Kayak Spark 450 from Zelgear.

  Spark 450 is produced by ukrainian company Zelgear: zelgear.com.ua..

 Latest updated 2022.04.02.

  This article was written about model from 2019. Because right now I have new one, I added underlined comments.

 Because of war at Ukraine, production is limited. But distributors in Poland and other countries still have kayaks and accessories and manage quarantee.

 Ok let's start

There are two main families. Alfa and Spark. Difference is only in construction of  side chambers. Alfa has round shape side, Spark double rounded ( O and 8). Because of that, Spark is a little bit faster, less stable and unfortunately heavier (3kg)

 Both families contain three models 370/450/520 - it marks length in centimeters. Kayaks are designed for one, two, three person. In every version, for short trip (less luggage) one person might be added.

Technical data sheet ;)

• Dimension - as at picture below.
• Drop stich floor with integrated profiles for bow and stern.
• Safety valve at side chambers
• Material : Hytex (pcv from German company designed for RIB)
• Weight 21kg 
• Working pressure 0.25 bar (4psi) side chamber, 0.5bar (7.25psi) bottom
  
• Capacity 250kg (575 lbs)
• Safety load limit 350 kg (780 lbs)
  

Comments: german cataloque contains information about 0.3 and 0.6bar. Why? Because PVR valve in side chamber opens at 0.27 bar but close at 0.24.  About bottom- they just reduce nominal pressure to increase safety limit (burst pressure is the same)

Assembling and inflation

 There are two main elements: kayak and detachable floor (inflate separately to show idea)

• Roll out kayak on flat surface (grass better than sand) 
• Put floor inside.

• Keep direction of floor, because profile have different shape at bow and stern. Push front and rear tube-profile into socket under spray-decks.
  
• Connect clips between floor and kayak, attach footrest to pad with strap.
• Inflate floor to 0.2 bar (3psi) and ensure that they fit to socket.
• Twist lid on PVRs to "OPEN" position. Inflate side chamber till PRV is working.
• Do the same on the other side.
• Inflate floor to 0.4-0.45 bar (7psi) that 0.05 psi is reserve for pressure change because of temperature. I checked it - kayak out of water and hot summer sun - pressure raises to 0.5 bar after half hour. 
  

Assembled.

Two seats, dry bag 40 behind front seat. Sill plenty places for legs. There is option: discplace front seat about 20cm to rear. Usefull in case of two really big person or.. fishing. BTW: there ae plenty of 'soft d-ring" on side chamber. So seat position might be set very precise.

 

 Rear paddler place.. Plenty room for legs. Knee belt. Very useful. Dramatically reduce tension in muscels of back and legs. It also gives better control on vave and increase manevourability.

 Belts are better than footrest at rough water. Although for calm kayaking footrest is more remommended.

 

 Front paddler place. Also o lot of room for legs (person at picture is 165 cm height)

  Seats have inflated bottom, and semi-hard foam back. Very, very comfortable. Two classes higher than any Gumotex seat. There is pocket at rear side of back, usefull for storage small items like as camera or bottle with water.

 Backrest should be set "little inclined to front". It gives best "spine bracket"

 

 There are holders for spray deck in yellow circle. Easy to attach. There are two version of deck - for double and single setting.

  In version 2021 number of holder for deck is reduced. There are two of them at right side of picture, close one to one. In 2021 there is only one.

 

 Fin holder, simple as hell...

 And assembled fin. Made of 2mm aircraft grade aluminum. Who cares about rocks...

  

Single person kayaking

 There are two options. Seat in the center or at back.

  Alone paddling with seat placed at rear is not so good. Bow is raised above water at it dramatically increase aerodynamic drag. Kayak is fast but its hard to keep him straight.

 Seat set in the middle.

 Much better. Kayak sits more flat on water and is less susceptible for wind. But with one person is still to shallow so front and rear profile give only basic course stability.

 Fin is recommended.And helps a lot. There is also option of rudder mounting, but ... I forgot to ask producer for rudder holder. That option is available for free.

Main problem with center position. There is no footrest pad or knee belts  holder in the center.  I solved it ;)  Just had ordered spare parts directly from producer. and glued. Details here.

 Because my kayak was replaced into new one, accesories for center position were assembled in factory. 

 With footrest and skeg ... miracle. Average speed 7-7.5kmh (4mph) on lake during 8hr paddling. And no pain in back.

 Across stability. Quite good. But this kayak is less stable than Gumotex Solar.Paddler must be more careful for side waves

 

Record from GPS tracker.  First three kilometers was a speed test. Rest of time - lazy time on water. ;)

Two person kayaking.

 

   He is designed for this... Bow and stern profiles are in water and course stability is good. No fin on the lake required. And if paddler are well trained, fin is also not necessary on river .

 Only in case when paddlers have small experience, its worth to add fin on river. Or (better option ) add rudder. Zelgear produce also rudders made of aluminium and composite.

 All kayaks sinde 2021 have rudder mounting point as a standard. Hole diameter is 5mm.

