Help with a cheap Ebay Yak

[Joshua]

Hey guys, got my ebay yak a few days ago, it's not bad but i do have one gripe, there is no storage! the front and center hatch just go into a small non removable bucket that appear to be part of the hull.

I want to remove the front bucket if possible but want to know if i am going to run into issues.
I have added some photos let me know what you think.

The black ring and lid looks to be held on with allen keys, but they are not, they are some type of rivet or the heads have been filled with some kind of plastic. so to remove them I will either have to drill them out, or cut straight into the bucket.

Any help is much appreciated!
Joshua

[cruiser]

Bit hard to tell in the pic but they could be [star screws] well thats what I call them ,you can buy screwdrivers with heads to fit these screws ,drilling would be my last option ,good luck

[laneends]

Drill a hole inside bucket, insert pad saw blade and cut around side so bucket can be removed leaving lip and a ring section of bucket in place.

make up a dry bag, use a ring cut from a plant pot as a collar, this can then pushed down inside existing bucket rim for tolerance fit trapping bag material between two rings. This will give you a removal liner bag with collar. Collar can be permanently attached to bag if you like

[Seasherpa]

They look like the heads of split shaft folding rivets holding the hatch in. Only way to remove them is to drill.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anodised-Blac ... 1172154752

[Joshua]

Wow guys thanks for all the super fast and super fast replies, I'm thinking I will just cut the bucket off in place, I'm concerned the hatch may leak a small amount of water into the hull if I do so.
I think that's why they designed the hull this way, so they seals on the lid aren't that important. I'm fairly handy and should be able to fix this though.

Will I run into any other problems other than water intake through the lid seals that you can think of if I cut this bucket out?

I won't be drilling out the whole assembly.

[Roundsole]

Why are you cutting the bucket out?

[Seasherpa]

The older ocean kayak prowler's had a similar middle hatch setup and I'm sure Kelly (Gonefishin) did a write up when he took his bucket out.

[Somewhere 'Offshore']

Why are you cutting the bucket out?

Because he's not happy with the amount of storage.

Joshua, before you cut them out it might be worth trying to get away with using a dry bag (anaconda has them pretty cheap) for storage and just using the buckets for bait/soft plastics etc.
Just a though Before you start hacking

[Somewhere 'Offshore']

My only concern is that cutting out the buckets out could weaken the overall structure(?) (not knowing how thick the plastic is. Might have been fine on a 'Ocean Kayak' but maybe not on this one, who knows.)

If you cut them out I'd remove the base of the bucket and try to leave as much of the wall of the bucket alone so once you add weight (you) to the kayak the structure dosent bend coursing the lid to pop off or badly leak. If that makes sense.

...where's Ghurkin when you need him

[Joshua]

Cheers jay, I hadn't thought of that! Overall it seems like a fairly decent kayak for the price. I'm thinking I should wait a while as I'm sure cutting it out will void the warranty