Re: [Paddlewise] Swamped rear compartment

Dave,

The water came in through the bulkhead.  Plastic kayaks have
leak-susceptible bulkheads.  No matter what the manufacturers say, they
can leak (perhaps that is too blanket a statement).  You should always
use airbags in any plastic kayak regardless of the presence of
bulkheads.  Same is true of all folding kayaks, which of course have no
bulkheads; do so even with folding kayaks that have seasockes (even
Feathercraft has issued this caution with its boats).

Getting water into the supposedly dry storage compartments is a wicked
situation to be in.  You think are emptying out the boat by getting
water out of the cockpit but you are not as it hides elsewhere to
destablize the boat as the water swishes around.  It happened to my wife
during some rescue classes when she was using a borrowed Chinook.  The
crazy thing in this case was that the instructors, all elite paddlers of
fiberglass kayaks whose bulkheads tend to hold up, took a long time to
investigate why her boat kept sinking everytime she tried getting up on
the back deck in a paddle float self-rescue.  The fiberglass guys, who
saw the world only in their own narrow terms, were not familiar with the
vicissitudes of plastic kayaks.  It reminded me of the Hagar the
Horrible cartoon in which a cart and horse are the repair shop.  The
mechanics are crawling all over the wagon and scratching their heads. 
Meanwhile the horse is splayed out with a half dozen arrows in him. 

ralph 

Dave Williams wrote:
> 
> Hey y'all,
> 
> I had a friend paddle one of my Sea Lions the other day.  Let's just say
> that he wasn't the most stable person on the water that day.  He capsized 3
> times in mild swell.  I got him back in the boat quickly (something that's
> not really too important in 80 + degree water :-)).  He capsized a second
> time.  When he got everything back to normal, i.e. cockpit fairly dry and
> spray skirt on, he looked very unstable.  He flipped again.  I was getting
> tired of rescuing him and he was getting tired of being rescued.
> 
> Anyway, when we got back to the beach, I opened the rear hatch and there was
> a lot of water in the compartment.  I don't remember ever seeing that much
> water in a Sea Lion compartment before.  The neoprene cover was on and in
> good shape.
> 
> Has anyone experienced this problem before and if so, where do you think the
> water came in?
> 
> Cheers,
> Dave
> 
> Dave Williams
> 
> dave_at_paddleasia.com
> http://paddleasia.com
> 
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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