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By MattTucker, January 13, 2012 6:00 am

As I have mentioned in a previous North Fork of the White River trip report in December, I am the owner of a “new to me” drift boat.  I traded my 1994 Hyde High Side Drift Boat (yes….the $800 drift boat) in on a 2010 Hyde XL Lowpro drift boat.  The old Hyde served its purpose over the years, and I have had many memorable trips with it; but there was something about the sexy lines on the Hyde XL Lowpro that just kept me coming back to it.  In November, I happened across a color combo and boat layout in the used section of Hyde’s site and inquired.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Here are some specs on the new boat:

I can’t say enough good things about dealing with Hyde, and in particular, Matt Hyde, during the purchasing process.  There were a couple of times that I was ready to walk away from the purchase but Matt was persistant in his appeals and creative in the trade-in and other areas that in the end it was a deal that I felt good about.  Matt and his staff went above and beyond to ensure that I was happy and got the boat outfitted the way i wanted.  The only hiccup in the whole process was shipping, but in the end Eldon (the delivery driver) and I worked it out and everyone was happy.

I am looking forward to many years with the new boat and many memories made.  If you are interested in my old boat, Hyde currently has it listed on their website, along with a bunch of other used drift boats.

–Matt Tucker

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By MattTucker, September 5, 2010 4:29 pm

I have been ever fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, and last year, The Far Bank Enterprises., used one of my photos in one of their holiday marketing materials.  In trade for the photo, I received a Sage DXL Typhoon Boat Bag.  Generally it is pretty bad form to review and, or, bitch about something that was given to you (as so I learned after filming a nice thank you to William Joseph for the lack of “waterproofness” of their version of a boat bag — you can see that video here); but I figured it was OK to brag about something when it lives up to its advertised expectations.

First things first, the Sage DXL Typhoon Boat Bag is B-I-G.  It looks more like a soft-sided cube cooler, than it does the traditional shape and size of a kit bag or boat bag.  The bag itself is roomy, thanks to it size.  The outside features various side pockets, but not so many that you might forget where you put things.  Every pocket has a specific purpose, and one of the side pockets has a fly patch and tool dock that are removable and can attach to the velcro on the top of the bag when in the boat.  The bag also features a one-handed flap that gave me fits at first, but on days when it isn’t raining, it will save from having to futz with the water-resistant zippers to get in the main compartment of the bag.

The inside of the main compartment of the bag is a blank canvas, with two big dividers that have a little clear compartment to store maps in, and two smaller dividers to further segment out the compartment.  The lid features, what looks like a significantly more protected water-resistant compartment to store your wallet, keys, cell phone, etc.

While the advertisement on Sage’s web site stop short at claiming the bag is truly waterproof, by reminding us that the bag is not submersible, I was curious just how “waterproof” the bag was and decided to break out the video camera and fill up the bath-tub and head to the ‘testing laboratory”.  The bag held up well and did not leak when sitting in 3″ of water in the tub, and actually wanted to float around the tub.  I was impressed with this, while the bag was in the tub no longer than 5 minutes, if it were going to leak I would have seen some moisture in the bag from this small test.  I then decided to try out the bag in the shower, and placed it directly under the shower head for about 3 minutes, simulating a pretty good rain storm.  The bag didn’t leak a bit during this test either.  You can see the results of the video test here.  In short, I have to tell you that I am pretty darn pleased with these initial results after testing the bag.  I am going to transfer my gear to it and put it through the season with me this fall and winter, and will even use it to store some photo gear in when in the boat.

–Matt Tucker