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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Sun, 30 Jan 2000, Dave Williams wrote: > 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. <snip> > > 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? > My Sea Lions haven't done anything like that. As to where it came in, your might try an experiment. Stand the boat vertically bow up against a tree and dump a couple of gallons of water in the hatch. This will find leaks around the rudder gear. You could do the same thing bow down to check the integrity of the rear bulkhead. Steve Cramer Test Scoring & Reporting Services Sometimes you never can University of Georgia always tell what you Athens, GA 30602-5593 least expect the most. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave: I just went through this process. Fill up the stern hatch with water and watch where it runs out. Robert Dave Williams <paddler_at_loxinfo.co.th> wrote: > Reply-To: paddler_at_loxinfo.co.th > Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2000 12:36:21 +0700 > To: PaddleWise_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subject: [Paddlewise] Swamped rear compartment > > 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? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I have knocked my Sea Lion around for a number of years and am constantly intrigued with how dry the rear compartment has stayed, even after repeated rolls, surf-broachings, etc. The front compartment has a tendency to pick up a little water from the cockpit, if the latter gets flooded. However, the rear is consistently bone dry. I always attributed the porosity of the front hatch area to the styrofoam-like bulkheads; the hatches and hatch seals always seemed to work fine. Tom 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 > > *************************************************************************** > PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not > to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission > Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net > Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ > *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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 > > *************************************************************************** > PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not > to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission > Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net > Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net > Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ > *************************************************************************** -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
>> 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 >> I, too, have seen this happen because the bulkhead adhesive failed. But the best advice I can offer is to fill the compartment with water and see where the water runs out. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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