03-11-2010, 05:55 AM
I had a scary incident with my first Cardiac Canyon, which used the Outcast ferrari cloth tubes. When I purchased it I specifically asked if I could pump the tubes up rock hard for maximum weight capacity since I would be using a trolling motor and battery combo that weighed 75lbs. I was told that as long as I wasn't going to a significantly higher elevation and using a hand pump I'd be fine. So I pumped them up hard using my double barrel pump.
On my fifth outing I was back in a cove and suddenly heard this loud boom, almost like a gunshot. My right bladder was ballooned out to the side in an arc above the water level, still inflated. The force and sudden dropping of my right side ejected me into the water. All I said was "Oh shoot" and as I was in the water I briefly contemplated whether or not to inflate my lifevest and use up a CO2 cannister. I did and then struggled to kick in an upright position to the shore, which was about 20-30 ft away.
I got to the shore and assessed my kickboat and realized I had a total stitch failure, almost the entire length of the tube. The bladder had not burst, but had expanded severely. The force of the blast had almost completely broken the U-arm that supported the bladder along its inner side. One back and forth movement and it came completely off. I had my black padded Outcast storage bag strapped to the right rear portion of the frame and inside the bag was the plastic visor protector for my sonar. It was about 3/16-1/4 inch thick. The upward force from the stitching rupture cracked it in half.
Fortunately, a father and his two kids were fishing from a boat beached up on shore and I was able to take apart the frame and put it and all my gear - 7 rod/reel combos, tackle bag, battery, tm - into the boat and get a ride to the boat launch.
I eventually received a replacement, although it took several months due to backorder, and have been using it for 7 years. I now make sure that the tips are soft enough to compress easily with my hands. In that 7 year period I've had some mishaps - stuck the rear of my right tube with a buzzbait (easy fix with small adhesive patch) and suffered a 2 inch gash on the outer pvc with a rock. Fortunately the inner bladder didn't get punctured and I fixed it by gluing a swatch of pvc on both the inside and outside.
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On my fifth outing I was back in a cove and suddenly heard this loud boom, almost like a gunshot. My right bladder was ballooned out to the side in an arc above the water level, still inflated. The force and sudden dropping of my right side ejected me into the water. All I said was "Oh shoot" and as I was in the water I briefly contemplated whether or not to inflate my lifevest and use up a CO2 cannister. I did and then struggled to kick in an upright position to the shore, which was about 20-30 ft away.
I got to the shore and assessed my kickboat and realized I had a total stitch failure, almost the entire length of the tube. The bladder had not burst, but had expanded severely. The force of the blast had almost completely broken the U-arm that supported the bladder along its inner side. One back and forth movement and it came completely off. I had my black padded Outcast storage bag strapped to the right rear portion of the frame and inside the bag was the plastic visor protector for my sonar. It was about 3/16-1/4 inch thick. The upward force from the stitching rupture cracked it in half.
Fortunately, a father and his two kids were fishing from a boat beached up on shore and I was able to take apart the frame and put it and all my gear - 7 rod/reel combos, tackle bag, battery, tm - into the boat and get a ride to the boat launch.
I eventually received a replacement, although it took several months due to backorder, and have been using it for 7 years. I now make sure that the tips are soft enough to compress easily with my hands. In that 7 year period I've had some mishaps - stuck the rear of my right tube with a buzzbait (easy fix with small adhesive patch) and suffered a 2 inch gash on the outer pvc with a rock. Fortunately the inner bladder didn't get punctured and I fixed it by gluing a swatch of pvc on both the inside and outside.
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