The PaddlerUK magazine September 2015 issue 4 | Page 84

PAddlerUK 84

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Testing,
Ace of Spades

www.spadekayaks.com
By Phil Carr
www.unsponsored.co.uk

Spade kayaks is a new kayak company
formed in Germany by whitewater
legends Hans Mayer, Oli Grau, Matze
Brutzman, Jens Klatt and Jan Haluszka.
The Ace of Spades is a blown moulded
displacement hull kayak. It has the
features that you would expect to see in
any whitewater boat – adjustable
outfitting, full plate footrest, multiple
grab handles, drain bung etc… but many
have been executed in a
creative/different way.
The Ace is designed as a river runner/creeker
and is available in just the one size.

Outfitting:
Footrest

The footrest is a full plate with a contoured
plastic foot plate on a metal frame that is
bolted to the hull left and right. The width of
the footrest can be adjusted by loosening
two bolts on each side of
the foot plate. The
footrest runs
within a

skeletal plastic pillar where you would normally
find a lump of high density foam.
The pillar is bolted to the hull at the top and
seat rail/hull at the bottom using stainless steel
Allen bolts. There is a fixing that is welded into
the boat. Tightening this bolt too tight can pull
and move the bottom of the boat. This makes
for a super stiff setup.

Cockpit

You will see in the images the cockpit
incorporates a grey plastic ring. This creates a
stiff setup and allows the outfitting to be bolted
to the boat. Although there is a join and a
whole load of fixings, all will be protected from
water ingress by the spray skirt. However, I must
say it isn't the prettiest of systems but it does its
job well.

Cockpit – hip pads

On first look the hip pads don't appear to be
anything special but on closer inspection and
use – they are very good.
Each pad is held in place by a combination of
QR buckles and Velcro. The buckles are riveted
to the seat via a short length of strap. Therefore
when released from the hip pad the straps and
buckle stay in position. There is no risk of the
strap falling behind the seat post as happens
with systems from other manufacturers.
The hip pad is perfectly shaped with more
padding at the rear, this is a simple idea that
works well. If the padding were consistent across
the width of the pad there is always a risk of
placing too much pressure on your leg
at the front edge, which can result
in numbness.Take this padding
away but keep it where it's
needed at the rear. Superb!
Plenty of shims in the
outfitting kit are provided and
fix between the seat and the
main pad.