I picked up a used early model of this boat and have a couple questions. In the image below, I circled in red a short bungee loop that my boat does not have. Is it intended to hold a small bottle or something? Wondering if there is a good use for it I haven’t thought of yet. It does have a cup holder as well.
The handles are crapping out, I ordered some new ones but looking at the hatches you would need 6 foot arms to hold a nut to mount the back one. How would this be done, even at the factory that would be a pretty wierd jig to hold a nut under there? I am thinking I will need to drill out the screws and rivet it in?
Use super glue on a woods stick to hold a nut. You can reach a log way to hold it in place for the screw. You’ll need to have help. One person uses the screw driver as the other positions the nut. With 2 people and a bit of time to let the glue grab (about 5 minutes) it’s not hard to do. After you get the screw into the nut a bit of a twist on the stick breaks loose the glue.
Feel like there is a fine line between enough hold to fully tighten the nut and too much to be able to break it free. Or maybe the stick lives in the hull for eternity?
I have used that trick a few times and it doesn’t take a lot to break the glue joint free.
It you want, another way is to use a small dab of super glue to hold a nut inside a box wrench. It can take a few twists to break it loose from the circle of steel inside the wrench, but using a box wrench also lets you get it very snug. I trapped a wrench in a glob of epoxy between to pieces of oak to hold the wrench firmly and when when placing the nut inside the box, put just a pin head size dab of glue on the nut. The glue only keeps the nut from falling. the wrench hold it against the screwing action.
This makes more sense. The glue to hold it in place within a wrench (especially a box wrench) can be minimal and easy to dislodge. So maybe the trick is to fasten the wrench to the stick, and the nut to the wrench?
Yes, but I have done it both ways. If the screw is much longer then the wall thickness of the kayak and the thickness of the nut, you need a place for it to go and you can either drill a hole in the stick so the screw can chinch on the nut, or attach a box wrench to the stick.
Either way it works about the same
I have an older Tarpon 120 which is the same boat as the Pescador you have. I removed the bungee that goes over that small hatch cover years ago. I could never figure out what purpose it serves. I replaced the screws using plastic washers to keep the hull airtight. I’ve also replaced all the handles on my Tarpon. The side handles have locking nuts that are easily accessed through that small hatch. The bow and stern handles on my Tarpon have molded-in nuts. I bet your Pescador has the same.
@kayakbasser - thanks and I will stick my phone under there and see what it looks like. I can reach the front one thru the hatch (I think anyway).
One other question - do you use the little hatches for anything besides maintenance? Seems like anything small would be lost in the hull somewhere.
I had heard a Pescador was a renamed older Tarpon 120 but I thought it was the later version of Pescador for some reason, it was 28" wide until 2018 then became a newer version at 32" wide.
That is a fact. I have a new 140 that is a replacement for my old T160. It is a slug comparatively. I thought it was my aging body until a friend in good condition tried it and agreed. Sure looks good going slow.
Checked the fittings and it appears most are molded in nuts, although the front handle which is super easy to reach is not molded in.
I checked the width when I went to look at it, some research had brought up the hull changes and for me the extra width was a negative, I wouldn’t have bought a 32" wide one.
And I can’t open the picture, maybe the only person in the world without Google photos!
