This is my first kayak! Let’s first cover the basics:

• Start: September 2017
• End: TBD
• Kayak Brand/Model: Malibu 2XL
• Base Kayak Purchased From: Monterey Bay Kayaks¹

As is evident from this site, I love scuba diving and generally speaking, the water. Once a scuba buddy introduced me to kayak scuba diving on the ocean using their kayak, I was hooked on the idea and began looking around for a kayak of my own. With some great guidance from the same scuba buddy, I was able to purchase a used Malibu 2XL kayak for only $425 (typically around $900 new) from Monterey Bay Kayaks¹. These kayaks are great for diving because they afford great buoyancy, consideriable storage volume and a durable 1 piece, rotomolded polyethylene. They also provide an open deck layout which is necessary for equipment management during scuba diving.

While the kayak was technically usable right away for scuba diving, I wanted to make some modifications and perform general repairs. The used kayaks from Monterey Bay Kayaks¹ are from their existing rental fleet. As such, they are taken care of but see signficant wear and tear.

Shock Cord Replacement

My first step was to replace the shock cord used as netting on the front and back of the kayak. I simply ordered a 25ft spool of ³⁄₁₆” marine grade shock cord from Amazon². I routed the new shock cord paying attention to how the existing shock cord was configured and tensioned.

Hatch Installs

Next, I wanted to place hatches in the hull for storage and access to the bow and stern for future externally mounted hardware. I purchased two 6” hatches³ and one large oval hatch cover⁴ after making sure that they fit the predefined cutouts on the hull of the kayak. I chose to go with the cheapest available hatch covers that still received good ratings on Amazon as the name-brand options were considerably more expensive with little added utility. These hatches come with well written installation manuals so I won’t cover installation in depth. To cut out the hatch openings I simply used a dremel with cutting bit and then cleaned up any sharp edges with a dremel sanding wheel. Any bolt holes were sealed with Marine Grade GOOP⁵.

You may notice that the stern hatch is installed with the lid opening to the side. I’m anticipating paddling from the seat situated behind, meaning this hatch would be between my legs. Thus, my current guess is that operation of the hatch will be easiest if it opens left or right.

Anchor System

Next, I wanted to build an anchor system that was easy to operate while scuba diving and that minimized equipment and clutter. The system needed to allow for operation from a seated position in the stern while providing hull mount point on the bow so that the kayak could handle swells/waves when stationary. If you’re new to the basic anchor systems typically used in the kayaking world, I suggest you check out one of the many great resources available on the web^{6 7 8}.

Scotty Anchor Lock

Simply tieing the anchor off on a well positioned cleat (bow/stern) can be challenging due to this lack of mobility while seated in the kayak filled with diving gear. An anchor trolly would provide my basic needs but come at the price of complication and equipment fatigue. After some research, I discovered the Scotty #276 Anchor Lock⁹. My sytem would then consist of the scotty anchor lock mounted on the bow and rope cleat mounted at stern next to operator’s seat to tie off to. The scotty anchor lock gives added rope management due to its ability to guide the rope from the stern cleat to the bow allowing the kayak to best take on swell while stationary. It also provides the quick release clamp that help fight fatigue while hauling and positioning the anchor. I purchased a complimentary backing plate¹⁰ for the anchor lock’s base mount to reinforce the hull where the anchor lock would be mounted (this is after all where anchor will be exerting considerable force on the hull). Some avid DIYers improvise their own backing plates, but for the price, purchasing one couldn’t be beat.

Installation

Installation of the backing plate proved very tricky and by far the hardest part in the entire overhaul of the kayak. This was due to needing to reach nearly inaccessible points within the kayak hull to properly install the back plate to the underside of the anchor lock. Following a great tutorial¹¹ on youtube of how to route backing plates in hard-to-reach areas within a kayak, I was able to forge ahead. The installation of the backing plate took several attempts. Two mistakes I made causing a several attempts:

• Not greasing the bolts that come with the backing plate. The nylock nuts provided are prone to binding. Because the backing plate has built-in nylock nuts, the binding action required excess force to tighten them. This excess rotational force was enough to pop the nylock nuts from their molded seats in the plastic backing plate.
• Not tieing good knots on the routing lines used to guide the backing plate to mount point within the hull (show below).
  Poor knots caused the guide line to snag on the bolt.

To grease the bolts, I used butter and once I tied better knots, the routing came along nicely. Below, we can see what proper installation looks like of the backing plate.

Once, the anchor lock had been installed a I mounted a simple zig zag cleat¹² next to the seat of the operator at the stern. This would be where the anchor line would tie off to.

Anchor and Rigging

My next part of the anchor system was to assembly the anchor and rigging. The basic components are:

• UV resistant anchor line¹³
• anchor float¹⁴
• anchor line reel¹⁵
• anchor¹⁶
• anchor drag chain¹⁷
• stainless steel carabiners¹⁸

Once again, if you are unfamiliar with kayak anchor systems, I encourage you to check out the great resources available on the web^{6 7 8}.

For the anchor line, I chose 550 paracord. This was choice was made for a couple of reasons:

• The total force of the kayak and its cargo on the line is likely not to exceed a couple hundred pounds of tensile force in even the most challenging swell/waves (anything larger and you shouldn’t be kayaking!).
• The line diameter needed to fit through the scotty anchor lock.

Even though the anchor line reel¹⁵ comes with 75’ of line, I bought an extra spool¹³ of 100’ to supplement it. This was to fill the reel as much as possible to get as close to the ideal 7:1 ratio⁶ when anchoring in the deepest waters I might scuba dive in.

I chose to purchase an anchor line reel¹⁵ rather than make my own as so many kayakers seem to do¹⁹. This was simply because after factoring in fabrication time and costs, a DIY solution was approximately the same price as a commerical solution, but with the added worry of unknown modes of failure. For these same reasons, I chose to purchase an anchor float¹⁴ rather than make one^{20 8}.

As is generally recommended to save an anchor from precarious wedges or snags, I attached the drag chain to the top mount point of the anchor using a ziptie. This ziptie can be broken with enough force in the event the anchor is snagged and hopefully allow me to save the anchor.

The anchor itself is a simple 3.5lb folding anchor¹⁶. 3.5lb is generally the weight kayakers use⁶

Decals

Once the anchor system was complete I decided my ship needed some epic decals^{21 22 23 24}.

Paddle Holders

In addition to replacing the bow and stern shock cord serving as storage nets as previously mentioned, I also replaced the shock cord for both paddle holders on either side of the kayak. This step also required replacing two of the line brackets as well as they were missing.

Paddles

I didn’t need performance paddles so I purchased a used set along with the kayak as a package deal. The only issue with them was that they were one piece paddles and in order to transport them in my compact SUV, I would need to transform them into breakable paddles. Fortunately, the same scuba buddy who introduced me to kayak diving also had the tools necessary to transform the paddles.

This amounted to cutting the paddles in half, fastening aluminium tubing into one of the cut ends for each paddle and then placing spring buttons in the inserted tubing as a locking mechanism.

As an added bonus, my buddy proceeded to also seal the ends of each paddle.

Depth Finder

Coming Soon

Foat Bags

Coming Soon

Stay tuned for more to come!