For those of you that paddle moving water in a SOT - what's the toughest run you've made in a fishing kayak?

Have any of you guys bumped one of these boats down some true class 3? I've been wondering about the durability of taking a good rock impact on the underside. With the paddler's weight "suspended" on the topside, I'd think there would be an increased likelyhood of hull failure over a sit-in if you really came down hard on something.

Just curious if anyone has any input before I go out and crash this thing down a smallmouth creek.

I know a lot of guys on TKF that do rivers all the time. You'd be surprized how much banging those tupperware boats will take.

Having nothing other than my theorizing to go off of, it seems like having the hull's topside supported by not much more than a few scuppers, the chances of the plastic around one of those scuppers failing could be kind of high.

In a sit in, you bang a rock, it's not a big deal. You're not suspended up on a "second" hull, if you will.

I'm probably overthinking this, but didn't want to trash a perfectly good boat if it was one of those things collective experience would've advised against.

Maybe I'll have to just give it a trial by fire. Running rapids in a SOT seems plain silly, but I have this theory that since no one is doing it, I can hit some pretty prime creek stretches up in AR that don't get looked at all that often - at least by anglers.

It's really not an issue in some SOTs and quite an issue in others.

Ocean Kayak's scuppers are flush with the bottom of the hull, so they are constantly getting smacked by rocks, which leads to cracks and leaks around the scuppers. That's why we don't recommend OKs if you're paddling mainly Central Tx rivers (Upper Guad, San Marcos, Devil's). However, most other manufacturers (Jackson, Native, Wilderness, Perception, etc) recess their scupper holes, which protects the scuppers from damage. Some, like Wilderness, recess the scupper within a length-running recessed area, providing even more protection for the scupper, as well as lending integrity to the hull in general.

Outside of the OKs, the major brands of SOTs will have no problems running Class III whitewater. In fact, from a structural standpoint, they won't have any trouble running higher class stuff. The only issue above Class III is the fact that you're not attached to the yak like you would be in a SINK. Basically, you'd get tossed from the yak long before you got into water that affected the structural integrity of the yak.

they sell thigh straps for the wilderness systems yaks might be something to consider...

Kayak seat belts. Hmmmmmm....

^^^ scary.