respect the ocean 2. MY experience

[momo fish]

Omg will. That sounds scary as heck and already giving me flashbacks. Thank god your ok and other boats in area to help. You have more balls than me as I would of taken the ride back to avoid any further issues. Let us know how the pump setup goes as I have been tinkering with mine to see how to convert bait tank to pump water out.

[Amish Ed]

Glad you're ok Will. A good reminder that I need to carry my pump. If for no other reason than to help others.

[Gigafish]

Been saved by the bilge pump on my kayak on more than a couple of outings. A hand held bilge pump approx $15-$20 would've kept you out fishing.

Everything could've been lost. Stay safe.

[live2fishy]

I have a westmarine pump and I have had it maybe 5 years it still works great best 29$ I have spent. Buy one even if you think you'll never use it

[Ojos_raros]

That happened to me once. I striped down, jumped into the water, plugged it up and spent the next hour bailing water. I was bummed missing that fishin time!

[YakMedic]

Damn Will, your have a rough couple weeks! I see a big fat fish in your future. Glad it turned out well and thanks for sharing your experience many people reading this will be able to learn from your incident including myself.

[SoCalCJ]

Glad to hear your ok and thank you for sharing you experience.

Here's my personal favorite bilge pump, I think it's $12 bucks @ Walmart!

[roadx]

smart keeping your cool. I know I will be budding up from now on. It just makes since. Hopefully you didn't loose any gear.

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by roadx

smart keeping your cool. I know I will be budding up from now on. It just makes since. Hopefully you didn't loose any gear.

I lost a couple things. A plano box of irons. A teramar spinning combo and a gaff. The gaff I'm sure is floating somewhere along the kelp line. The Lost gear was of little concern at the time and is a small price for a valuable lesson. I have a new respect for our ocean and conditions and when this happens again I will know exactly what to do.

[alanw]

I have a short 5' rope tied to my front handle mount which goes under the front hatch and is ran through my spare paddle and my hand pump. The rope keeps the safety items from sliding out of reach. I can access them through my side hatches or the front hatch. They were one of the first items I bought for my kayak, and hopefully I'll never need them.

When paddling my kayak I sometimes look at the scupper hole by my feet for water level. I know where that water level should be and would start investigating if the water seemed higher than normal. I've always assumed the kayak, if taking on water, would sit level while lowered in the water. Thanks for this report because now I will think about the possibility of the rear sinking lower than the front, which means my habit of looking at the forward scupper for water level monitoring might not work.

This also means that even a bilge pump mounted in the lowest part of the kayak might be ineffective if the kayak sits in an out of level condition when filling with water.

[dorado50]

I agree with the other poster about NOT removing the drain plug. Screw in, screw out, over time the plastic won't seal anymore thus causing leakage or worse. My drain plugs are sealed with 5200.

Time to reconsider about the importance of private boaters when you have a situation as described. Some guys really bash them....not me.

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by dorado50

I agree with the other poster about NOT removing the drain plug. Screw in, screw out, over time the plastic won't seal anymore thus causing leakage or worse. My drain plugs are sealed with 5200.

Time to reconsider about the importance of private boaters when you have a situation as described. Some guys really bash them....not me.

seriously. I'm very grateful for their presence yesterday.

[blitzburgh]

Glad you're OK man!

[Raskal311]

Dang... I'm a bit iffy about heading out solo after these two post now On my check list the first thing is check drain plug and a bit future down is check radio battery.

[socal.beach.bum]

As tempting as it is at times, I NEVER NEVER go out alone for these exact reasons. Alone inside the harbor sure, outside in the open water NEVER.

[momo fish]

Yeah I know the feeling. Keep in mind I have been out alone plenty of times and in conditions almost as bad so never figured it would happen to me and it did. If I go solo it will only be if I see others out and will ask to join them or stay close to shore.

It's not worth it, even for a seabass.

Originally Posted by Raskal311

Dang... I'm a bit iffy about heading out solo after these two post now On my check list the first thing is check drain plug and a bit future down is check radio battery.

[erinoo]

I had a similar experience some years ago. Luckily for me I was with a couple of my peeps. It could have been real serious. What I learned is: ALWAYS, ALWAYS were your PFD, regardless how good of a swimmer you think you are or how macho you think you are. fficeffice" />>>

[theluckypig]

a trick i learned from "Kiyo" (the legend) after having an incident of taking on water and almost sinking a kayak: if your hull fills with water, disconnect your bait tank intake line from the tank and stick the pump into your hull to pump the water out... (of course only that works if you have your pump dragging alongside the kayak)

[octico]

Dude glad your ok! That should definitely be on your checklist.

[William Novotny]

Originally Posted by octico

Dude glad your ok! That should definitely be on your checklist.

I know, I know. Seriously it's getting sealed tonight.