Awesome tips Man! Having just sunk in a boat only 200 yards from shore, I would like to ad some tips from my experience. It was getting dark my son and I sank in a rip, we could not make land because of the rip. Our life jackets were on but didn't keep us as buoyant as they should. A cooler helped save us, so as you mention make sure your life jacket works! I would want a cushion or something to hold as well. We had water going in our mouths and I had trouble breathing and started getting pretty cold after 1/2 an hour in 67* water. The whole ordeal was 40 minutes. Had it not been for my son's cell phone we may have lost our lives so I recommend at least a waterproof cell phone a hand held radio would be better. The rescuing officers suggested these 2 items because they had trouble seeing us. 1. Pocket water proof flairs 2. Waterproof pocket smoke signals. We could not have gotten attention with a horn. Also loosing 8000. in gear and tackle sucks so tether what you can. Thanks Man be Safe!!
Lot's of good advice. I fish offshore and often have to empty out the front hatch container after peddling out through the surf. I keep a home made bailer scoop made from a laundry container in the front hatch to help empty the water to make it light enough to lift the liner and dump it out if it gets filled up. Also keep a hand pump to remove water that gets in the hull. Several years back a PA sank, and ever since then, Hobies come with enough flotation inside them to keep from sinking if the hull gets flooded (Never remove the flotation that comes inside the kayak, and adding some like this video suggests is a plus ) Flipped without the fwd liner in once, and learned that the kayak hull fills up faster without the liner, and the water sloshing around in the entire hull makes the kayak very unstable. Always keep my fwd liner in after that incident -- It is much easier to get the water out of the fwd liner rather than water sloshing around in the entire hull.
Thanks for the video. Might I suggest for your front hatch, instead of foam peanuts or similar, some type of air bladder such as a regular beach ball. You would inflate it just enough to fit the space and would be adjustable dependent on what other gear you have in the hatch. the inflated bladder would prevent water filling the space as long as the hatch cover remains closed.
Good advice. I have been there a few times, and the thing that I find most people don't appreciate is how difficult it can be to flip back the kayak, and re enter - even if you have practised. The weight of the clothes when wet is rarely considered. Thermals can help - light and warm. Inflatable pfd's, whilst light and unobtrusive make it hard to re enter the kayak. Hope you don't mind, but I have added this video to my channel - not enough people seriously consider the safety. Also sub your channel. great work, keep it up.
I own a pa 14 and when I purchased it the first thing I did was practice getting in and out and then flipped it. From my experience after the practice training on my pa 14 which will give you a since of peace that when something does happen like a tip over you can stay calm and that is very important because all your energy needs to be getting you to a safe place. The white bucket up front I know most people load it down but when you go over and your pa flips ,,,,, the weight in the white bucket will cause water to enter. I did have an event that was not planned and what I did was ditch the white bucket. On pa 14 a lot of people will not even bungie it down and that has to be a must. Most of us carry way to much gear. Now what I do is I carry a wool top in plastic along with long johns made of wool and I store that in a water proof bag with a line attached so I can reach it after the kayak is upright again. I also have a float cushion that I fix behind my seat and I can kneel on it if I decide to use it to kneel on and I attach a line so if I go over I have it to help get into the kayak and to keep me a float in the water along with the pfd. One other item I attach with a cord is the pedal system. Keeping a paint can type container underneath will help take out large amount of waters. I also put a towel underneath as well. I can wring out the towel and take out water. Personally I dont need two poles going one works for me. Water in the void area will move your flotation blocks and make for a very unstable condition so glue them down. Dont expect them to stay in position with the void area if full of water its not going to happen. If I am on any water that in a large river or bay I always tie a rope around the handle on my pa 14 to my waist if conditions warrant danger. Conditions like weather or large waves or wake can create a life threatening situation very quickly and currents will pull you. You do not want to get separated from your kayak I carry a 15 lb anchor with 100 ft robe and I lay that in the back so if I flip the kayak it is staying put till I get things in a manageable situation. Two latches attached to the top and located near the sail area in my view is a good idea. I loved your video great job looking forward to see some other post and again great job there is not enough said about safely and its not good to learn things by trial and error on the water. I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others without having to make the same mistakes.
Hey mate, my return comment - hah hah (told you I would check it out), no seriously good vid, a topic not taken seriously enough. Another thing with PFD's, the inflatable ones make it much more difficult to re enter the kayak - also the deck/side rail layouts are usually configured just for fishing - not many think of righting the yak, or re entry of a 'cluttered' deck space.
Yep, been there, done that (you can get on, but it is harder, partly because they try to keep you on your back, as well as the big air bladder on your gut). You are on the money regards clothing as well.
This is a really informative video. When you practiced flipping the kayak did you have all of your gear loaded in the yak too to make the situation as realistic as possible?
Thanks Rad. NO, I did not have fishing rods and all of that other stuff with me. I did not need to make losing gear realistic. I did have a PFD on and any clothes that i would normally wear. That's about it.
You were lucky. Whatever you wear in a kayak should be something that you could swim a distance if you had to. That means a dry suit or a wetsuit in cold weather. For me being a surfer I have old 5mm and 3mm wetsuits that are no longer useful for surfing but are perfect for wearing for cold weather kayak fishing. Wetsuit boots and even wetsuit gloves when its really cold. Most of all, keep it simple. If you don't want to lose it it shouldn't be on deck of your kayak. Use a $100 fishing outfit instead of a $400 fishing outfit. Limit your tackle. There is no need to bring everything including the kitchen sink. Lastly, NEVER NEVER NEVER wear waders in a kayak. Waders will drown you. Even surf fishing be careful with the waders. Sadly I knew a guy who got swept off of a sand bar chasing stripers and drowned thanks to his waders.
