Hole in my Kayak

[Mini-X]

Soooo, today I got up around 0600 to go fish at Sandy Point State Park. I get there around 0800 launch and head out. Now this is the first time I've been here. As I approach the twelfth or thirteenth pylon I notice the current is allot stronger than I thought it would be this far up the Bay. It is also really choppy so I troll around for about an hour and BAM I snag a cow nose. Takes me 15 minutes to get it to the boat then my line brakes as I am reaching for the lure. $8 gone. I decide to head to the Flats. Its only about an hour north and its still early. So, I pack all my gear up and head north. Just north of Baltimore I see a lady on the side of the road on the phone with a flat. A brief thought crosses my mine that I should change her tire for her but she probably has someone on the way and I want to go fishing. As I get to Tydings it is getting hot and I find a parking spot two spots from the ramp. Getting excited about catching some Rochfish. I pull the PA 14 out of the truck and put it on the scupper cart. My cart has a flat tire but I figure its 20 feet from the water. No problem. At five feet until the water the cart collapses and breaks. I look under the PA no damage, no problem. I launch and start peddling out. By the time I get past the Marina managers office I notice that I am listing to the left a little. Now I have been in the US Navy for 22 years and I know if you are listing you either have the ballast wrong or you are sinking. So I open the center hatch and water is coming out of the scupper column in a heavy flow. Like turning on the faucet to full heavy flow. I am sinking. All ready about 5-6 gallons of water. I turn around and head back fast. Takes five minutes to get back and by this time I am starting to loose steering. I beach, drag my PA full of water back to the truck and empty it. (*&^*^&#I*^!#@@@^%#&*%$#$*&*^$@#!@^^$&#$) That is a more acceptably string of words that was said when I looked at the damage. I live in Lexington so I drove all that way for eight minutes in the water. On the way back I stopped by Lowes and got some plastic tubing and some hose clamps. I lined the inside of the hose, cut it length wise first, with RTV and put it around the hole and clamped it down. Should work and inexpensive. Looking back I should have pulled over and changed the lady's tire.

[Yak Fish]

Where's the hole and how did it happen? Is is a drive well crack?

[Mini-X]

No its on the scupper column inside the kayak. Looks like the wound that the alien made to the chest of that guy on Alien. The fix that I did should be good once the RTV cures.

[Mini-X]

Whats really crazy is that I was reading about this kind of damage yesterday. An article that was pretty much the same thing that happened to me.

[gkreps]

There seems to be a manufacturing problem with all these Hobie's having leak issues. If I spent that much money on a kayak and it leaked I would be calling the manufacture !

[Yak Fish]

There seems to be a manufacturing problem with all these Hobie's having leak issues. If I spent that much money on a kayak and it leaked I would be calling the manufacture !

I would too. Well, I did when mine got a hole and they took care of it for me. If it was a hobie cart that caused the issue, you should really have a case.

[Mmacro]

Sorry to hear you had the problem... I think we were the guys that chatted with you when you were at SPSP.
We opted to make the short drive to a park across the river from the Naval Academy on the Severn River. The croaker were hot... Nothing gigantic but a steady bite of legal sized fish.
If you want to hit Matawoman sometime I would love to drive down sometime.

[Mini-X]

Sorry to hear you had the problem... I think we were the guys that chatted with you when you were at SPSP.
We opted to make the short drive to a park across the river from the Naval Academy on the Severn River. The croaker were hot... Nothing gigantic but a steady bite of legal sized fish.
If you want to hit Matawoman sometime I would love to drive down sometime.

Should have gone with ya'll. Crossed the Severn twice because I missed the exit for Hwy 2

[Mini-X]

I bought this Kayak used. Do you think the manufacture will care?

[ronaultmtd]

The scupper fix is a good one- I have seen this very same issue on a lot of kayaks that used the plug in carts- the wear factor comes into play sliding the metal tubes inside the scupper- thins the plastic and then you get a hole- the fix is split pvc filled with rtv clamped over the scupper with adjustable stainless steel hose clamps- that reinforces the scupper column internally and fills any holes sealing the kayak- the repaired scupper actually is stronger than factory new-

[Yak Fish]

I bought this Kayak used. Do you think the manufacture will care?

My old one was used too. I told them, and they sold me a hull at cost. Call backyard boats and see what they say. Mine was a drivewell crack which is sort of a known issue. Not sure if that made a difference.

[Shady]

My old one was used too. I told them, and they sold me a hull at cost. Call backyard boats and see what they say. Mine was a drivewell crack which is sort of a known issue. Not sure if that made a difference.

My first outback was used, crack developed in drivewell and hobie replace the hull. My only cost was $75 shipping. Might be worth a try.

[Mark]

Just thinking...As a the owner of a new kayak with a cart, would it be wise to apply some lubricant like WD40 to the holes where the cart posts go?

I've been careful to wash sand from the cart posts before inserting them into the cart.

What else can be done to avoid the issue?

Mark

[ronaultmtd]

I wouldn't- lube attracts sand and grit that would be abrasive and could cause the wear to be much worse- than clean and dry chrome plated steel or stainless steel posts

[Yak Fish]

Just thinking...As a the owner of a new kayak with a cart, would it be wise to apply some lubricant like WD40 to the holes where the cart posts go?

I've been careful to wash sand from the cart posts before inserting them into the cart.

What else can be done to avoid the issue?

Mark

The issue with some of the carts are that they do not stick all the way through the scupper holes. If they do, there should be no issue. If they are short, the prongs put pressure on the inside of the scupper holes where they are weak. I had an old Hobie cart and replaced it with the newer one to avoid this issue.