Hello everyone…first post, been lurking a while. Excellent site you folks have here. Great information, with friendly knowledgeable people!
I purchased my first kayak on Thursday, a nice little rec. boat, a Perception Montour 11. I promptly christened it on Saturday in the South fork of the New River… loved it. Had a blast! This boat suits my 5-10, 175# frame well in class 1-2 water as well as a flat stretch every now and then. I found it stable enough to sun my legs on the front deck while whipping it around to surf a class 1. It hauls a 12 pack soft cooler of coldies well between my feet (when they are inside the boat), and it has a big back hatch for dry* storage.
You noticed the asterisk huh. Dry should be accompanied with “*-Dry as long as you don’t roll.”
We hit a sweet little class 2 river left around a rock where a canoe had just dumped ahead of us. I ran the little rapid no sweat, but then peeled out behind the rock and went back up in effort to offer my bow to a lady in distress. The current pushed my bow a little sideways and I proceeded to test out the secondary stability of my new boat. Well I found the edge and went right past it. I ended up dumping while my buddy on his sit-on top made the rescue. That Torrent was rock solid and he pulled the girl to safety with relative ease.
I drained my boat with a big grin as 8 or 9 of my crew offered their support by pointing and laughing at me from the rock above . I portaged back up for another go at it and ended up surfing and playing in that hole for 30 minutes or so until I ended up dumping one more time (note to self-don’t try to side surf a 11’ boat on a class two rapid 
Anyway, later on down river, we pulled over for a snack and discovered that the rear hatch had 2 inches of water in it. The hatch never came off, but It did let water in somehow. Upon closer inspection, I guess the rubber hatch fits the coaming a little too loosely. I can rotate the oval hatch around a bit, say 5 degrees with it secured.
I thought of cutting a section out of a inner tube and stretching that around the coaming to make the fit a bit more snug. Does anybody have any ideas on how to fix this?
I would also welcome any suggestions for outfitting this fun little boat. I guess the next purchase is a skirt for an occasional class III. I have ran the Nanty in an borrowed Godzilla before, and would like to attempt Patton’s run and the Lesser Wesser in my new boat.
Thanks for taking the time to read, I’m hooked!
Jody
get a big float bag…
put it in the hatch, inflate it, then pop your hatch cover on. I wouldn’t trust any hatch cover that wasn’t made by Kajaksport or Valley…and even those aren’t 100% dry.
So you are saying that…
the rear storage area can’t be used for anything but a float bag if there is a possibility of rolling?
Wow. That’s a bummer.
Can get combo dry/foat bags
I forget who carries them - but they act as float bags as well as offering dry storage. probably a good solution for that boat.
Thanks Celia.
I’ll look for a big combo-bag or maybe several smaller dry bags.