I recently purchased a P&H Capella RM 166 (triple layer 04 model w/skeg). So far it's been in the water twice for a total of about 6hrs in calm conditions. Both times I noticed a fair amount of water in the back 2 hatches. I use a touring spray skirt and there was very little water in the cockpit
I was wondering if others have had this experience with their Capellas. Any suggestions?
how you seal the rubberized hatches
is important you have to make sure the edges are all carefully placed, and then pushed down. if it still leaks take it to your local paddleshop to have it watertested, (unless you bought it used).
IF you bought it used, try water testing the hatches yourself. Put the kayak up on something, like a set of saw horses, and fill the hatches with water and then turn the kayak upside down. if the hatches leak, you might need new ones, or you might have a problem with the mold. Not sure how you’d fix that but you could call P&H or pyranha to find out.
I’m not sure if it’s the hatches
There was hardly any splashing going on, I couldn’t imagine that much water getting in through the hatch covers. I’m thinking that water might be getting in through the skeg box (is that possible?) and passing through to the other compartment via a bad seal. Or water could be getting into the cockpit (more likely) and passing into the other compartments somehow.
check
Check your seals around the perimeter of the bulkheads…but I doubt that’s the problem if you have a new Capella.
I just bought 2 new Capellas, a 166 like yours and a 160 for my wife. We had the boats out several times this year already and had the boats exposed to practically full immersion on all hatches with no leaks whatsoever.
How much water did you see inside?
As stated previously, make sure that rear hatch is sealed tight around the perimeter…I found it’s the tightest fit of all three. When I thought it was sealed, I noticed I didn’t have the inside rim of the hatch cover pressed completely down/sealed around the lip of the hatch.
The amount of water
I soaked up was about 2 (6x5)sponges worth. They weren’t saturated but I still think it was a lot of water for what I was doing. My day hatch had the most and I never even opened that hatch. I was practicing leans but the cockpit never touched the water during a lean.
I guess I’ll test the bulk heads but running a hose in one and seeing if it goes into the other. Then do the same with the skeg box before I talk to the place where I bought it.
A simple test
Pour a gallon or two of water into your day compartment, then lean the boat until the water reaches the gunwales on each side, watching for leaks as you go. This will show you whether either of the rear bulkheads is leaking.
You can test the skeg box by inverting the boat and pouring water into the box, looking for leaks on the inside. You may end up with water running out through the skeg control, but that’s not a problem since it doesn’t get into the boat.
If you don’t find any leaks in these tests, the problem must be the hatches. If the covers have grooves around their circumference, install a loop of bungee on each one and see if that helps.
If that fails, it might be possible to run a thin layer of closed cell foam weatherstripping on top and/or bottom of the hatch cover to provide additional sealing. Lay the cover on inverted on a flat surface, then install a ring of weatherstripping inside where there top of the hatch ring makes contact. Make a diagonal seam, rather than cutting it straight across. A second piece can be installed on the rim of the hatch cover, where it meets the deck. That should prevent any leakage.
it’s definitely possible
to have leakage at the skeg box, the most likely of culprits. I would water test the skeg box by filling up the rear hatch and the seeing if water comes out of the skeg box.
This is easier to fix, a lot of times it is a bad fitting between the fitting on the cable to the skeg linkage, a dealer can show you how it works.