Almost sunk it today!

[Rockchaser]

Well I had the day planned out. Hit the Wilson Bridge early and fish for catfish ALL DAY LONG. Well, After about 10 minutes in the water I had my first 22" Blue cat in the boat. As I leaned forward to grab the fish I had a funny feeling that I was unstable. So I leaned to the side a little and the kayak leaned more then it should have. I opened the center hatch to find it almost full of water. Good thing was I was only about 100 yards from the floating dock. I started heading back in and it was tuff to keep it level. It was all I could do to get the yak up on the dock after clearing off all my stuff.

100_1118.jpg


Turns out my very old Hobie kayak cart has the short post that don't stick all the way through the kayak and had push a hole in the plastic.

100_1125.jpg100_1123.jpg

I picked up some epoxy puddy at West Marine and got to work. I used 80 grit sand paper to clean everything up, followed the directions on the package and filled in the hole. Very quick and easy fix.

100_1131.jpg100_1132.jpg100_1138.jpg100_1136.jpg

The puddy filled the crack and I added extra around the hole since it is a little out of round from when it was molded at the factory. I am ready to sand it down and go fishing.

100_1144.jpg

I stuck a blob of left over epoxy on to dirty PVC pipe to see how it would hold and I can't remove it by hand. Seems to be good stuff.

[M_Duong60]

Wow good thing you were close to the launch site and the repair looks good. Lets say I had a ff drilled and I got a different brand could I do this with the little holes as well?

[Rockchaser]

Yes, the puddy is about $20 and I only used half of it to fill a large area. When it is cured you can sand it file it and drill it. The only thing is, it will not flex.

[tufnik]

Good job on the fix. Is it possible to add more putty on the inside too?

Anyway, good to know about the short cart pegs. I think most yakers with that cart wouldn't realize a hole can develop.

[Rockchaser]

I forced as muck epoxy into the crack as I could because I can't reach it from the center or rear hatches.

[jet]

how come your short cart doesnt go all the way through? i have the short cart as well, and it extends a little more than 1/4" above the deck. i actually drilled a small 1/8" hole on the top of the post so i can stick a finish nail through it to hold the cart in place while unloading.

[Redfish12]

Dang Jim, that's rough! Glad you are ok! Joe and I hit the WW yesterday, lots of kitties and mud shad around!

[Goody]

Glad you are Ok. Good patch work there.

[Rockchaser]

Not really sure except maybe that is how they were made in 2007 when I bought it for my first Outback. I went by Backyard Boats this afternoon in Woodbridge and they gave me a lightly used and fixed/welded cart they had. I bought the heavy duty wheels to go with it.

They also gave me a 10" piece of yellow plastic incase I wanted to melt it and make the patch with it.

Great place and great people.

100_1128.jpg 100_1140.jpg100_1126.jpg

[chex]

Close call Jim. Glad everything is ok. I bet you'll be checking the hatch for water in the hull more often now just out of careful paranoia. The water level in the drive well can act as an early warning system, but I wonder if there's something else we can build to alert us when water gets into the hull.... A float switch connected to a battery connected to a buzzer or seat shocker.

[Rockchaser]

Close call Jim. Glad everything is ok. I bet you'll be checking the hatch for water in the hull more often now just out of careful paranoia. The water level in the drive well can act as an early warning system, but I wonder if there's something else we can build to alert us when water gets into the hull.... A float switch connected to a battery connected to a buzzer or seat shocker.

Once I noticd the water in the hull it dawned on me that the water in the drive well was pretty deep. The leak was in the back of the yak so the front was rising up until I moved around.

[Yak Fish]

I filled the yak up with water once. It was my old outback. I bailed like hell because I wasn't close. The good news was that it was in the summer time and I wasn't too worried. I took the hint and bought a kayak bilge pump. It's cool, and I could use it in a water fight if I wanted.

My problem was a drive well crack and when I went to backyard boats, Denis looked at my cart and was a little worried because I also had the shorter cart. I didn't want to mess around with the new Outback so I bought the heavy duty cart just to be safe...it sounds like it wasn't a bad idea.

Glad you're ok Jim. Water's mighty cold right now.

[moc]

I am glad you are ok Jim. I was going to call you yesterday to see if you wanted to go out, but I thought your weekend was already tide up. I should have called you, so you would have had someone watching your back and getting you back to shore. Well, it all ended good and it looks like you did a good job on the repairs.

[Shield]

Glad you were able to get back without it being worse. Nice job on the fix.

[Shady]

Wow, that's quite a gash! Hope the repair works out and glad you made it back and most importantly still avoided that skunk! I also had a crack in my old outback drivewell and filled it up pretty good with water on its final voyage. I didnt even notice until I got back to the ramp 4 hours later!