  There is plenty places inside. And distance between front and rear paddler is big enough to avoid paddle collision even if they do "windchill" ;)

 Average speed is the same as with single paddler. In case - two person but only one paddler, speed drops to 6km/h (3,5mph).

 Overpresure valve.

  Very, very important element. Kayak barelly touch water when empty. Side chambers are above water. In case of hot day, pressure raising and may burst chamber. So, PVR works and we are safe.

Please remember that lid of valve whole time must be turn to "OPEN" position. BTW: what "Close" position is for? In case of cleaning kayak only. In every other situation lid must be in "open"position.

 There is no PVR in the bottom. Working pressure is 0.5. I don't know what is safety margin but assume that floor should withstand no less than 0.7bar. Previous datasheet says about 0.6bar working pressure, and its obvious safety margin must be higher.

Three person kayaking.

  I think its hard with three adults on board. But two adults and one teeneger is ok. If you plan three persons journey - remember to order third seat. In that case, rear seat is displaced about 10cm to back, and front seat about 10cm to bow. 

 BTW: I saw 2+2 family during kayaking ;) But it looks crowded, and was very close to safety limit.

Luggage

 This is  a one of reasons  I bought him. Two person and gear for one week = no room in Solar. Plase look at picture. Two 40 liters dry bags, and one 20ltr at front. And still plenty of room.

 Second reason is a width inside. Solar is 36cm inside, Spark 43. 7cm of additional space gives huge comfort for legs and bottom ;)

There is still place for "bag with pump" at rear.

40ltr bag behind front seat. Place for tent at bottom. Zelgear produces  dedicated 60ltr cylindric bags. These bags are wider and fits side-to-side. And they have also "trianlge" dry bags which fits perfectly into bow and stern.

 Bow place. Front paddler still have room for legs.

What about three person and luggage?

  It costs money :( . You have to buy dedicated dry bag . Two of them with triangle shape (2x40ltr) and put it into bow and stern. Third one - cylindric shape dry bag 60 or 80ltr and attach it one the top of stern. Holders on kayak are in standard. With three preson and gears kayak looks a little bit "gypsy" but is still comfrotable.

Drying and packaging.

  First packaging process took 1hr and I was really angry because Solar may be packed in 15minutes.

Few times later... it takes 25minutes.

• Land of shore and remove luggage.
• Remove seats, open valve in bottom of seats, and left the seats alone.
• Take kayak from water. 
• Turn upside down for a while (remove water from inside)
• Open bottom valve.
• Remove floor from inside.
• Wipe floor by towel
• Wipe kayak by towel
• Open side chambers valve
• Remove skeg
  
• Wipe rest of water from inside.
  
• Pack as shown below.

 

 

 It takes 25 minutes in sunny day or about 60minutes in cold October's night. ;) 

Backpack for kayak has size 55(width) ,25 (thickness), 90 (height) - dimension in centimeters.

 

 Rucksack with spark is two times bigger than rucksack with Solar. Its because pcv is less flexible and DS floor takes a lot of space.

At above picture it looks dramatically... But Spark is packed together with two life jacked, clothes, and food. And solar is packed only himself.

Repair set.

  It contains few patches, glue and abrasive paper. I added wipers with alcohol for degreasing and chemical heater.

  Path must be hot-glued.

•  Adjust path to hole size - must be 2cm bigger in every direction.
• Put path to material and mark around.
• Tarnish gently by abrasive paper (just few stroke)
• Degrease
• Apply small amount of glue at path
• Same do with kayak
• Wait about 5 min till dry.
• Apply glue again - thinner means better
• Wait 3mins
• Stick together and press strong.
• Pre-heat or by chemical heater or mug with 60*C water. (there must be a thin towel between mug and path to avoid overheating)

 In hot day it might be done without additional heating. But in normal or cold day it's required.

There is also second type of repair kit from shop "Anmur". It contains patches and two compound glue. Thermal processing is not required with that version. But glue preparation is harder.

   In 2021 repair set glue was replaced for modern one. New glue works well up to 6-7*C, so in most cases additional heating is not required.

Summary:

Pros:

• Size - two person and luggage for months - in comfort.
• Speed - avg 7.3kph vs 4.5 kph at Gumotex solar.
• Rigid - looks as SUP board. 
• Needs 5-7 centimeters water only to floating ;)
• Durable material.
  

Cons:

• Size when packed
• Below 10*C it becomes harder to fold.
• Useless (for me) oar holders. 
• There is no pad for footrest in center position. (just ask )
  

Recommendations:

• For single paddling use oar 240cm long.
• Ask company for: footrest pad for every three seat position (cost few cents)
• Ask company for rudder mounting point (for free)
  

For me Spark is non-plus-ultra ;) Fast, rigid, durable, safe. It takes all good solutions from other type of kayak. Only one step ahead I see: replace PCV into TPU. But I'm a little bit afraid that it increase cost to the stars.

I hope that in next few year Zelgear will do Spark of TPU coated nylon. They did some prototypes in the past. And 5.2 meters long kayak, with working pressure 0.3bar , weighted only 12kg...