Was fishing with a buddy at Texas City Sunday when another yaker in a 14' Proangler capsized a couple hundred yards away in decent conditions (0.5 miles from the shore). Not many folks out so we hightailed it over to him. He had been in the water for at least 10 mins at this point in water over his head. We spent about 15 mins trying to turn over his boat which was very difficult even with two people trying. We got it turned over sluggishly and he finally got back on the yak. When he attempted to get in the seat the yak slowly rolled back over and him in the water again, with no life jacket on. At this point I headed to the closest boat I could see and waved them down to help out. They were a great pair of anglers who motored over, got the guy in the water into their boat, and we flipped to kayak over, again being no simple feat. When we opened the front kayak hatch, the hull easily had +20 gals of water in it. This certainly explained why the yak rolled back over in our first attempt to right it. We bailed out most of the water with a makeshift bailer that was a lure storage container. The boat towed the kayak back to the dock with an exhausted kayaker with them. Kudoes again to these very accommodative boaters for their willingness to help. the yaker lost a rod/reel, broke another rod and trashed his cellphone but he lived to tell the story. And there were lots of jellyfish in the water. This was the third kayak capsize I had seen/heard about in the area in the last two months.

Key learnings are that the Proangler (he had a battery with accessories and lots of gear) are that they are incredibly hard to flip if they have any water in them at all. There is no way he could have done it by himself. The center of gravity is way higher than you think with the Proangler seat. We drifted abouty 900' in the time it took to get him and the kayak secured to the boat and it was away from the dike. And wearing a life jacket zipped up really could save your life. I will put a bailing bucket in my hull for future such events. We should have checked the hull fillage the first time we flipped the kayak and bailed it before he attempted to get in if we would have and a practical means to bail. When you are out, keep an eye out for others. Things can turn south in an instant. Finally, he told us that he tried to right his kayak in shallow water on a previous trip and had great difficulty and the reason he flipped was he was trying to grab a marker bouy he thought was a fugitive crab trap.

His fishfinder is probably dead.
There is no substitute for wearing a PDF and using the buddy system.

Amen!

Glad he is safe and had y’all to help out!

I’ve covered a lot of miles in a PA 14 from small lakes to 5 miles offshore. There’s a few things everyone should do to their PA before taking it out in my opinion. One, add an additional seal to the hatch (in addition to the factory seal that should come with the kayak) and add actual latches to the hatch so if it does flip it won’t let in loads of water. Second seal up the ends of the rod tubes and also around the perimeter of the black rod tube flange. I also recommend using Vaseline on the round center hatch gaskets because they will leak too. These factory seals are poor and don’t work. Also add a flip strap. About the only way these kayaks can be flipped back over is using a strap. I tied my strap to the h rail and kept it rolled up and stored in the webbed pouch so I could get to it easily. The way the strap works is when the kayak is flipped over throw the strap across the kayak, swim around to the other side, put a foot on the side of the kayak and pull the strap and it flips it right over. Not wearing a PDF is just not smart. And anytime I went offshore or was in sporty waters I dropped the seat to the low position. Makes a big difference in stability.

wow
this cat is lucky for shore

Could have been a whole lot worst. Glad you and your buddy were able to help!

So true.

I would add a water proof VHF radio...

Buddy system is key! I use it for anything dangerous. Kayaking, swimming, climbing, showering etc.

This is a trend with all the yotube kayak people. The issue is people get a kayak without ever spending any time learning how to kayak. It's dangerous. The first thing we all should know is wear your dam pfd and learn and practice self rescue and deep water re-entry in your kayak. I personally have been involved in 5 rescues, 2 with motor boats and 3 with kayakers. It happens. Lucky yall were there. It must've got some water inside while it was turned over. That's why it was flipping back over. Everyone do yourselves a favor and learn how to save yourselves.

We're talking about the Hobie Mirage Pro Angler, right?

Right

1+ on everything you said... except you shouldn't use Vaseline on rubber gaskets, the Vaseline will eat through the rubber over time. Instead, you should use a non-petroleum based O-ring lube.

In addition to the pre-rigged strap that you mention, folks should also keep a manual bilge pump on hand. I keep this one in the hull under my seat. I tied it to the in-hull tackle basket with about 18" of nylon string so I can pull it out if I ever need it (without leaving my seat). This way I can pump the hull without moving around the kayak if I ever take on water.

It doesn't look like it will do much, but I emptied out a 5 gallon bucket with 20 to 25 pumps (the one I got 5 years ago does much better than what the current specs indicate)... it shoots the water a good 10' away. It's a good little hand bilge.

In fact, this tread is a good reminder for me to test the bilge again! It's now 5 years old and the internal gasket could have started to dry out by now.

(Note: I cannot get this to show as a link... you will need to copy and paste it)

https://www.amazon.com/Harmony-High-Bilge-Pump-Blue/dp/B07BNVBXNT/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3D31RJCEF9MSS&keywords=harmony+kayak+pump&qid=1689476324&s=sporting-goods&sprefix=harmony+high+volume+sea+kayak+pump%2Csporting%2C101&sr=1-4

Late to the party I know, but wanted to add a couple of comments. I use to open my floor hatch and leave it open and just drop things in that spot through out the day. I also use to put a large tackle bag in the open hatch on the front of the boat. I never really thought about it until I found out if you flip the PA with those things open you will have way more than 20 gallons in the boat. Think more like boat on the bottom of the lake. All you PA owner, make sure you batten down the hatches as they say. Water is already likely to enter through the rod tubes. I also use these on the kayaks: https://rescuestep.com/product-information/kayaks Be careful out there.

Thanks for all the good feedback from my original post. At the risk of offending some folks (but with the need to ensure they know the risks they are taking), I have seen a number of high-mass individuals out in kayaks solo over the years. I hit the scales at 200lb and in decent shape and have found out how difficult it is to get back in my yak in deep water. It has only happened once but that was enough to strike the fear of God in me. It is likely impossible for a very large person to get back in a capsized kayak in deeper water without help. To me this presents a material drowning risk or at a minimum a very long submerged float with your PFD on. As other folks have stated in this thread, don’t go out by yourself and always wear your PFD zipped up. Even if you are sure you can right your boat and then get back in it, the threat to your safety is real. This is a way bigger deal in colder weather where it doesn’t take too long to start losing muscle control…ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN FOR THE WHAT-IFS.

Also investing in one of those manual bilge pumps would be a good idea!