Good call Dave. Thats what i did. Love my outback in the bay.

Hi guys,

This is a bit ironic based on the previous few posts.

I took the Fisha out for it's maiden voyage on Saturday...

I launched in the nice sheltered West Lakes, did a deep water re-entry and decided it was much easier than the Outback to both right the kayak and to get back on.

Feeling confident I headed off for a 5km lap of the Island in the middle of the lake, it all started well but it started to get more and more unstable as I went, the yak would get up on it's edge, I'd lean it back but it'd stay on the edge??? I got about 3km and I thought that there's definitely something wrong and looked in my back hatch and it had 5 inches of water in the hull. I pulled up at a beach and emptied what must have been over 100 litres of water out of my hull. I turned back and stopped a couple of times to empty it out and made it back OK.
I went home and blocked the kayak up and filled the hull with water and found a very small leak where the scupper mod outlet pipe went through the hull, this should be easy to fix as there has been no attempt to seal it from the inside so that didn't worry me as the speed of that leak would have minimal effect and would never of let the amount of water that I found in my hull in. I then plugged up the outlet and filled the footwells which drained well but straight into the hull, it was then that I noticed that the pipes from the footwells had been pushed through. I then started filling the seatwell and I could see this water running back from under the footwells.

So what I believe has happened is that the footwell hoses have been pushed through and are lying on the floor of the hull, which is below the outside water level, this is allowing water to run up the outlet pipe and out of the disconnected footwell pipes that are lying on the hull floor.

I think the mod will work but it relies on it being a sealed system which I'll have to fix.
In the short term I think I'll cut the footwell pipes, fold them over and cable tie them so they seal and just put some tape over the holes in the footwells. This will allow me to start some serious training this week.
In the long term I'll push the footwell pipes back in from the outside (as I can't get to the area under the footwells) and thread it back to the back hatch where I can join this to where I have cut and sealed it off temporarily. I plan to leave an inch of hose poking out the footwell hole so that I can cut this into strips, glue these strips down then fibreglass over the top to make a strong fitting that won't pull out easily.

It was a very cheap yak so I had assumed I'd have to do some work on it to get it up to standard so I'm still very happy with it.

Dave

For a cheap yak you have to expect do some work, sounds like you have it sorted

aussieDave wrote:Hi guys,

This is a bit ironic based on the previous few posts.

I took the Fisha out for it's maiden voyage on Saturday...

I launched in the nice sheltered West Lakes, did a deep water re-entry and decided it was much easier than the Outback to both right the kayak and to get back on.

Feeling confident I headed off for a 5km lap of the Island in the middle of the lake, it all started well but it started to get more and more unstable as I went, the yak would get up on it's edge, I'd lean it back but it'd stay on the edge??? I got about 3km and I thought that there's definitely something wrong and looked in my back hatch and it had 5 inches of water in the hull. I pulled up at a beach and emptied what must have been over 100 litres of water out of my hull. I turned back and stopped a couple of times to empty it out and made it back OK.
I went home and blocked the kayak up and filled the hull with water and found a very small leak where the scupper mod outlet pipe went through the hull, this should be easy to fix as there has been no attempt to seal it from the inside so that didn't worry me as the speed of that leak would have minimal effect and would never of let the amount of water that I found in my hull in. I then plugged up the outlet and filled the footwells which drained well but straight into the hull, it was then that I noticed that the pipes from the footwells had been pushed through. I then started filling the seatwell and I could see this water running back from under the footwells.

So what I believe has happened is that the footwell hoses have been pushed through and are lying on the floor of the hull, which is below the outside water level, this is allowing water to run up the outlet pipe and out of the disconnected footwell pipes that are lying on the hull floor.

I think the mod will work but it relies on it being a sealed system which I'll have to fix.
In the short term I think I'll cut the footwell pipes, fold them over and cable tie them so they seal and just put some tape over the holes in the footwells. This will allow me to start some serious training this week.
In the long term I'll push the footwell pipes back in from the outside (as I can't get to the area under the footwells) and thread it back to the back hatch where I can join this to where I have cut and sealed it off temporarily. I plan to leave an inch of hose poking out the footwell hole so that I can cut this into strips, glue these strips down then fibreglass over the top to make a strong fitting that won't pull out easily.

It was a very cheap yak so I had assumed I'd have to do some work on it to get it up to standard so I'm still very happy with it.

Dave

Hey Dave,
Glad you got back safe great read up. IMHO you don't get wet enough let's face it kayaking is a wet sport. Would you consider patching the holes up? You wouldn't want a hose to let go act as a syphon offshore in roughish. If you choose not to remove the system and patch it. I would try to purchase the newer model venturi covers and glue them in. This will help remove and keep water out. Rod up north has used these on his external transducer mount.

Hi guys,

I did my little quick fix (capping footwell pipes and taping over footwell holes) last night and went for a 7km training run around Delfin Island at West Lakes and didn't get a drop of water in the hull. I'll be able to get out and build my paddle fitness until I can do a proper fix when I get back from SWR.

I have to say that coming from an Outback to a Fisha is a big learning curve, they are two kayaks that couldn't be any more different in characteristics. The Outback feels big and roomy with a place for everything, stable and predictable, a bit like a limousine and the Fisha feels like a fast, stripped out to bare basics, twitchy race car. I think a lot of this is because after 20 years of not doing much exercise after breaking my back I bought the Outback as my first yak and the Fisha is my first real more traditional kayak.

@Franko, I agree yakking is a water sport to me, I expect to get a little wet, I think I'm going to get a lot more wet once I start getting my confidence up and start taking the Fisha out into some more choppy seas.
I think I'll keep the drainage system, it'll be nice to not be sitting in a puddle of water. Once I redo the footwell hoses I'll make them a lot more robust so they can't push through again I think it'll be fine, the hoses shouldn't have any issues as they are not holding any pressure and are not anywhere that they can be knocked around.

Dave