That's a much easier solution than mine, and the shape looks good. Might still be worth copying the cockpit rim from an existing boat so you know that off-the-shelf spraydecks will fit it.

(What Nick didn't mention is that I've learned more through error than trial. My most recent cockpit cock-up was painting a boat before fitting the rim/upstand. Epoxy doesn't like sticking to paint...) The most straightforward approach is the following: 1. Remove the upstand you've already installed...

Yes it's a Shrike that's nearly complete - just made some thigh grips and then coaming and finishes. I'd really appreciate the details of the Shrike one you mention. I made some recessed deck fittings so easy to mount...... If you're wanting to mount a compass easily using your deck fittings, then ...

Spikeedog: is this in relation to the Shrike you're building? If so, there's a guy on these boards who's built a very smart deck-mounted compass into his Shrike (I think he's called PeterG on here.) He's located his quite far forward in the deck, for reasons discussed above. If you want to copy it, ...

I have no hip padding in any of my sea kayaks. When I roll, my backside slides across the seat and my hip drops to the lowest side of the boat. I've experimented with padding and found I couldn't do some types of roll which I otherwise could - because my centre of gravity was being held higher when ...

Given the criteria you mention, I'd 100% recommend Plymouth. It's the biggest town on the South Coast of England, so plenty of townie stuff (no Waitrose or Ikea if that matters to you) yet less than 100 metres off the seafront I've been playing with a big friendly dolphin... There are places suitabl...

I suspect you'll be the first to have tried this, so you'll probably need to look in the detailed specs on the Decathlon website and work out for yourself if you can pack all that kit in the area normally occupied by the third seat, and whether the weight distribution would be similar to having a th...

I've got a good inflatable, but single-person only and probably not big enough to carry my folding bike. A good site for you to have a nose around would be this one:

http://bikepacker.com/packrafting-for-cyclists/

(but it doesn't look like you could both fit in the same boat.)

I'm not aware of any rudder option for the Scrambler. There's a consensus view that putting water inside your hull would be a bad idea. What is it that you're trying to overcome? E.g. (as rockhopper asked) are you having a problem being turned around by the wind? From my limited experience (on a sm...

I've found pogies work miraculously well in the sea. Mine are a really basic design and aren't particularly watertight, so often flush through with water when I submerge the paddle to roll or turn. However, this makes no difference - your hands remain absolutely fine. But sea temperatures around the...

I've also seen a lot of trash sectional boats - heavy, leaky and miserable to assemble. But like any kayak, you just need to do your research and avoid the junk. Clip-together boats are bone-dry, lighter than bolted boats (no need for massively reinforced bulkheads) and quick to assemble. My boat, d...

Just in case anyone reading this is feeling adventurous, there's actually a straightforward way of converting a normal kayak into a 2 or 3 piece. The basic technique is to install extra bulkheads - one alongside your existing foot bulkhead and one by your rear cockpit bulkhead. Then cut in between t...

Some breathable fabrics work, some don't. I recently acquired a couple of Goretex suits and they make a noticeable difference in terms of comfort, but it's not magic - if you're doing an Olympic sprint and/or the weather's hot, you're still going to boil in the bag. It will be an improvement on non-...

I just pulled up the area you'll be in on Google maps and put 'campsites' into the search box. A few came up, and the best for access to the Thames looked like 'Riverside Campsite' in Wallingford. When wild camping has been discussed on here before, the consensus seemed to be that you'll be fine alo...

Let's hope in the 3 years since the OP started this thread, they've now got it sorted out...

Fair enough. Life would be so much easier if you could get a tough plastic water container, 6 inches deep and the same sectional shape as your bulkhead...

Totally agree with Ron-T. On my boats, I've just hacked out some bits of foam to be roughly the same shape as the bulkhead, but slightly oversized, and rammed them down there. The sheets of foam that I've got are between one and two inches thick, so you'd need up to six of them to fill your gap. Whe...

Go on, it's Friday so I'll bite: how can ratchet strapping your kayak to your roofbars (even if it's done by Geoff Capes on a careless day) result in a dent in your roof? And what would the helmet be saving you from?

I'm the only person I know that uses ratchet straps. Everyone else I paddle with uses luggage straps and usually makes a few doom-laden prophecies about how I'm going to break my plywood boats with mine. I think they're great, but I got a few of them (a bit cheaper than that website) from Lidl years...

Looks like you've got a good club set up with swimming pool and people with underwater cameras, so they'll be the ones who can help you best. I concur with all the good advice you've been given re. turning the boat over with a strong hip flick and following the paddle with your head, i.e. keeping yo...