We have just received news from our "extreme athlete" Robert Hewetson. It's our pleasure to publish his updates and feedback on Tregoo gear, along with a video that shows Robert who is shoving off the kayak, despite the inclement sea!

55 days with Gecko 120 and TL 20

I am 55 days into a 6 month 4700km solo and unsupported sea kayak expedition with objective to paddle the entire South African and Namibian coastlines. If successful, I will be the first person to have ever done so.  

Amongst my most important pieces of equipment on this trip is the GECKO 120 power pack from Tregoo which accumulates power from the connected TL 20 solar panel and which in turn provides 5 Volt "usb" electrical power to charge my electronics (sat phones, mobiles, cameras...) as well as 12 Volt power to run my emergency bilge pump on my kayak. It can also make 220 Volts, but I don't use that.

First thing to say, is that this Gecko power pack is one very tough and reliable piece of equipment! This type of expedition is extremely hard on all equipment, but the Gecko has somehow survived 55 days so far and has been able to provide power when I need it. Including recently during a real emergency after I capsized and flooded my boat during heavy seas 16km from the nearest land... I managed to re-enter my flooded boat, and activated the emergency pump with a prayer that it would work...and the Gecko 120 indeed came to the rescue and provided the power to empty my boat for me, allowing me to concentrate on stabilizing the overall situation. This is when one really needs to have reliable equipment, and the Gecko 120 has proved itself here.  

Most of my equipment has suffered on this trip so far, and after nine fiberglass repairs my boat is leaking a lot, necessitating that I pump it out every 20 minutes of paddling. To do so manually is very tough and costly in terms of progress, so it is very useful to have electrical power onboard to let my electrical pump do this work for me!  Once again, the Gecko 120 coupled with TL20 solar panel is providing the power for this.

Capacity wise, I have enough power with this setup. I don't know how many times I can charge my phones etc with a fully charged Gecko because I always have it connected to the solar panel, so it doesn't seem to run out of power so far.

So far, so good with this Tregoo equipment, tough and reliable!

Robert Hewetson, 2nd January 2015