Lost My Rear Hatch! Replacement?

Advice
#1

Hey all,



I thought I posted this, but a quick perusal of the forum and my post is nowhere to be seen, so here it is again:



I lost the rear hatch off my 12’ Perception Acadia on the way back from Southern Illinois (great paddling there). I saw it blow off, but didn’t want to pull over to play frogger on a busy highway to get a $10 piece of rubber back.



Can anyone point me in the right direction to get the rear hatch cover replaced??



Thanks in advance,



Kevin

#2

cover
They are more than you stated, but call Laacke & Joys, Milwaukee, downtown location. Goggle it for the number. I saw they had the hatch covers when I was there a few weeks ago.



Or call Perception or your local paddling store.

#3

That $10 piece of rubber…
might be $60 or more as it is with some manufactuers.



Go to: http://www.kayaker.com/new/company/cust_serv.asp, Perceptions customer service website page and go from there or use the same site to find a dealer near you.



Good luck.

#4

Tether anyone
it’s the way to go.

#5

hatch cover security
road bike inner tubes, cut and tied into smaller loops does the trick for me.

#6

Call Perception
I called perception to complain that the seat cover blew off (we didn’t know it wasn’t permanently attached) and told them although I loved the boat, I was dissapointed by the cover. I offered to buy a new one, and they said send your address and gave me one for free. It’s worth a shot.

#7

Thanks!
Thanks for the advice. I’ll give them a call today and see what they say. The hatch was tethered to the kayak, but it was no match for the speed we were going at the time.

#8

Another vote to tether…
all your hatches, if possible.



If there is not a more obvious way to do it, use a small bungee, velcro and contact cement to create a tether system. I did this the other day on a VCP day hatch cover, tethering it to the aft cockpit bulkhead. That hatch cover had a tab protruding down from it’s underside that I punched a hole in and used a bowline to attach one end of the bungie to.



Carry spare hatch covers as well, if possible. I don’t know about Perception, but VCP offers spare neoprene oval and day hatch covers for their boats. You could even make spares from coated nylon and bungee if they were unavailable otherwise.



Good luck.

#9

Hmmm…
I wondered if that at freeway speeds a tether might fail. Now I know. I’ll learn from your experience and try to make sure that doesn’t happen to me.