Best Kayak Cover

BEST KAYAK COVER: INTRO

Did you know that buying a kayak cover can add years of longevity to your fishing kayak? Well, it can! Never heard of a kayak cover? Take a quick look at KFC’s Ultimate Guide to Kayak Covers here. After that, you’ll be up to speed and ready to dive into this article about the Best Kayak Cover on the market today. Ready to get started?

Best Kayak Cover – Overview

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Welcome to KayakFishingCorner.com’s review on the Best Kayak Cover available on today’s market. We’ve written this article to include all of the important details about this particular kayak cover so you can decide whether you’d like to add it to your surely growing collection of kayak fishing gear!

To make sure this serves you as an easily followed resource, we’ve broken this article down into a number of separate categories. We start by introducing you to kayak covers and then going over some of the basics – What is a kayak cover? What sizes do they come in? What are they made out of? And so forth.

After that, we have included a short “how to” checklist that will walk you through the basics of using a kayak cover in an easy to follow fashion. This checklist will ensure that you are correctly using your kayak covering and, therefore, will ensure that you are doing everything you can to elongate your kayak’s durability!

We then move into a list of the most important features to look for when evaluating the different kayak covers that you’ll come across when you are looking for one to buy. We go into detail on each important feature and discuss why each is particularly important for kayak fishermen to consider. After that, we’ve added a link to the product page for what our research has revealed is the Best Kayak Cover available on the market today. The product page contains further detail just in case you still have questions after reading this thorough review!

Best Kayak Cover – The Basics

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Shortcut to the Best Kayak Cover

The image above is a great example of a kayak cover. A kayak cover is a one piece unit of fabric or material that is stretched over the entirety of the hull of a fishing kayak. Many times, the kayak covering includes a zipper or other type of connecting mechanism to safely enclose the kayak cover around the kayak.

A kayak cover is used to keep the kayak’s hull safe from exposure to the elements. These elements include sun, rain, snow, sticks and leaves, and other instances of nature that can be hard on the kayak’s hull over time – eventually leading to deterioration and the need for expensive repairs (or even outright replacement)!

Kayak covers come in sizes anywhere from 8 feet to 20 feet. Usually they are made of canvas or polyester. Some are even silver coated to provide even further protection against the water, which also provides the added benefit of UV protection!

Sometimes people can use a canoe cover to cover their kayak, and vice versa. However, KFC is quick to warn its readers that a fishing kayak’s longevity is best preserved by using a kayak specific kayak cover (like the Best Kayak Cover, highlighted below). This is because these type of covers seem fit more snuggly and hold their shape year in and year out.

How to Use It!

• Lay your kayak flat on the ground on an even surface.
• Unroll your kayak cover and lay it flat in front of the kayak.
• Pick up the end of one side of the kayak and slide the kayak covering over the top and bottom of this particular end.
• Now its time to slowly work the covering along the kayak, instead of moving the kayak into the cover.
• Stretch the cover so that the entire kayak is inside and then pull the draw string closed such that it sits tight against the kayak.
• Now is the time to connect the connector straps on the bottom of each side of the cover to to protect against any high winds.
• That’s it!

Best Kayak Cover – Important Features

Protective Material. You’ll want to find a kayak covering that is made of premium polyester. Why? Because premium polyester is the ideal candidate for fighting against water and UV rays. While kayaks are, of course, made for the water, leaving a kayak exposed to water for days on end will cause deterioration to the kayak’s structural integrity.

Most KFC readers tell us that they store their kayaks on dock racks. This are great locations for kayak storage but, given their proximity to the water, they can expose your kayak to rapid deterioration if it is not properly protected with a kayak cover!

Connection Method. Make sure that your kayak cover secures to the kayak by multiple methods. Ideally, you’ll want an elastic drawstring and connective straps (like the images below).

The elastic drawstring is a perfect design for allowing you to slip the kayak cover over the kayak, where the material then retracts back to fit snuggly to the kayak itself. Combining this with one or two connective clip-style straps (which will help combat against the cover coming loose in instances of high wind) makes for a very formidable and reliable product.

Ease of Use. Like any product, if your kayak cover isn’t easy to use, you aren’t going to use it. This is why we suggest that you don’t “over do” it when it comes to this type of kayak fishing gear. You want a kayak cover that is lightweight, durable and, most importantly one that fits snuggly to the kayak without much effort on your part!

These goals are best accomplished through the use of elastic and connection clips (not zippers, not velcro, etc.). These elastic allow for you to pull the cover over the kayak quickly and you will not need a partner to help you with the insertion of the kayak into the cover. Sometimes, with the heavy duty canvas models of kayak cover that we run into from time to time, a kayak fisherman will need the help of a partner to ensure a tight fit. Since so many of our readers fish alone, we suggest that you’d be better off with a product that you can use by yourself, with ease!

Buy the Best Kayak Cover

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Perfect for Kayak Fishing!

The kayak cover above is a good example of a product that has all of the qualities we are looking for. That’s why, after evaluating it against a number of the other kayak coverings on the market, we feel confident enough in its offerings that we’ve designated it the Best Kayak Cover!

It is made of polyester oxford, which is known for its durability and waterproof nature. The silver coating of the cover also helps provide UV protection, an important benefit when you consider that fishing kayaks are often left out on shorelines or docks where the sun’s rays can be particularly intense.

We like that it comes in two different sizes so that it can fit nearly every kind of kayak on the market. The smaller size model is perfect for 10.7ft ~ 11.4ft kayaks, with the larger model being well suited for 11.8ft~13.1ft kayaks.

The elastic draw string provides the ease of use that we are looking for, while the two connective “clip” straps provide us with peace of mind in knowing that, if and when that big wind comes, the kayak covering will stay safely affixed to the kayak’s hull.

My Experience

I didn’t buy a kayak covering until the end of my second full season of kayak fishing. Waiting until then was a mistake! You could see that my kayak was becoming sun bleached from the hot rays of the sun and worse, there was a small separation near the cockpit of the kayak that was caused from a continued heating and cooling experienced as the kayak sat uncovered.

I bought the Best Kayak Cover and have felt very fortunate to have made the purchase when I did. Should have done it earlier! There can be no doubt that its materials are MUCH better at standing up to the elements than the materials of the kayak. Also, I have been pleased with how its lightweight design and the elastic drawstring have made using this particular model very easy. Maybe its a character flaw, but if a product isn’t easy, I’m less likely to use it! At this point, it is my third favorite purchase all time (right behind my kayak outrigger and my kayak motor mount)! By the way, you can learn how to use kayak outriggers very quickly with KFC’s helpful guide!

Best Kayak Cover: Summary

I hope this KFC article has been helpful in providing you with an understand of all things kayak cover. While there are admittedly a number of different kinds of covering on the market, I have personal experience with this particular model and know that it is capable of standing up to the harsh elements experienced by most kayak fishermen!

If you’ve made it to this point and find that you still have questions about kayak coverings in general, or perhaps you want some more detail on the Best Kayak Cover or want to know how we went about our analysis of its qualities, please comment below in the Comments section! We read and reply to all reader comments and we know that the entire kayak fishing community benefits from seeing our dialogue!

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Comments

Do you use kayak covers? If not, did you notice that your kayak was susceptible to damage from the elements? If you DO use a kayak covering, does your particular model have a “dual” connection method like elastic draw string and connector clip approached used by the model showcased above? Please share your experience with this kayak fishing community! We would love to help you with any questions you may have and, if we can’t answer them, we are sure that one of the thousands of kayak fishermen enthusiasts who visit this page will be able to help!