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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Don't drill the bulkheads!
Posted By: Brianne Corbett In Response To: Re: Kayak Storage & Travel (bryan gorr)
Date: Monday, 12 January 2004, at 10:19 a.m.
:Also a
: suggestion is a very small hole positioned at the center of your
: bulkheads. We're talking a hole about the size of a pencil lead. Warping
: can also happen when the kayak is on the water and the temp. in your
: bulkheads is very high. The small hole will keep the pressure down.
Bryan...Bulkheads are safety equipment. The purpose of the bulkhead is to prevent water from entering the forward and rear compartments in the event of a capsize. Should these compartments flood, the kayak becomes extremely unstable and may indeed sink. Self rescue is much more difficult when the boat is holding 80-100 plus gallons of water versus 30-40 gallons in a flooded cockpit. Paddlers in bulkheadless boats have to use sea socks to minimize the volume of water upon capsize.
In addition once the compartments flood, how are you going to get the water out? Your pump won't empty the compartments unless you put hoses into the compartments to allow pump drainage. This of course requires two more holes and creates another possible point of failure.
To equalize pressure in storage simply remove the hatch covers. DO NOT DRILL HOLES THROUGH THE BULKHEADS! This is a solution that endangers the paddler.
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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board is maintained by Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks with WebBBS 5.12.
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