TVF Pop Pro Duo MK2

For those of us who do not know what an overthruster is, ever seen one of those phallic inflatable air bags a lot freestylers have jammed between their legs? It’s one of those (pictured above). I really like using them because they improve both comfort and performance while freestyling. The top section prevents your spraydeck from imploding which allows you to get more pop and consequently a lot more height on any move like a loop or phonics etc. The bottom part supports your legs and feels a bit like an inflatable sofa, by supporting your legs your core muscles become less tired throughout the course of a session allowing you to keep going for longer and to have more connection with the kayak itself adding just a bit more snappiness and confidence in your movements. Recently the top part of my old Jackson overthruster ripped for the second time in the last year and I decided I’d had enough (while my Pyranha Jed does come with a sort of plastic overthruster it doesn’t have the leg support and gives less pop than the inflatable version) so I decided to shop around…

Up until recently Jackson have pretty much had a monopoly on the inflatable overthruster and it was quite pricey coming in at around £75 but recently TVF launched the Pop Pro Duo and after some trialing they replaced that with the much improved MK2. I had a look at one of these and decided to try one to see how it was and I can confirm having used it for 2 freestyle sessions at Lee Valley and 1 flatwater session on my local canal that it is just as good as I had hoped it would be. The Pop Pro Duo MK2 is also £75 so alas there’s no price incentive to switch but the quality and design are just so much better. Once Jackson launched their 4.0 (and Guigui launched the plastic Helixir) with much more volume than previous kayaks, the bottom leg support was nowhere near large enough to even touch the underside of your legs and certainly not enough to support your legs/core or firmly hold you in place; people have been forced to add foam underneath but realistically Jackson should surely have seen this problem coming and released a larger overthruster but no, no sign of one coming. Even in my Pyranha Jed with much less volume I still felt the need to boost the Jackson overthruster up a bit because it’s the need to fully inflate both sections that caused the inadequately glued seams to burst and the only way to avoid that was to put foam underneath. I don’t need to do that anymore. The TVF Pop Pro Duo was much larger and the MK2 is even larger still to accommodate new designs like the 4.0. The lower part really holds me in even better than previously and the top section is now unnecessarily big when fully inflated in my lower volume Jed allowing me to go unnecessarily high. As for build quality the material used is thicker than the Jackson overthruster and doesn’t feel like it would rip easily and the seams are much more heavy duty, combined with the lack of a need to fully inflate either section I don’t see the seams bursting any time soon. The inflation system has also been upgraded with thicker piping and a better valve. The MK2 uses a non-return valve inflation system which essentially means you doesn’t have to stick your tongue down the valve to prevent the air from escaping during inflation, the valve does it for you. To deflate all you have to do is press in the valve to allow the air to escape making it much simpler to get out on those cold days. There are a couple of additional small tweaks I also rather like: first, the valves have a cap which prevents water from getting into the overthruster where previously it would have refused to come out and then gone off. Second, the elastic attaching the top to the bottom section allows the top part to be removed without having to deflate the bottom, a small change but every little helps. I would really recommend trying this yourself – I loved it. You don’t need to replace your current overthruster, but when it breaks (which it will) or if you’re in need of one right now then look no further.