Who's sunken a ski? Few questions.

Wolf Child

Wolf Child

Just Another Octard
Location
All over C. FL
I've sunken a couple. everytime I've known I was about to lose it and had "some" time to try to do something about it.

I had an idea the other day so I'm doing some research. if you have ever lost your ski, (even if you recovered it later) what was the cause of the loss and how much time did you have before it went under.

What if you had some sort of rapid deployment marker system that would allow you to easily locate it. what if said marker was cheap,reusable, and took up almost no space, and was not suseptaple to currents or underwater drift, and could be used in deep water.



as I said... this is an idea, so I'm trying to get some feedback to finalize what I have in my head and build a prototype.
 
F

Freestyleriverrat

Guest
You can always use a small radio beacon that they use for tracking wildlife. Some have a battery life of 1-2 years. They are not that expensive (the animal proofed housing can be) and can be used to triangulate the location of the ski under water. we use smally tracking beacons in our Timber Rattlesnake Study at the Louisville Zoo. The transmitters are small and can be installed in the electrical box or positioned somewhere in the handlepole.
 
Wolf Child

Wolf Child

Just Another Octard
Location
All over C. FL
Freestyleriverrat said:
You can always use a small radio beacon that they use for tracking wildlife. Some have a battery life of 1-2 years. They are not that expensive (the animal proofed housing can be) and can be used to triangulate the location of the ski under water. we use smally tracking beacons in our Timber Rattlesnake Study at the Louisville Zoo. The transmitters are small and can be installed in the electrical box or positioned somewhere in the handlepole.
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good idea, but I was thinking of something a little easier for that average person to use. without needing expesive radio equipment.
 
R

ramrod

X
Location
Austin, Texas
Your talking about a little flag/floating device with some sort of line attached to the hull thats out of the way.....right? Something along the lines of, "pull incase of emergency"? Then out come this little float/flag attched to some fishing line of some sort with enough line for lets say....35-70 feet?? If its possible to compact something like that for that deep of waters without there being a big bulky bag/sack.

Sounds good to me.
 
Wolf Child

Wolf Child

Just Another Octard
Location
All over C. FL
ramrod said:
Your talking about a little flag/floating device with some sort of line attached to the hull thats out of the way.....right? Something along the lines of, "pull incase of emergency"? Then out come this little float/flag attched to some fishing line of some sort with enough line for lets say....35-70 feet?? If its possible to compact something like that for that deep of waters without there being a big bulky bag/sack.

Sounds good to me.
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exactally what I'm thinking. and trust me, what I have in mind will be smaller than a business envelope more or less and weigh a few onces.
 
Wolf Child

Wolf Child

Just Another Octard
Location
All over C. FL
Phill said:
how about some hood straps?
Click to expand...

I've never lost a ski due to losing a hood. But I have been close. I HAVE lost them due to shaft seal failures and other hull issues. sometimes it's just good to be prepared. if this becomes viable, I'll beging working on it and will make the info public for anyone interested. I'm not looking to make money. just offer a potential safegaurd from losing several thousand dollars in the drink (ala, Skywalker's current situation) I see this as something more for heavy surf riders and river riders than the average lake user. not that it couldnt be helpful there as well.
 
meatball

meatball

User Title Unavailable
Location
Maryland
how about installing pvc tube in the tray wall that has a screw on watertight cap. The cap is painted orange and can float, the line is stored in the tube and is tied or attached inside the tube in one fashion or another.

Im thinking something small, that would fit under or above footholds. When the ski is going done, unscrew the cap and hold on to it to let the line come out. Let the cap float swim back to shore, and locate it later.

Something like the storage tubes on the kawi standups on the tray walls but on a much smaller scale so you can still have footholds.

Or you could put a clamp on the dash, get a crab trap float (the ones for small handtraps) and 30 foot of small 1/8 nylon line, tie the line to the clamp and put it all in a velcro nylon bag, not watertight, with drainage holes in the bottom. I dont think it would take much space. Then when you're going down, just grab for the bag and grab the float.
 
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SUPERJET-113

SUPERJET-113

GASKETS FOR CHAMP BRAP!
Site Supporter
Location
Lake Havasu City, AZ USA
I've sunk lots of different standups, kawi and yam and they never sunk to the bottom. They were all missing the OEM front foam too.. Just the rear of the ski sticks up out the water a few inches or so.

If your hull has its proper foam in the rear and you have a couple of bilges, whats the prob? and let's say even if the bilge pumps can't keep up and for some unforseen occurance it does sink, why is it going to the bottom??!?
 
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SUPERJET-113

SUPERJET-113

GASKETS FOR CHAMP BRAP!
Site Supporter
Location
Lake Havasu City, AZ USA
I guess for ski's with no foam or a lost ski on the ocean or like Niagra Falls river types it would be useful..
Just get one of those things used to track you kid with a GPS.. only make it water resistant...lol
 
SUPERJET-113

SUPERJET-113

GASKETS FOR CHAMP BRAP!
Site Supporter
Location
Lake Havasu City, AZ USA
When I sunk a 650SX in the Missouri river in 9-10 mph current near dark about 5-6 miles up river, I held on to it all the way to the ramp on a October night in the cold dark, till i was finally rescued by a fisherman a 1/2 mile from the ramp!!! Hypothermia was setting in... but I wasnt loosing my ski...
 
SJBrit

SJBrit

Extraordinary Alien
Location
Bradenton, FL
Wouldn't it be better to have an emergency flotation device? Some kind of CO2 cartridge firing into a bladder triggered by a pressure switch? Sounds like something that must already exist for other applications....
 
accbr

accbr

addicted
Location
Lexington, KY
flotation bags

With all the talk about sunken skis recently I thought of this the other day. One of my other hobbies is whitewater kayaking. We put these inflatable bags in the back of the boat so if you come out it still floats. I took one of mine and put it in front of the gas tank. Theres plenty of space up there that you obviously cant foam. You just put these in and blow them up to fill the void. Tried it today, and these are tough enough to withstand the heat up there. Worked fine. You can get these in pairs fairly cheap from a kayak dealer. The ones used in freestyle boats would be big enough. See pics.
 

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Wolf Child

Wolf Child

Just Another Octard
Location
All over C. FL
SJBrit said:
Wouldn't it be better to have an emergency flotation device? Some kind of CO2 cartridge firing into a bladder triggered by a pressure switch? Sounds like something that must already exist for other applications....
Click to expand...


you guys are laughing... but this is EXACTALLY what I had in mind the CO2 charging trigger would be bar mounted in an out of the way, but accessable location, and the bladder and line would reside under chin pad area over the controls. basicly, when you know it's going down, hit the gas and the bladder will deploy auto feeding a Steel cable ( basicly steel fishing leader~no tangles) from a small pouch. CO2 charges for the aplication I have in mind are readily availible and cheap. this whole thing is very do-able for little dough.
 
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