SuckerPod suction-cup tripod camera mount

SuckerPod™
SuckerPod™ x42

suckerpod suction cup tripod

The SuckerPod is a marine-grade camera tripod that allows you to suction-mount your camera on a kayak deck, boat windshield — even a car or ATV hood.

SuckerPods are available in two heights, the 23-inch tall standard SuckerPod™ and the 42-inch tall SuckerPod™ x42.

The SuckerPod's articulated suction feet, long legs and 14 independent ball-and-socket joints provide the height, stability and flexibility not possible with a single suction-cup monopod or tripod.

The SuckerPod's lightweight, rugged construction is particularly well-suited for paddlers and boaters photographing in freshwater, saltwater and all-terrain environments.

The Suckerpod is constructed of materials unsurpassed for long-term marine and outdoor use — stainless steel, anodized aluminum and high-strength fiber composite polymers.

Concerned about wind resistance while boating, paddling or sailing? With its three stainless steel legs streamlined to reduce aerodynamic drag, the SuckerPod's performance in wind and spray places this tripod in a league of its own.

At Kayalu, our materials testing of the SuckerPod began and ended in Boston Harbor — subject to salt spray, heavy seas and even the occasional nor'easter.

We've mounted the SuckerPod on a variety of watercraft including sea kayaks, sit-on-tops and stand-up paddle boards and our own classic Boston Whaler Revenge powerboat with its feet stuck to three sides of a 175 hp Evinrude outboard.

The SuckerPod easily fits the bill to join the Kayalu family of premium mounts.

Under the Hood

We manufacture the SuckerPod using ball-and-socket components patented by RAM Mounts, the world leader in mounting systems for use in challenging environments.

No expense has been spared — the SuckerPod's assembly includes 22 component parts from the RAM Mounts catalog.

These include the SuckerPod's high-strength composite power-locking suction feet and ankle joints, seven high-strength composite couplers, seven marine-grade, anodized aluminum ball joints and a lightweight, solid aluminum, triple-ball hub.

The camera head above the hub is fabricated of high-strength composite with a stainless steel 1/4"-20 standard tripod stud. An SBR rubber pad on the 1/4"-20 tripod stud protects your camera and video equipment from abrasion.

This camera head is compatible with any camera accepting a standard tripod screw including the GoPro Hero (all models) with the factory GoPro Tripod Adaptor.

SuckerPod boat camera tripod wrapped around glass.

As an alternative to a standard head, the SuckerPod can be purchased with a RAM Mounts GoPro Hero adaptor. To read about different options for the GoPro cameras, click here.

Our own marine-grade components and fittings complement the SuckerPod head and assembly.

The SuckerPod's stainless steel legs, insulated in UV-resistant PVC, are virtually unbreakable.

The legs have a tensile strength easily capable of managing the impact of a paddle whack or the brush of tree branches.

Below the SuckerPod's head, we've added a hefty stainless steel eye that lets you fasten the entire tripod to your deck. You can use this eye with your own cable to prevent loss of the tripod (and your camera) while you are repositioning the feet, or with a steel cable lock as a theft deterrent.

A shock cord pulled taut between this eye and your deck can provide downpressure on the tripod feet — especially useful if you are paddling through heavy seas, cruising into a headwind, or mounting the SuckerPod on a vertical plane such as a car door.

Fourteen Joints and Power-Locking Feet

suckerpod suction cup tripod

RAM's patented power-lock suction cups provides excellent adhesion strength on all smooth, non-porous surfaces including plastic, fiberglass, glass and gelcoat. The mechanical power-locking lever on each suction cup foot has stainless steel fittings, allowing the cup to be moistened with freshwater or saltwater for a powerful vacuum seal.

Each suction foot of the SuckerPod requires only a 3 ½ inch (9 cm) diameter of surface area. The three feet can be clustered together in a single location or spread apart to span across an area as wide as 30 inches (76 cm).

Each leg can extend over 18" (46 cm) from the center of the hub to the base of the suction foot, allowing the tripod to straddle your storage compartments, fishing crate or other obstacles on deck.

The SuckerPod x42 adds an additional 2 feet to the length of each leg. This additional length provides 78 inches of total span when straddling a long surface.

Unlike camera mounts offering two or three suction-cups fixed to a single base and requiring a substantially sized smooth surface area for mounting, the SuckerPod's legs can be spread and its feet independently pivoted to mate with your deck at tight spots between deck rigging, hatches, fishing rod holders and other obstructions.

