Forward motion, headfirst & horizontal to gravity!

Fluid Anvil in production!

I am very pleased to let you all know that the Fluid Anvil is now in production.

It will be available through Fluid Kayaks' Distribution network internationally (USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan). Pricing is likely to be very competitive with all the other Riverboard / Hydrospeed boards on the market.

Since Fluid's products are shipped in containers internationally, availability will initially depend on when specific Distributors have placed their orders, and on shipping schedules to international destinations.

As members of TeamFLI, you are welcome to contact me directly to find out more... though actual orders etc. will be fed through Distributors.

The Fluid Newsletter (called the Fluid Fanagalo) has just come out and has a write-up on the Fluid Anvil. Here is the link if you'd like to find out more: Fluid Fanagalo

I will likely post up some more info in due course.

Charl

Tags: Anvil, Charl, Fluid, Rensburg, van

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Comment by Kevin Yount on January 7, 2012 at 6:05pm: Until we get the suit of our dreams, you may want to consider making the legs of your suits more durable by painting or spraying on a thin layer of truck bed liner over the knees and shins.

Comment by Josh Galt on January 8, 2012 at 1:36am: Those are all great points! You really know exactly what you want - very well thought out. So far all the wetsuit companies I've talked to over the years about this have basically said the same thing - if the demand is there it's possible, otherwise it'd be a very spendy suit. I'd love to see it too...

Kev did you lose flexibility with the rhino-lined wetsuit?

Comment by Kevin Yount on January 8, 2012 at 3:00am: no, that might be a concern if you put a couple of layers on there very thick, but I felt like it went on and then flexed below the knees perfectly.

Comment by Tyler Mayhew on January 8, 2012 at 5:36am: You really only need abrasion protection on certain parts of the suit and I think that if it's done properly it won't affect the flex of the suit. For example, you could sew (or like Kevin, spray) abrasion-resistant material onto the front panel of the suit below the knees to protect the shins, which is where the majority of wear is located on my suit.

Jeff Snyder used to swim rivers, without a board, in a custom-tailored wetsuit that had built-in padding. Not sure who did the suit for him, but if you knew someone with the proper equipment to do the sewing and put together the protective panels then a custom job might be the way to go.

Comment by martyStecher martystecher on May 10, 2012 at 7:15pm: the door panels on my chevy van is a great material for pads. I think it is one (single) material that is formed in a special way to make it 3 layers. Hard structural plastic covered with closed cell foam that is skinned and textured. It does not delaminate, which makes me think they must make it is stages, like pouring the first layer of polyurethane, letting it cure part way then injecting more poyurathane blown with propane to get the foam cells.

To cut it you use a hot air gun and a utility knife. Hot but not smoking, Use towels and a seat cushion

to form the pad against your shin/knee. Soft side in. sand - duct tape to get rid of corners that might hurt your suit. On my pads the shin and knee are separated, and both are stitched to a neoprene sheet the sticks out about 2 inches on each side. No straps or velcro, to put them on, you pull your suit up to your waist then roll it down to the knees and slide the pads in.

For fixing the suit: I used to use round patches glued on with neoprene cement, but now I use small nickel to quarter size pieces along with thin strips of neoprene glued on with the 8oz tube of aqua seal. The bigger patches will keep your suit from stretching where the patch is and the suit will rip just above the patch.

The little patchitos allow stretch. I use a stitch awl to sew holes.

I use 5mm gloves with the fingers cut off. Both of them wore completely through where the side of my hand rests on the board. They fixed right up with barge contact cement and scrap neoprene.

And lastly my most recent custom job, was to cut off a 3mm farmer john at half thigh and just below the shoulders. This is like half shorts half spray skirt goes over the tunnel on my dry top to keep water from pushing up when surfing holes and making me cold.

Cheers Marty

Comment by martyStecher martystecher on May 10, 2012 at 7:18pm: I forgot to say that the little patches are spread out evenly to cover the wear area. There is space between the small patches that allows the suit to stretch over a wider area.

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