Spot:
So there I am, a mile from the beach, 5 gallons of water in the hull and a gaping hole in my yak where my flush mount had been......
Headed out in big blue today cause the girlfriend wanted to grill some fresh fish on the beach. This was the 1st salt for my T13..... It was a perfect day for ocean fishing. Light/variable winds, small swell and sunny. What could go wrong?
Let me tell you: For starters, after busting thru the knee high surf, I noticed that my foot wells were full of water?!? Turns out that the Sonar Shield clips are perfectly positioned to plug scupper holes when not clipped. No biggie, just paddle the extra ~24 lbs beyond the waves and clear the scuppers... Next, pop the rod pod to begin setup and notice that a lot of water got in thru the hatches over the course of 10 or 12 little waves. Yes they were cinched. No, I didn't have a bilge pump. Now I know why I should carry one though..... ~1 mile offshore, snagged in 90' of water in the lee of a seastack. Pop the rod in the left flush mount and paddle up current to try a different angle. Get a little bend on the rod and *Pop* The compression doughnuts used by the factory for installation pull thru the holes. :o Did I mention that I'm already riding low, dragging around an extra 40lbs of water weight from the hatch leaks? On a rough day, this could have been an extremely bad situation.
On a positive note: The T13 was a dream to paddle even with all the extra weight. I had no problem maintaining 4MPH for the push back to the beach. Also, it rode the waves very comfortably. Even without knee straps the drops were controlled and the side slips were smooth as silk.
bsteves:
Sorry to hear about that Spot, but I appreciate you sharing it with the rest of us.
Hmm, I think I need to get myself a bilge pump and some washers to reinforce my rod holders.
Brian
INSAYN:
:o Yowzers!
BSteves, how do you plan to add washers back there, or are you talking about owner installed mounts?
Would rivets normally used for blind mounting of kayak accessories work better in this situation?
Spot:
--- Quote from: INSAYN on May 10, 2009, 11:32:17 PM ---BSteves, how do you plan to add washers back there, or are you talking about owner installed mounts?
--- End quote ---
If you have long arms, you can reach the bolts from the rod pod.
yessnoo:
notice the fish in the background...he obviously wasn't going back in just because of a little water :laugh:
its a good thing that all happened on a calm day...now you can fix it and hopefully not have to worry about it again...at least the flush mount problem...
is there any way the flush mount was actually the original cause of the leak somehow?