Another yak full of water story and COBRA WARRANTY COVERAGE

Glad your'e oK & that the safety warning was "friendly". Dang, I think I checked the drain plug in my t140 about 10 times before I launched it today.

Pretty solid that they are going to warranty it out for you!  These days I feel like a lot of places claim they have a lifetime warranty, but usually they'll make you jump through hoops on the hope that you'll give up before getting your warranty or claiming that damage is from non-covered wear and tear.  Big props to Cobra for doing the right thing.

Wow new boat that's great

Could have been worse, glad to hear everything's okay

Not to belabor the point but IMHO many people here seriously overestimate the buoyancy potential of pool noodles. A handful of noodles may keep your kayak from completely sinking but make no mistake about it, you will not be sitting in that yak, you will be in the water. And the hull will still need to be bailed or pumped out. This is especially true in a decent swell.

Not to belabor the point but IMHO many people here seriously overestimate the buoyancy potential of pool noodles. A handful of noodles may keep your kayak from completely sinking but make no mistake about it, you will not be sitting in that yak, you will be in the water. And the hull will still need to be bailed or pumped out. This is especially true in a decent swell.

Pool noodles=PFD for your yak, and maybe allow you to pump it out and get underway again, maybe not, might just keep it afloat so that you're a bigger target for someone to find.

Having experience a yak just half full of water, it is amazing how unstable it was, a few more minutes and I would not have been able to stay upright....

Yep... same exact failure as my Marauder.

The only difference was EK had the benefit of my pump and we fished out the rest of the day.

Yep... same exact failure as my Marauder.

The only difference was EK had the benefit of my pump and we fished out the rest of the day.

And the first accessory I purchased after that trip was a pump of my own.  It definitely saved the day!

Good to hear you made it back OK Dale. Thanks for sharing your mishaps with the boat. It is also good to hear that you will be receiving a new one. See you on the
water soon.

Jedmo

Levi (Steele_Leader) was paddling InSeine's Marauder at Paradise on Saturday and had to bail early. He was taking on water. There was like a 1 or 2 inch crack next to the scupper hole. Makes me very nervous, since I have a Marauder.

Not familiar with the manufacturing process, but I'm think that it's possible to have an undetectable crack (at mfg and inspection time) that eventually becomes visible after a period of use on the water, transported on a cart, and being loaded/unloaded on the car.

IMO this isn't very likely to be caused by a plug-in cart or anything else in particular except for a weakness in the design of the hull in that particular spot.  Plug in carts may not be ideal but even a roleez causes a ton of stress to the hull if it isn't positioned well.  I used a plug-in cart for 5 years on my old Malibu Two in heavy usage and it is still floating today.

Whether this one was aggravated by the plug in cart or not, I'm admittedly opinionated on this topic. I've heard reports of and seen plenty of failures caused by torque and leverage applied to the area that's normally the weakest part of a rotomolded self-baling kayak. Plug-in carts are a risk I refuse to run.

EK, the fact that your Malibu II is still floating doesn't tell us anything other than that one in particular is still in good shape. Those things are built for abuse, with a heavy lay-up whether they are special-ordered outfitter models or not. Guy I knew had one that was dragged and bounced behind a truck down a freeway. It looked like hell but still did the trick.

Good to hear Cobra is standing by its warranty. Dale, I hope you get pack on the water soon.

I've heard reports of and seen plenty of failures caused by torque and leverage applied to the area that's normally the weakest part of a rotomolded self-baling kayak. Plug-in carts are a risk I refuse to run.

Can't argue with the logic and regardless of what I use I wouldn't recommend a scupper hole cart to anyone,  probably going to change mine to a better design as well..

Good to hear you're OK, Dale. And thanks for sharing this info w/us.

The ironic thing for me is that I'm considering a Marauder for those rough launches (need to be able to store rods easily). I only recently became interested in Cobra kayaks after seeing/hearing Al's T13 sink at GMS3....before that event, I was fully committed to a T13 because of the RodPod. But now I'm wondering if I should just stick w/the Tarpons...and deal with the awkward rod-storage position..?

Good to hear you're OK, Dale. And thanks for sharing this info w/us.

The ironic thing for me is that I'm considering a Marauder for those rough launches (need to be able to store rods easily). I only recently became interested in Cobra kayaks after seeing/hearing Al's T13 sink at GMS3....before that event, I was fully committed to a T13 because of the RodPod. But now I'm wondering if I should just stick w/the Tarpons...and deal with the awkward rod-storage position..?

Sin,

I was at GSCIII with Al. I also have the T13. And had no issues with water getting in. At the end of each day I had three teaspoons of water in my boat. All from the water I added to the transducer doughnut. Last weekend Al and I were talking at Paradise and he came over an looked at my Rod Pod cover and noticed how much tighter mine fit. Maybe his straps loosened or it was a mfg flaw in his boat. I couldn't imagine NOT having that amount of access to store gear.

Just wanted to share

FYI Pat, he was using the T15 that day and the kayak was bought as a Blemish.
His kayak was practically brand new. I was using the T13  that day and have
used the boat for at least three times now and I have no problem with it. My
boat is also a blem which I bought from FW where Al had purchased his.

Jedmo