From time to time the mighty internet advertising algorithms deliver, presenting me with something I never knew existed but immediately know I must have. Somehow, a few weeks ago, those algorithms found out that in the distant past I was a surfer and that then, as now, I owned neoprene garments, which have to be dried after use. Most of those garments can be carried in a gear bag, even when damp, but booties, if simply tossed into a bag or car when just removed from your feet, will smell really foul. The odor is truly horrible, and lingers long after the offending items have been removed.

Photographs by the author

The C-Monsta is available in orange or gray. The sturdy molded plastic hanger is strong enough to support up to 55 lbs, with dedicated stands for drying gloves and booties, and a crossbar for draping larger items. At either end of the crossbar, the hook can be used to hang miscellaneous gear.

I have always been pretty careful to keep wet-and-worn booties away from my nose by leaving them in my kayak up on the roof rack or putting them into the back of the pickup truck. Once home, I rinse the booties and the rest of my neoprene gear in fresh water as soon as possible. Then there is the challenge of how to dry them out. Wetsuits need to be hung to dry, which is relatively straightforward with a clothes hanger and a washing line, although you do need a wide coat hanger to avoid distorting the shoulders. But booties and gloves need to have their openings facing down to drain and dry, otherwise they collapse in on themselves, trapping the moisture, which slows the drying…and leads to that delightful smell!

Enter the C-Monsta. Designed by a Scottish surfer and marketed to fellow surfers, the C-Monsta is an all-in-one hanger for booties, gloves, and wetsuit. When it first popped up in my internet feed I immediately thought, “paddling gear.” And, as it was modestly priced, I bought one.

It is better for neoprene wetsuits to be draped over a crossbar for drying rather than suspended by their shoulders. The bootie and glove posts not only hold the items upside down for better draining, but also prevent them from collapsing in on themselves and thereby trapping moisture inside. The hanging strap offers height adjustment and allows the hanger to twist so that it can be hung in a doorway.

When I unpacked the C-Monsta, I was impressed by the sturdy plastic—I had owned something similar decades ago, but the plastic had quickly broken down and failed. The molded projections off the top of the C-Monsta are shaped for airing and drying booties and gloves upside down, the crossbar is designed to take a draped wetsuit, and at each end of the bar is another hook for hanging miscellaneous items. The manufacturers say that the hanger can hold up to 25kg (approximately 55 lbs), and I quickly saw that I could use it to dry other bits of kit: I can hang my PFD and my kayak’s spray skirt, and those extra hooks are just right for the lanyards of a radio and a handheld GPS, or a hat. The diameter and opening of the hanger’s hook are large enough to fit over a basement cold-water pipe as well as a clothesline, and the strap between the hook and the hanger is height adjustable and allows the hanger to twist so that it can be hung from a door frame.

During paddling season, I keep a dunk tank of fresh water next to my kayak storage rack so that everything salty can go straight in and get rinsed off. Next to that is the clothesline on which, come spring, will now be my C-Monsta.

Ben Fuller, curator emeritus of the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine, has been messing about in small boats for a very long time. He is owned by a dozen or more boats: kayaks, canoes, a skiff, a ducker, and a sail-and-oar boat.

 The C-Monsta V2 hanger is available from C-Monsta. Priced at $35 plus shipping and tax, it’s available in either gray or orange. In the U.K. there is also a limited-edition sage-green version made from recycled ocean plastic recovered from U.K. shores, priced at £40 including shipping.

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