Best ideas for aftermarket kayak flair

Seeing Eddyline owners' love for their kayaks spill over into adornments, decorations, modifications, and flair is one of the best parts of kayaking. Dressing up your kayak for some holiday cheer is one thing but being willing to take permanent measures like adhesives and drills is a whole 'nother ball game. Here’s a roundup of modification options Eddyline kayak owners have been getting into. 

Just like a dashboard or the hood of your car, some owners like to put a hula girl, alligator or other spirit icon on the bow of their boat. In the deep south, we’ve seen alligators, barbie dolls and pets. Bow bling is also a great conversation starter to get the ball rolling with chatting up other boaters, making friends and spreading the stoke. 

Decals like cheersing wine glasses, alligator mouths and name plates are popular ways to make your kayak your own. And incidentally, pick it out of a line up too. You never know when someone might fall in love with your boat and try to call it their own. A nice bright sticker can be a deterrent. 

Pattie Roles, pictured paddling at Trillium Lake in Oregon with her pup hood ornament and originally designed, color coded by boat, wine glass stickers, can’t get enough of the flair. 

For Linda Kingsbury, who paddles a Skylark in Sacramento, California, her decorative emblem was chosen for a nickname given to her by her grandfather. “I was a chubby baby and he called me his little Pork Chop. He also named his boat after me, Pork Chop, so I continued the tradition.” Now Kingsbury remembers him when she paddles. 

Eddyline also offers an extensive line of decals to blast the make and model of your kayak on the kayak itself, or on your car or some other surface. These make great presents for special occasions.

Marty Witt from Madison, Wisconsin likes to fish. And he outfitted his Caribbean 14 to do so with greater ease and organization. Here’s a play-by-play of how he got creative…

“I started by installing an 8'' gear track on each side of the tank well. Each of the new gear tracks have a track mounted tie down eye to secure my fishing crate. Then I installed a YakAttack MightyMount II on the deck of the bow and the stern. This is a low-profile gear mount that allows for mounting a single track-mounted accessory. 

The stern mount received YakAttack Visicarbon Pro track-mounted flag with 360-degree battery powered light. The bow mount currently has a deck cleat that I mainly use as a tie down point for transport. 

Then I installed an anchor trolley system on the side. An anchor trolley consists of two pulleys: one in front and one at the rear. Trolley line runs through both pulleys and meets at a D-ring. I can then run my anchor line through the D-ring and use the trolley line to position my anchor anywhere along the side of my kayak. I use a retractable clothesline attached to my fishing crate to automatically coil my anchor rope when I lift anchor, allowing me to keep my deck clear of excess anchor line. 

A zig-zag anchor cleat installed just to the right of my seat was added to tie the anchor once I have my position set. I also added a 5” Lowrance fish finder with GPS, down imaging, and side imaging. I wanted the fish finder to be easily removed for transport, so I decided on the YakAttack CellBlock track mounted battery box and Yakattack SwitchBlade Transducer arm. The whole system mounts to the gear track with two hand knobs. 

For fishing rods, I did a couple different things. I added two YakAttack Omega Pro rod holders coupled with a Yakattack Sidearm track mount. This will let me carry two rods side by side at the same mounting location - handy for trolling. The other mod for fishing rods was to build rod tubes that I installed on my fishing crate. I started with 1-1/2” PVC pipe cut to 14” long. I notched the top of each section PVC, then heated the notched end and used a beer bottle to flare the end while the PVC was hot. 

I made gear leashes for my fishing rods out of weedeater string and paracord. Start by wrapping the weed eater string tightly around a wooden dowel. Then heat with a heat gun so it retains its tightly coiled shape. Then take the paracord and remove the inner strands and feed the coiled weedeater string inside of the paracord. Once the weed eater string is fully inserted in the paracord, burn the ends to seal. Then you can add attachment clips on each end.”

However you decide to deck out and fancy dress your boat, we’re on board. And don't forget to tag us @eddylinekayaks on social media when you share pics of your Eddyline kayak! Happy paddling!