And two of the Suckerpod's three suction feet can be stuck to the deck to maintain position while the third foot or its steel eye is pulled down to a third spot using a shock cord instead of suction to provide the stability required at the head of the tripod.

Each SuckerPod suction foot has two independent "ankle" joints, allowing the feet to meet the deck surface comfortably on plane for maximum adhesion. And by acting independent of one another rather than on a single plane, each foot can successfully mate to an area of the deck having its own slight contour.

At the top of each leg, near the hub, two independent "hip" joints allow each leg to be positioned so that the hub itself can hover at a desired location and orientation above.

The head of the SuckerPod has two additional ball-and-socket joints, enabling you to angle your camera independent of the hub.

As an example of the SuckerPod's unparalleled versatility, the tripod's fourteen independent joints would enable the tripod's feet to be adhered to the port side of a kayak while its hub hovered over the starboard deck area, and the camera was pivoted on the hub so that it aligned on plane with the watersheet.

Engineered for Kayaks and Boats

A camera mount designed for a kayak or boat must manage forces including an occasional direct impact and the repetitive, often jarring force of a craft's pitch and roll in waves or wind.

SuckerPod suction cup camera tripod

These forces are expecially important considerations if the camera mount uses suction cups or other temporary attachment methods because repetitive shock or leveraged force on a suction cup foot may have a detrimental impact on its vacuum strength.

To provide the maximum level of adhesion of each suction cup, a tripod's legs and joints must be capable of absorbing force rather than assuming an extremely rigid posture and thereby transferring 100% of force to the suction cup feet.

Working as a unified assembly, with component parts designed to function together, the SuckerPod is stable and vibration free, yet flexible by comparison with an ordinary tripod in response to the jarring forces ordinarily anticipated to impact a kayak or boat. This balance of rigidity and flexibility minimizes leveraged forces acting to dislodge each foot and maximizes reliable, secure operation of the tripod.

Because the SuckerPod is assembled using many off-the-shelf components from RAM Mounting Systems — including its suction feet, you can rest assured that those parts will be available for replacement if damaged, upgraded along with new technologies, and swapped out for alternate uses.

SuckerPod: The Multipurpose Tripod

One of the most exciting features of the SuckerPod is its ability to be adapted to securely host a variety of electronic devices and accessories.

The RAM Mounts coupler atop the Suckerpod's hub can host all of RAM's 1-inch "B" ball compatible accessories including GPS, fishfinder, iPhone and iPod cradles.

Other compatible accessories include RAM's line of waterproof Aqua Boxes® to carry any gear you need to keep handy and dry.

In addition to supporting RAM Mounts cradles and accessories, the SuckerPod head's 1-inch "B" ball coupler can hold any Kayalu accessory available for our Radpole, nClamp or ParkerMount products, for example one of our binocular mounts, submersible navigation lights or NavBeam headlights.

The SuckerPod legs can be extended or swapped with any of our Toughbar™ "B" ball extension arms. One or more SuckerPod legs can be swapped out with a longer Toughbar arm (or an off-the-shelf RAM Mounts coupler) if you need to contort the tripod to allow your gear to film underwater. The possibilities for expansion are truly limitless.

SuckerPod Specification Chart

How does the Suckerpod™ differ from a Kayalu Claws-All™?

Because the Suckerpod is engineered of lighter weight materials, we don't recommend a Suckerpod for mounting a heavier camera or device.

Major Differences:

  1. The Suckerpod is lighter than a similarly sized Claws-All by approximately 12 ounces.
  2. The Suckerpod has fiber composite composite arms / joints. The Claws-All has lightweight spring-loaded aluminum arms / joints.
  3. The Suckerpod has smaller shoulders so it folds down to a more compact size.
  4. The Suckerpod is sold with suction cup feet. The Claws-All is sold with your choice of bolted bases or suction feet.
  5. The Suckerpod is available in an extra-tall 42" model. The Claws-All is available in a short "Stumpy" model.
  6. The Claws-All's upper platform has broader shoulders so it is slightly more stable when hosting larger devices.
  7. The Suckerpod ships with a "B" size 1/4"-20 camera adaptor and is not recommended for gear requiring "C" and "D" balls. The Claws-All is available with a "B" size ball or a larger "C" or "D" size ball on its upper platform .
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