Leak Test II

During the warm water self recovery up at Lake Sonoma last Sunday..My OK 13 at one point had it`s hull filling with H2O..after pumping it out (Thanks Allen)  several of us tried to figure if the hull had a crack (it was cracked once but I did a repair) Or considering how many times  it was capsized, It`s a given there will be water in the hull that's  to be expected, as many of us were pumping out water as well..I was pumping a lot..so..

A. when capsized the hatches are not water tight ? should I have expected them to be ?

B. Another leak somewhere else ?

So today  I did a leak test placing the yak on level ground , supporting the hull and filled that yellow SOB with water to the top..let it sit for 30mins..and did not find any leaks either from the repair made or anywhere else.....

Ok so yes water is to be expected.. yeah no brainer ..it just seemed....excessive might be the word.... but once again it was capsized several times...

so am I way off here ,exuding Total Newbness  or is this par for the course... I`d ask if I`m nuts but  I already know that one...anyway  just wanted to chime in..  I want to be ready for the Cold water self recovery @ TC on 8/24..

P.S. Going up to Lake Sonoma was a BLAST and a great confidence builder..I want to thank everyone for letting me participate and Marco for putting it together...

Comments welcome

vic, you had way too much water in your hull, it was about 1/3+/- full, and your bow was almost water level, maybe one of your hatches wasnt seated properly when we launched, because after you pumped out much of the water, you didnt get that volume again when you rolled about the same amount of times. strange indeed, hope you can figure it out, or maybe time for another boat for some piece of mind, great hanging out the other day, cameron

The hatches on the T-13 will leak if they are not down tight. That's the issue with most strap to secure hatches. Its almost to the point now that unless you store your wheels in the front to access after getting back to the launch, the front hatches are useless.

On the other hand I have crashed through surf and not a drop in the hull at all. If the straps are loose............

I've had plenty of surf come over my T13. Very little water come into the hull. After doing self rescue drills I definitely have water inside. I blame it on the rod pod? Mine is the old school one. But still, I'm talking about a gallon maybe after 10 or so flips. Something sounds off with yours dude.

You could always run a universal auto weather stripping on the lip of the hull, inside the hatch. And for the scupper hole, maybe some carbon fiber tubing cut to length for a sleeve and use urethane"window weld" to glue it between the hull and sleeve. Black pvc if you dont want to go the CF route.

You could always run a universal auto weather stripping on the lip of the hull, inside the hatch. And for the scupper hole, maybe some carbon fiber tubing cut to length for a sleeve and use urethane"window weld" to glue it between the hull and sleeve. Black pvc if you dont want to go the CF route.
Probably better to do a leak test with a compressor and air, soapy spray bottle. Dontnhave to wait for the water to drain out to redo repairs.plus you can see relatively how much psi your hull can handle not that it matters all that much, but its good to know.

The hatches on the T-13 will leak if they are not down tight. That's the issue with most strap to secure hatches. Its almost to the point now that unless you store your wheels in the front to access after getting back to the launch, the front hatches are useless.

Completely agree.  Thats why you carry a good bilge pump with you all the time like this one:

https://www.austinkayak.com/products/1464/AquaBound-BilgeMaster-Kayak-Bilge-Pump.html

I was thinking of how I was gonna fix your kayak for a few days, thats what I came up with. Should be a solid fix.

Getting a bilge pump today

Those center/rodpod hatches can for sure take on water quickly, especially if not secured properly...happened with my T15 a few times when getting pummeled in the surf, and last weekend I ate sh*t when a sneaker wave hit me in my Cuda14 going by a boiler washrock...I had shoved a ton of stuff inside my center hatch and didn't have it strapped on tight enough...back at shore I had quite a bit of water inside hull. I'm sure if I had taken the time to reaarrange the stuff I had shoved inside the hatch (2 spearguns, hawgtrough, weightbelt, three floatlines, anchor, long fins, wetsuit top, dive flag, mask, light etc) and strapped the lid down tight like it should have been there would have been a LOT less water in the hull..

With the bilge pump what I have done with my T15 and Cuda14 is to get some bungee and lash the pump handle to the scupper columns right there by the center hatch and then tuck the pump on the outside of the columns (between the columns and the hull)...that way it is out of your way but always right there and easy to grab if/when you need it...

Hope that makes sense, and glad to see you getting out there and getting more comfy OTW!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

back in the day all kayak hatches (on the touring SIKs anyway) had two piece hatches, a neoprene hatch to keep water out, and a hard shell hatch to keep the neoprene from imploding.

don't ask how many trips I made where a neoprene hatch cover got lost though...

your issue certainly sounds like a hatch leak, since you passed the "fill it with water' test already.

nice vic, you will have that thing in the salt in no time now, with peace of mind, to make it a much more enjoyable experience, when you are ready, im free sun-mon, cameron

I'm glad you fixed it VK
See you sunday   

Sweet good job Vick, progress is good.