Just bought a used Perception Prodigy XS for my granddaughter and have a couple questions.
The bow and stern floatation is loose. I can see how it attaches topside. The stern has a plastic rod that goes into the foam and screws thru the deck. The bow has a screw and a metal bracket. Question is: How was it attached to the bottom? It appears to not have any adhesive there, was it just sitting on the bottom? I am about to reglue a bulhead to another noat and have plenty of lexel. Should I glue it in as well. Anyone with a similar boat perhaps can look in and see for me?
Second is the female end of the strap I am pointing to appears to not have a male counterpart. Anyone know what is up with that? The 2 on the side attach to the rear of the cockpit for the seat back.
The gray foam things are nominally flotation, but more for providing structural support to the deck. Basically a bit of strength to hold the deck up should you sit on it or the like. They often just get wedged into place.
As flotation, these grey things do give a little, if they hold in place. Basically enough to keep the boat from slipping below the surface. But won’t be enough to allow for deep water re-entries. For this level of flotation, you would want to add float bags.
On the buckles, I am guessing that the piece you are pointing at are thigh pads )so next to the paddler’s hip)? I suspect the upper ones are if you had a high seat back installed. To help keep costs down, the manufacturers often try to minimize the number of parts they carry. So they make things like seats usable in multiple different boats. In boats with high seat backs, they would use both sets of buckles (or just the upper ones). In boats with sat bands, just the lower.
Thanks Peter. For the intended use now we should not need additional floatation, but bags are cheap and easy to get, so a good option.
Since I have the lexel I will just use a bit on the bottom, cannot hurt and since I am redoing a bulkhead in the Necky I can do at the same time.
The buckle in question comes down from the middle of the seat at the bottom in back. I think it is what you mentioned and just there for some other model. The buckles on the side just hold the seat upright and control how far it moves fore and aft.
The lexel will work with the dense (minicell) foam piece in the stern. It will not work well with the porous piece up front (unless you seriously GLOB on the lexel). That top screw will keep the bow piece in place with some shifting at the bottom. But, if you really want to lock in the bottom more, you can take small pieces of minicell, e.g. 1"x3" or .5"x3" strip, and glue that down along side the porous foam piece. The glued in minicell pieces will then hold the bottom of the porous foam piece in place.
I took the foam block out of her OT kayak and stuffed a yoga ball up under the deck and inflated it inside. It conformed nicely to the deck and hull and holds itself in place. Holds air for years. It has a sealed hatch behind the seat so no need to add floatation there on ours.
It floats like a cork upside down now and is easy to flip and reenter with the ability to bail once back in. Big improvement over the foam block that wiggled around.
The ball is really tough unlike beach balls and such some use.
They come in different sizes and also round and oblong. I have two of the larger oblong in my canoe.
The yoga ball is a great idea. I get hung up on trying to repair things just like original, even on parts that do not matter.
When I got it there is that plastic piece that was screwed to the stern section and had the plastic rod shown stuck down in it. The front has a metal L bracket attached via a wood screw.
I see how the foam should go now, but have no idea what the plastic part does. You can see a hole drilled off center that looks like it is not from the factory.
Any clues on the exact orientation of this stern part?
You can see the screws holding the backband (white arrows), and the loops to pull it tight forward. The (blue arrows) are staps that pull the backband tight to the rear. The (red arrow) backband straps go through round holes in the side of the molded seat frame and fasten to the screws. Nothing fancy holding the foam just a press fit. The screw just keeps the top from shifting. If its tight, the lexel should hold it. Put lexel top and bottom and in the screw hole. I don’t see that white plastic frame anywhere on the boat.
