C-Forum

Hi all,

I own a Prodigy which is standard-outfitted with two airbags and thight straps.

Are there any suggestions how I can make the cockpit a little more narrow to avoid that to much water comes in?

Maybe some pictures?

Does anybody have hippads in a Prodigy?

Thanx,
Raff

Raff,

Not sure exactly what you mean by ' narrowing the cockpit'.

If you mean pulling the thwarts in to narrow the boat, that will only tend to make it wetter, due to reduced flare.

If however you mean foaming out the cockpit, it mill not improve the dryness of the boat, only reduce the amount of water the boat holds when completely swamped, but the water will still come in.

If you want to reduce the amount of water coming in, particularly over the bow deck, you can add what I have heard referred to as 'surf deck', i.e. e big plate out of ABS or some similar material that reaches back to the thwart and install a V-shaped foam diverter on top of it to divert any water away from the cockpit. Be sure to install the diverter in a location where you will not get hung up on it with your paddle while performing cross-over strokes.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

Sorry - my english is not the best

I think of foaming out the cockpit to reduce the amount of water.

Raff

Raff
No problem on your English we Americans have the same problem - or so we are told by our British cousins!

Foaming out the cockpit is easy. You just need to make sure that once foamed out - you can get out!

Get some large blocks of mini cell and cut it to the sizes you need - length (bag to bag taking into account thwarts, straps and such), height (base to gunwales) and width (how much do you want on each side). You'll need to score (cut slices or line half way or deeper) on the inside sections of the foam so they fit up against the boat's interior (shape matches that of the boat). This also assists in glueing into the boat as well.

Weld bond (red lable) if you can get it works well with most boats.

Take your time and measure twice (or more) prior to cutting the mini cell. I used a card board template first - but even then needed to trim out more to get the foam to fit.

Glue the scored side of the mini cell and then the interior of the boat your going to foam out - let dry - re-apply the glue then stick them together. Take your time.

Glueing one side at a time helps so you can put weight on the mini cell or you can use clamps. Keep the areas clean and a marker can used to line the foam up to where you want it and note where you need to cut.

Its not hard and I'm sure others will have tips too. Foaming out the sides of an OC has worked for me and I like having the extra padding to lock me in - just please make sure you can get out.

Have fun and let us know how it goes! Paul C.

I have hippads and foam in the sides.
It rolls much dryer that way.
I also have oversized bags in it.

To put foam in, trace the shape of the hull in cardboard, then cut that shape from minicell foam. Glue several stripes of those together and fit it all along the cockpit sides. After that, you can add more foam where needed and remove foam elsewhere.

It's real easy if you have a bandsaw. You see it in many other boats as well.

Cheers, Jan

Ps: this is the best pic I have at the moment. It's not very good but gives you an idea.

beside the brits can understand me it the dam yankees I can't talk too.

@Jan: Do you remeber the size of the bags? More than 60"?

Raff, well, I don't really remember. I know I have the stern bag that came from Bell. Then a longer (prolly 60 inch) for the bow bag.

The boat rolls very dry. I often roll it in an eddy to get rid of most water when I can't get out otherwise on busy canyony sections.
I also increased the length of the decks as martin indicated but not nearly as extreme. I just used a bunch of duck tape (in style, of couse, using black tape) to increase the bow dryness. The factory decks are kinda ridiculously short.

Cheers, Jan

again, not the best pic but gives you an idea of the front bag and the decks.