Water Leak Alarm Installation?

my personal take is that if you're collecting enough water to warrant a float switch and bilge pump, or a high water alarm, you probably have bigger problems to address (like your boats integrity).

Plus a bilge with a through-hull is also a water inlet... unless you put a check valve inline, but then you really reduce the flow of your bilge pump and not much better than a manual pump..

Thank you for many suggestions.  However, at this time I don't have any interest in installing a bilge.  Our Oasis kayak already got too many options and getting too heavy.  I just want to install a simple water leak detector for advance warning, which would cost less than $10.

For several member suggestions I am considering the following modifications:

1.  Add a simple toggle switch to easily able to turn off the unit when the alarm goes off.

2.  Add a second moisture/water sensor in SERIOUS to minimize false alarms.

Please see the attached diagrams for details.

Thank you for your great suggestions.

I will make a video of my final design, installation, and operation during the next rock fishing season.

Paul

I like your idea to detect early signs of water intrusion. I remember one time my father in law and I launched, and another guy with a Hobie launched at the same time with us. He had an older model and there was a crack in the scupper area. His kayak was so full with water. He didn’t go far. We barely were able to pull him out of the water. I’d never forget that.

Anyways, I prefer simplicity and the discipline of checking my hull after launching to see if there’s any water. I know from surfing with the kayak that even if there’s plenty of water inside it would handle the same, so I admit that it’s hard to “feel” the water inside.

I pretty much always have at least a little water inside my hull after a day of fishing.  Like someone said earlier, if you Mount it 3-4” or even 2”, you would have probably already noticed something doesn’t feel right.  Not a bad idea but I think a little tough to implement wigg tho out a lot of false alarms.