Prowlers, their scuppers, water & cold !

[father&son]

Well, being the owner of an 'infamous boat', ie. a boat purchased before discovering this group & that the actual boat I'd bought had been discussed & guaranteed to be one with leaky scuppers , it was with some trepidation that I set about filling it with water this afternoon. It is my son's boat & although he's only 13, there was no point misleading him as to the purpose of the operation. He wasn't exactly chuffed at the prospect of going afloat in a boat that didn't !

I knew, when I spent several weeks last Spring building a 'deck' that it would come in useful for something in the winter, & the ribbed boards were the perfect medium to spot early water exit !

We set about filling the boat up.....two buckets at a time......as the level rose, so did the expectation....of seeing trickles appear. The deck is supposed to be level, but we all know what waters like ! Richi posted last night to say that the scuppers shouldn't be smeared inside with silicone, so I rubbed that away first off. The build alignment on the tubes where they met mid cavity left a lot to be desired, but the bond seemed ok.

I'd lined up the P15 which I bought for myself at the same time, alongside the lads P13. Both had the silicone, both had dodgy alignment on at least one of the rear four tubes, but one is a 15 & info on the group is that the leaks don't come with the 15's.

Several.....lot's of several actually.....buckets later the leak appeared. But it wasn't from the scuppers, it was from the screw holes holding the bungee which holds the tackle box in the centre well in front of the seat. An hour later......scuppers were still as dry as a bone........the excess had stopped coming through the screw holes from the box holder & she holds water in, so I guess she'll hold it out ?

Not sure how I feel really......glad the bargain, was a bargain, albeit there a lot about. Sad that the 'slights' against the P13 have no doubt worried & upset a lot of potential ( & recent !!) purchasers. You can't get away from the fact that even if they don't leak those scuppers look dodgy, but I think I can be confident ours don't. I filled the P15 fromthe P13...... I'm sure the volume of the 13 is greater than the 15....didn't get it quite as full because the amusement value had worn off by then, & that east wind was cuttig me to shreds, wet hands & all !, but there seemed to be more water left in the 13 at the end than there was room in the 15 to take it.

Having 'sat' on the project of outfittig for the best part of a month, due to the potential of having been sold a 'pup' I feel a bit better today & can look forward to sourcing Scotties, waste tube & crates. I have the serial numbers from the prows, not sure how much they tell me, not sure I need to know really now, but it just goes to show, not all the existing ones are 'bad', so there may be some good deals about, with the back up of OK's support if things don't work out.

[Zzippy]

Hiya Father&Son.

Glad your test went ok and you didnt find any problems as such.

When I have been using my Caper all day and then put it on the roof of the car upside down.I get alot of drips comming through The strap eyes on the rigging.Theres nothing to worry about as I only have a few spoon fulls of water in the Hull after about 12 of fishing.

Your bound to get a small amount of water going in from somewhere.

Anyway looks like you are going to have fun now rigging your Yak

Best of luck

Zzippy

[Yakity - Yak - u.k.]

Hi F&S.

 

Good news on the test.

Good luck with rigging them, its the best part.

[richi]

glad it all turned out good in the end Father &Son--Good luck and take your time with the rigging and happy fishing

[Martin Hurst]

As the chap from OK said it is a small percentage of prowlers that have a problem , significant for those who have a bad one but insignificant for the vast majority. I too filled the girl with a hose when people noticed the problem but mines as sound as a pound and a joy on the water - enjoy yours too m8!

[Starvinmarvin]

Glad everything was cool, interesting that the water came out from the tackle box bungee, that shouldn't cause you any problems, remember to dab a little silicone on all your fittings before inserting and bolting together it should stop any sepage.

 

SM

[Stevo]

Nice story and a happy ending!

 

If you think it was cold doing a tank test you should had been on the water today... I think we came back in two bits today, where the wind had cut us in half!