Buying Guide

Kayak Equipment
The club charges €2 if you borrow 1 item, and €5 for any more. Generally, you will need a boat, spraydeck, helmet, cag, PFD (personal floatation device) and paddle. If you want to buy your own gear, then the following are all good entry levels items.

Once you start going for the skills awards, you will need specific equipment. See:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Helmet:
Shred Ready
Bern White Water Helmets
Sweet Helmets
All are good.

Paddle:
Werner Rio – Entry level white water paddle - €130 – Bantry Bay Canoes
Werner do a good guide for choosing the right type of paddle and paddle length:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]
NRS also have a guide:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Spraydeck:
Neoprene ones are much better for white water.
Lomo Kevlar - £40 – Excellent value for money.
Peak Basic WW - €60
Make sure you get the right waist size and that it is the right size for your boat. Junior boats have smaller cockpits.

Dry Cag:
A wetsuit and basic cag will do but a dry cag on top with or without the wetsuit makes things much warmer. A fully dry cag (€150 plus) with wetsuit trousers is good. See sales at: [Only admins are allowed to see this link] - Very cheap and free EU delivery.
Fully dry cags have latex neck gasket and will be much better than semi dry with neoprene necks. For only an extra €40 or so, get the fully dry as then you can roll all day and stay warm.

Palm, Typhoon and IE dry cags and suits are very well regarded.
You can pay more if you have the budget and each one will be thicker and stronger.
After that you can get dry trousers and get rid of the wetsuit, once you have saved up!

Keeping warm will allow you to stay in the water longer and have a better experience all round. If you are going to run rivers then you will probably be doing it in the winter so if you can afford it, buy a dry suit. From €400 - Peak, Palm, Typhoon are all good.

Boots, skull caps, dry bags, dry boxes, wetsuits, pogies, gloves:
All available from Lomo.

PFD:
There is a huge selection, all seem to be pretty good.
If you plan on becoming an instructor, then spend a few extra euro and buy a rescue one suitable for the instructor training.

Other stuff:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

SKC logo on clothes:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]
Choose what item of clothing you want and then go to Jako in Sligo and they will order it in and put our logo on. They will order just one item.

Links:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]  - Sunset Watersports Sligo
Call of the Wild, Sligo
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]  - some very competitive prices
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] - online gets a 10% discount.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] Dublin
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]  – Fermanagh shop
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] - River Deep Mountain High in Galway.

UK:
Lomo – [Only admins are allowed to see this link] - Good prices and free EU delivery.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link] - UK supplier with large stock but a bit expensive.
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]  - Part of the Canoe Shops Group and has very good prices.


Please post up if you are very happy or not with your equipment.

See the Buy and Sell Forum, if you are looking to buy or sell stuff.