a long time ago, I saw these old guys with somekind of water shield in the front of their open boat, on the front deck plate. They said it was for reflecting the water out of the boat. Does anyone else have any means to keep the water out of their boat.
The reason why I asked because, I almost gave up paddling my detonator . Evrytime I go over a wave, the water just pour over the front deck. After a few waves, the boat is completely filled up with water. This is no fun and is quite dangerous. Sucks.
On my Phantom, I put a bow deck plate that covers most of the front air bag. It is 1/8" black ABS, the same stuff that the original deck plate is made of. A few inches forward of the 'cockpit' end of that, I glued on a v shaped minicell splashrail about 2 inches high. When that one falls off, I will go 3 inches; I don't think it will interfere with cross strokes.
Between that and my electric bilge pump, I am occasionally mistaken for a competant canoeist. For the record, there is something to be said for paddling a boat that's designed to be paddle-able with some water in it, but the Phantom definitely ain't in that category, and i suspect the Detonator might be something of a pig when it's full too.
For the bigger unavoidable waves, do no pencil into them. Try hitting them at a slight angel; this makes the boat look smaller to the wave. You can also try wave blocking. Last try shifting your weight back to lighten the bow. Keeping dry is the challenge of open boats. The last resort is to avoid the waves in the first place by crossing the grain and making that wicked eddy turn below the main chute beside the waves. As for anything you strap on to "deflect" the waves may cause problems with your roll or get tied up on stuff.
The boat that I borrowed to race a couple of years ago had both an extended bow deck with a mini-cell chevron to chanel the water off of the deck & ethafoam splash rails just under the gunnels. It doesn't keep huge amounts of water out, but it does help a little. Here's a photo: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wh20crazy ... pg&.src=ph
A cheaper alternative to the splash rails is pool noodles. Cut them in half length wise & glue them to the hull. You can get them in a variety of funky colors to match, or in this case NOT match your boat As you can see in this shot, we lost part of one when we got too close to a rock http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wh20crazy ... pg&.src=ph
He mounted rubber auto door moulding in a bit of a U patter at the bow to help shed water.
The moulding was about 1" high, but seemed like it really helped with much of the water that just creeps up.
I think working the angle of attack on the haystacks will make a world of difference for you, though. Also, as said above, wave blocking is a great skill to have.
Just curious, what's your weight? And what rivers are you typically paddling?
Sorry to hear you're having trouble with the boat. It does take some getting used to moving back to an OC after kayaks and the may reason is that big whole in the top. You simply can't take the same line you could in a kayak.
I found the Detonator resurfaced off drops pretty well and stayed pretty dry in the waves. Yep, you can get a fair bit of water in heading straight into big waves, but a little angle and/or some waveblocking works a charm in that thar beast. If you need help with it, try reading the section on waveblocking in Thrill of the Paddle - they've got some good suggestions. Oh, when waveblocking, be careful with the tilt - I've flipped a couple of times by being a bit over enthusiastic Glug. Oh well - needed the roll practise.
Eyeing the snow melt....
Matt
NZMatt
Hmmm....new country, new rivers...-
Still not enough c-boaters....
I actually really liked the Detonator. It such a fun boat and a pig too. Yeah, after c1 , open boating can be a pain when it comes to boat filling up with water. But yeah, I am going to try to pull that boat out when the waether gets warmer here . Cant wait. Open boat is such a hoot. Thanks for a great boat. matt. Hope your work is going good
As you can see in this shot, we lost part of one when we got too close to a rock 
Glug. Oh well - needed the roll practise.
