Malibu stealth 12 sunk at bay bridge

[Chris burke]

Fri night I went out to pre fish because my buddy Jeff is supposed to meet me next weekend for some striper fishing. I am up and down with the location to take him so I went and jigged and lived lined the bay bridge. I was more than 2 miles out from hemming ways where I launched when I got into some good sized 3 foot waves, I stuck my bow into them and they where crashing over my bow, no big deal right? Wrong with every wave I took in more water until I noticed my butt was sitting in the water. I turned around to see about half of my rear under water. So I started the long paddle back in. It was really low in the water but I could still paddle it, just a lot slower then usual. Finally it was too much water and it flipped me off. Like a dummy my main concern was all my gear over $2000 worth on the stealth at the time. So I swam with the kayak for as long as I could, until she finally had soo much water in her it capsized, i had just enough time to grab my sd card out of my vio pov hd and it dove down like the titanic, the only thing left out of the water was about 6 inches of my stern. So now it's about 7:30 at night, there are a few other kayak anglers around that are out of reach and I have at least a 2 mile swim in 3 foot waves and ripping current. I remember thinking in my head at least I have my iPhone in a life proof waterproof case which was playing music the whole time, in my pfd so I deployed my pfd and when it inflated like a airbag in a car I watched and heard my iPhone flying in the air..... Sh*t! So at least I have my light on my vest.... Gone, who knows where that is. Only thing left to do now is swim. I swim for about 1/2 an hour when I notice they are shutting the west bound bridge down and I see flashing lights. There are mta police backing up on the bridge so I think maybe someone saw me and called in? Now it's almost dark I swim the rest of the way which took at least another hour to the concrete under the westbound bridge and when I finally got up from collapsing on the concrete I see about 6 search boats and a helicopter. I just laid there thinking my old lady won't believe this. About 15 minutes later mta police in cars walked down from the highway and found me. They couldn't believe I made it that far and told me they where looking for a body that's why there wasn't a rush. Everyone there was great they even got my kayak back for me, threw it in their truck and drove me across the bridge and back to hemming ways. The stealth still had my fish finder, battery, and live well with the pump and rod holders on it. I lost 4 rods, polarized glasses, iPhone, bending branches angler carbon fiber paddle, cooler, two packs of new ports, all my salt water tackle, and some more small stuff. But I made it out with my life and the whole thing on film. Thank u stern Pfds.

[kevinfry]

faulty hatch seal????

[therevolution]

Holy Jeez man, glad you are okay. That sounds like it was pretty scary.

[Chris burke]

Yea but the seal sucks anyway

[M_Duong60]

Just shows how important it is to wear a pdf no matter how careful one is..glad your ok.

Now with all the posts of people taking on water i'm going to get a bilge pump

[Mini-X]

How did this happen? I have a Mini-X and had water over the bow many times and never took on water. Did you leave a hatch open or have a hole in you kayak? Glad your safe. How about putting the event on you tube and share it with us?

[DaveFX35]

Sorry to hear and glad you're okay. Make sure you call DNR and report that you had to ditch. Had to call today on a floating abandoned kayak on the Susky.

[Reelaxin10]

Wow, crazy stuff man! Glad to hear that you're ok an sorry for the loss of so much gear. I guess we don't realize how much water we would have to swim if our yak went down. Did you catch any stripers before things took a turn for the worst?

[Mmacro]

I grew up whitewater kayaking... Is there a reason why nobody here uses air bladders in their kayaks? I know they take up space under the deck but they also keep a boat from doing exactly what happened here. An air bladder makes them float like a cork even if they get a hole or crack in the hull from hitting a boulder/rock in the river.
I have a new Malibu and I'm considering spraying expandable foam under the back 1/3 (from the seat back to almost the rear of the boat). The idea is to cut the hole for the rear hatch and build a damn to stop the foam from going too far back and doing the same just at the leading edge of the seat pan. I'd lay some decent sized (lightweight) tubing along the floor and thru the bottom of the damns so I can run wires and water can drain to the drain plug at the stern.
The airbag is another, option since it is removable... But I need to find a source here. But I kind of like the other benefit of the spray foam... A little rigid support in some general weak/load bearing areas of most sit-on kayaks.
Something like this... http://www.outdoorplay.com/NRS-3D-Lo...gory=8400#back
They even have dry bags that seal up and have a inflation tube/valve to inflate to create a float bag in the bow or stern with your dry goods inside them.

[Chris burke]

Yea I never had a problem with water. Maybe just a little every once in a while. And no I didn't get any fish yet I had only been fishing a short while

[Chris burke]

I wonder if the spray foam would get all gross from the water it would prolly grow mold

[Mmacro]

Doing a quick search... Yes spray foam is not the same as a 2-part poured foam... The 2-part is closed cell the spray can is not and sponge up water.
But the pourable weighs about 2 pounds per square foot and provides 60 pounds of floatation per square foot. It's also considered structural once it dries... Another bonus for plastic kayaks that could use a little preventative medicine.

[Chris burke]

Yea I've used the two part it is the truth. You can't polar to much or it will be coming out of every hatch u have lol

[Jaspratt]

Good think you made it out fine, spray foam is heavy and soaks up water eventually and deteriorates over time. What about the air bags they use for shipping products? And a plastic stiff type of foam they use to support areas might be a good thing to check into, I noticed my PA has those supportive foam all under it so its rigid when u stand. And u can move it when u need to, like when I was running wires for the FF. the spray foam also needs 70degree air temp or higher to expand fully otherwise it'll be really heavy and dense. After reforming my aluminum boat with the foam I'm not a big fan of it. But I think I may invest in a bilge and air bags for packing also. Even though the PA has foam in it with all my gear may not be enough.

[Mmacro]

I really like the idea of gear bags... But I need to look again under my seat and see how much access I have to jam a float bag back there... I may have to go with expanding foam. But hey... With highs in the 90's it should expand fine.
Or stuff a ton of pool noodles there. But a float bag in the front hatch would be spot on.