Dorado II paddle keeper

[JKay]

Another little project that I finished a couple weeks ago, but have been too busy with travel to post until now. I wanted to come up with a paddle keeper for the Dorado II, but something where I did not have to drill holes or have the bungee button as a clothing catcher as I'm trying to board or exit the boat.

I started with the Kwiktwist (KT) that I found in the Home Depot. The product is basically flexible coated wire with a foam sleeve. The ends of the KT are threaded metal with a cheap plastic piece screwed onto them. Easy to come off on the water. This wouldn't do. I decided to cut the ends off. The finished length was about 23".

I needed something now to both cover the sharp end of the wire and encapsulate the exposed metal to prevent corrosion. In digging around in my desk, I found that the little plastic tips that cover the end of Staples gel ink refills fit perfectly after I pulled the foam sleeve back a bit. I used Marine Goop to glue the little tips to the end of the wire.




I also needed something that would cover the ends of the foam completely. The 1/2" screw protectors found at Lowes would work perfectly. Note: You need to semi-install the foam covered wire onto the kayak before this step. Here is a shot of where I installed the KT. I used the deck loops that were closest to the web handle on one side of the kayak.


I shaped the KT to fit up and around the deck loops and between the deck loops and handles. It follows the black stripe that is just below the handles.


I masked off the foam right where the screw protectors were going to be glued on.


I then glued on the screw protectors and let everything dry.


The final product. The KT seems just rigid enough to hold a paddle temporarily as you're landing a fish or taking a break. If you crash going in/out of the surf and bend it, you just reshape it.