respect the ocean 2. MY experience

[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!

[alanw]

Originally Posted by 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!

I don't really like depending on a plastic bilge pump as it is, so there is no way I'd trust a kids toy to not fail in an emergency.

[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.