Another yak full of water story and COBRA WARRANTY COVERAGE

So what did I learn?

Get the pool noodles into the hull,

Get a pump,

Inspect the hull EVERY time I go out,

ALWAYS plan for the worst.

For me, the first sign of a yak full of water is it’s loss of stability, I thought it would be just the opposite.  By the time I knew I was in trouble, it was really hard to stay upright, paddling hard helped though.

The last time this boat was in the water it didn’t leak, it’s been stored properly and has only been lifted from its rack in my garage and onto my truck rack in the last  6 months, no reason to expect a crack, The spot where the crack is has taken some abuse. Because of the shape of the hull it stuck out from the rest of the bottom as can be seen from the wear on the ridge right next the the scupper . 

Pic 1, THE crack, this is the scupper just under the seat.
Pic 2, interior view
Pic 3, There's a crack forming on the opposite side as well just not all the way thru yet.


Here's the story, thought my experience might help someone else avoid something similar, If this had happened on my last trip, it would have been ugly.

For a variety of reasons I haven’t been on the water since November.  My last 2 trips in November were trouble free.  One was out to the middle of the Sacramento River off Sherman Island and I got a 56” sturgeon, the last one  was off Fort Ross, where I didn’t catch allot but did come in with a ling after spending a day in the fog with about 50 yds of visibility.  After both of those trips my yak had no more water in the hull than usual,  ever since it was new it would have about a pint or so after a day on the water.

Today I had no obligations and I was determined to get out do some paddling and a little fishing.  I had thought about getting some pool noodles into the hull and buying that pump, but figured that could wait another few days,,,In order to get away from the wind I went deep into the delta to Minor Slough which is about as protected from the wind as you can find, with mostly tree and brush lined shores.

I paddled about a mile and a half or so from the launch and figured it was time to drop anchor and dunk some bait, in that process I felt really tippy and had to keep correcting my balance, with the current and wind I just thought it was me, figured it had been too long since I was out on the water.   Not too long after I threw out my bait, things just got weird, the boat was just too unstable so I looked at the anchor line and current wondering what the heck is wrong. 

Well I haven’t been out in a long time but I have been paying close attention to NCKA and remembered Art’s and Ganoderma’s  posts on yaks full of water.

Popped the center hatch and Oh Crap, another yak full of water and getting more unstable but the minute.  Pulled anchor, and headed back as fast as I could go, I knew there was a mud beach not too far along but was questioning if I could stay upright till I got there.   I wasn’t in any danger but since this was a quick trip to a narrow slough in the delta I hadn’t  done much in the line of leashing stuff and knew if I went over anything that didn’t float was gone, that and a yak full of water could have made for a really bad day.  Well I made it to the mud,  and damn there was ALLOT of water in that hull, pulled the boat out, and got the water out.  I figured if it took that long to fill the first time, I could probably make it back if I went nonstop at a good pace. So off I went, made it back to the launch and again had a boatload of water in the hull, but all in all things turned out OK, well except for a crack in the yak .

Jeez....Yak after yak taking on water AND fish being caught in Santa Cruz. What's next Mooch going Dino fishing. Is this bizarro NCKA?

Is GE SILICON CALK......a good repair material?
I've found it to be amazingly adherent.
Over time it becomes enormously tough.
I'm really sold on it for home apps.   
Only negative for home-stuff is that paint will NOT adhere to it.

Dunno if it would adhere to tupperware.

Judd

Is GE SILICON CALK......a good repair material?
Judd

A good repair material is to heat weld the same material from the manufacture. No need to half a$$ it. Do it right the first time and most likely it won't leak again.

Glad your okay Dale.  This is getting crazy. 

Glad things turned out OK for you.  Pool noodles inside the hull is a good advise.  I stuffed both ends on my yak with pool noodles 

Tough lesson, Dale - thanks for sharing it with the rest of us.  What kind of yak is it?  and do you know what caused the cracks?

I'm really glad you posted that.  I'm going to get my yack safetyfied soon.  I was just wondering why people like the pool noodles over two leader soda bottles.  Seems like they would be cheaper and more buoyant.

Dale, glad to hear you made it in without too much problem.
What boat is that?

Good thing you got that new paddle you really gave it a test. I wonder if Cobra's Lifetime Warranty will cover it??

Do you have any idea what caused the tear?

Comments,

Had this happened on one of my solo RF trips it would have been ugly, I always considered myself fairly safety minded, I always wear a PFD, I always wear a wetsuit in the ocean and often even in freshwater, yesterday I had on a 3 mil shorty, I carry a waterproof VHF and I always leave a float plan when I go solo. Now I'd have to admit that my personal safety rating wasn't that high.

The pool noodle thing has been on my radar screen for a long time but not done yet, also on my shopping list has been a manual bilge pump, an air horn, and even some handheld aerial flares, No more procastinating time to walk the talk and finish my safety prep.

Silicon calk isn't a good choice, it's adherence on polyethylene is really weak BTDT.  There is a product called LEXEL that is sold as a calk but is probably about the best adhesive to use on plastic BTDT, as advertised it will stick to almost anything.

As far as welding, I have saved some cutouts from this boat so I have the material, but I wouldn't attempt it myself and because of the stress in that area I wouldn't trust it if the best plastic welder in the world did it for me.

On what caused it?  I'm not sure if I share the blame or not, That is the set of scuppers where I put my scupper hole cart.  On the other hand when I got the boat that part of the hull stuck out a bit from the rest of the bottom, if you look closely at the pics you can see that the ridges next to the cracks are scuffed down like they've been ground off, that's because they stuck up (down) and took most of the ride anytime I slide the boat across anything. Those scuppers are directly below my butt so those scuppers probably pushed down some at that spot in the hull while the whole hull was uniformly supported up by the water.

It's a Cobra Marauder, and Cobra does advertise a lifetime guarentee, I'll be contacting them today.

As far as pool noodles vs other flotation, anything ought to work but keep in mind that the most stable flotation will be gained by putting it against the outside edges of the hull, I plan to lash several pool noodles between the scuppers and the outside of the hull, this will give me the widest flotation stance (stability) and leave the center of the hull open for STUFF.

Love the new paddle too.....

It wasn't a real fun day and I figure I got my last friendly warning to clean up my safety act.

Dale L

Thank you Dale for sharing the experience.  This will serve as a wake-up call to many of us!

There is a product called LEXEL that is sold as a calk but is probably about the best adhesive to use on plastic BTDT, as advertised it will stick to almost anything.

Has anyone tried G-Flex Epoxy ??
http://www.gougeonbrothers.com/G-flex/

There is a product called LEXEL that is sold as a calk but is probably about the best adhesive to use on plastic BTDT, as advertised it will stick to almost anything.

Has anyone tried G-Flex Epoxy ??
http://www.gougeonbrothers.com/G-flex/

Looks like a good product but I'd call the Yak's manufacturer and ask for their recommendation first since "tamper" (attempt to fix the crack) with their product might void any warranty!