New Gear: Hydro Holder: Great alternative to a water bottle cage

I finally had the chance to test out the Hydro Holder water and was thoroughly impressed. The simple system, touted as “The most secure and easiest way to attach a drinks bottle to any water going craft,” lived up to all the claims on the Hydro Holder website.

Installation:

Easy: find the location on your board that works for you. Clean the surface. Each kit comes with an alcohol wipe. Make sure it’s dry. Peel off the tape from the 3M adhesive and stick it on. In the how-to video, they basically use a blowdryer. I didn’t.

Take the bungee off the plastic holder and press firmly in place, 3M tape down. lol

Stick it firmly on and give it a few minutes. They also used a blow dryer/heat gun, but it was warm and the adhesive took. It’s the same stuff they use on GoPro Mounts. Get it right the first time, or it will stay where you stick it, pretty much forever.

I picked a place half-way between where my chin rest would go and the bottle cage fin box. I put it on a Bark Prone 14′ Custom Joe made me a few months ago.

Configuring the bungee

There are a number of ways to weave the bungee into the holder. For water bottles, I chose the straight Method.

Hydro Holder works

We had stomach to chest surf. I headed out and took a few on the head on the way out, surfed a few and wiped out two times. One of those times, I lost my hat and glasses, the glasses permanently.

Great uses:

For prone paddleboarders, a bottle cage is great. The angle allows you to use hoses and it allows you to bring fuel, water, nutrition. The Hydro Holder would be great for in and out of the surf and for those times where a bottle cage can be torn off by a sand bar or hit you.

More likely, I’ll use this to supplement the bottle cage.

Added benefit: The low profile takes away that swing weight that two full bottles on a cage can create.

Finally, it can hold more than bottles. I am going to use it for a pelican case where I keep food/energy balls. I might use it for my camera and thread the leash through the bungee.

It might even be better for a SUP if you’re not carrying a hydration pack.

Great FAQ Videos on HydroHolders

Where to buy: Hydroholder.com

Retail Price: $19.49

Disclosure: We HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT. Hydro Holder does not advertise on the Mullet and we did not get paid to do the review. However, they did send us the sample to test.